Local News in Brief : Former Escrow Official Gets 3 Years in Theft
A Thousand Oaks woman charged with defrauding an escrow company was sentenced to three years in state prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in Ventura County Superior Court to grand theft.
Deborah Lynn Fleischman, 34, the former escrow and business manager at the Westlake Village office of Townsgate Escrow Co., admitted stealing more than $25,000.
According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Meyers, Fleischman deposited checks from the company’s escrow account into her personal checking and savings accounts and covered up the losses by overcharging regular escrow customers.
Her actions were discovered last July after a customer complaint prompted an audit of her work, Meyers said. Fleischman has been in custody in lieu of $50,000 bail since her arrest last October.
Besides the prison sentence, she was fined $10,000. Townsgate Escrow has made complete refunds to the defrauded customers, some of whom had been overcharged by as much as $2,000, Meyers said.
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