Playa del Rey : Embezzlement Suspect Held

A bookkeeper sought by police for four months in connection with an alleged embezzlement of $1 million from two Century City radiologists was arrested at his Playa del Rey condominium last weekend. Police said they learned of his whereabouts from a viewer of KTTV’s “L.A.’s Most Wanted” show who recognized the suspect and his flashy cars.

Douglas Deboer, 35, was charged with diverting insurance payments intended for two radiologists to his own account over the last five years while he was their bookkeeper. His arraignment on grand theft charges is scheduled for Monday in West Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Police said Deboer, who is being held in lieu of $65,000 bail, used some of the embezzled money to make frequent remodelings to a Redondo Beach home, for a sailboat, four luxury cars, including a BMW, a Porsche and a Corvette, and to fund his now-defunct Black Tie Pizza restaurant in Marina del Rey.

Police said they have recovered about $100,000 of the missing money.

Los Angeles Police Detective Charlene Reming said Deboer was first arrested in August but fled after being released on $5,000 bail. At one point he went to Canada, Reming said, adding that she does not know why Deboer returned to Los Angeles.

Reming said police were first tipped off to Deboer’s scheme when Century City Hospital officials noticed something unusual about a canceled check. Reming said Deboer had tried to deface the check and alter the payee’s name by spilling ink on it.

Reming said that when she first approached Deboer about the scheme, he said the doctors had ordered him to divert the cash to avoid taxes. But when she called the doctors for verification, she ended up with a return call from Deboer, who disguised his voice and pretended to be one of the doctors, she said.