DAILY Bites
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Two former Taylor Farms employees were arrested for allegedly embezzling over $3 million between 2019 and 2023.
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Karen Rodriguez and Elizabeth Vargas allegedly cashed fraudulent checks made out to former employees.
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Both were arrested in Arizona and await extradition to Monterey County, with $200,000 bail each.
DAILY Discussion
MONTEREY COUNTY, California — Two Arizona women have been arrested in connection with a multi-million-dollar embezzlement scheme targeting Taylor Farms, a major Salinas-based fresh food company.
Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced on Monday that Karen Rodriguez, 38, and Elizabeth Vargas, 34, both former employees in the Human Resources department of Automated Harvesting, LLC — a subsidiary of Taylor Farms — have been charged with embezzling over $3 million from the company.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, the embezzlement took place between 2019 and 2023. During this time, Rodriguez and Vargas allegedly issued hundreds of fraudulent checks made out to former employees who had returned to Mexico and were no longer working for the company. These checks were then cashed, funneling millions of dollars away from Taylor Farms…