SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. – A Santa Rosa man who embezzled $125,000 from the Oakmont Golf Club pro shop has entered no contest pleas in the case.
Ryan Drucker Andress, 31, pleaded no contest to two felonies, grand theft and possessing stolen property, and admitted the charged sentencing enhancement of embezzling more than $65,000, according to a report from Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch.
“We are working with law enforcement to hold the offenders in these employee embezzlement cases accountable,” said Ravitch. “We encourage businesses to review existing auditing controls to ensure proper asset protection and account compliance to protect themselves from these cunning schemes.”
Immediately after being promoted to golf operations manager, Andress devised a scheme within the internal electronic accounting controls to systematically reverse legitimate cash and credit card golf shop purchases, Ravitch reported.
The investigation revealed that Andress would then use the business' accounting software to debit the revenue onto an Oakmont Gift Card. Andress then used the gift card to purchase golf equipment from the golf shop to be later sold via his personal account on eBay.
The scheme provided him the appearance of increased golf shop sales under his management, all while he was personally profiting from the theft and eBay sales, Ravitch said.
She said the embezzlement continued for approximately 14 months and was only discovered when another manager questioned one of the reversed transactions.
Ravitch said Andress will be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2013, before the Honorable Judge Conger in Department Seven.
He will receive a stipulated 12 months county jail sentence with a probation period of three years upon his release. Ravitch said Andress also is ordered by the court to provide a partial restitution check made payable to Oakmont Golf Club in the amount of $50,000 on his sentencing date or risk the maximum penalty under his pleas of 4 years, 8 months in state prison.
The case was investigated by Santa Rosa Police Detective Joe Bjornstrom and prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Bill Brockley.