Detectives arrested the former bookkeeper for a South Salt Lake business after she allegedly created a fake merchant account to cover her tracks as she stole $220,000 from her employer.

Janet Medina Fawson, 39, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on charges of theft, forgery, communications fraud, using a false financial car for credit, and pattern of unlawful activity.

According to an arrest report, Fawson was responsible for processing payments for her employer, Retro Custom Metals.

“The card records show thirty-seven payments to a vendor labeled ‘Sheffield Metals Cleveland” which closely matches the listed name of an actual supplier ‘Sheffield Metals International’. However, the payments to Sheffield Metals Cleveland were sent to a Square UP account which is an electronic financial transaction service,” a South Salt Lake Police detective wrote in an arrest report.

The owners of Retro Custom Metals, John and Tiffany Brady, told 2News that they didn’t realize the payments weren’t going to their supplier until they got a call asking why the payments hadn’t been made.

“It’s been very difficult to unravel the web that she weaved,” John Brady told 2News.

The Bradys say Fawson began working for them in 2020 and she had a clear background check at the time she was hired. They hope sharing their story will warn other business owners of what could be going on without their knowledge.

“Anybody that you trust, anybody that you give access too, buyer beware,” John Brady said.