Menlo Park: Woman Arrested On Suspicion Of Embezzlement, I.D. Fraud

Bay City News

A Mountain View woman was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and identity fraud after an extensive investigation, police in Menlo Park said Wednesday.

Amerlinda Mendoza, 59, was finance manager at a now-dissolved company in Menlo Park called Strategic Business Insights, or SBI.

In January 2023, Mendoza was given the role of managing the company's bank accounts and overseeing finances after the previous office manager retired, police said. Part of her duties were to pay vendors, transfer funds and handle payroll.

In January 2024, authorities allege discrepancies began to pop up in SBI's finances, and the company's CEO filed a police report. Mendoza resigned two days after the allegations of a "significant" amount of missing funds arose.

Police allege that Mendoza withdrew and transferred money from SBI's accounts and gambled with it at local casinos. She is also accused of using the money to pay for personal expenses and transferring cash into Venmo and PayPal.

"These actions resulted in a loss of approximately $500,000 over the course of one year, leading to SBI's bankruptcy and permanent job loss of more than twenty employees, as well as unpaid vendors," said Menlo Park Police in a statement released Wednesday.

A search warrant was issued at Mendoza's residence, along with a warrant for her arrest, police said.

She was booked into the San Mateo County Jail on suspicion of embezzlement and identity fraud. As of Wednesday evening, Mendoza was still in custody and being held on $1.5 million bail.

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