Florida Accountant Accused of Stealing $700,000 From Eyewear Company

By Jack Prator, Tampa Bay Times (TNS)

Pinellas deputies have arrested a woman who is accused of stealing more than $710,000 from her Palm Harbor employer over several years.

The investigation began in December 2022 after the president of Inspecs USA, an eyewear manufacturing business, told authorities that his company’s accountant, Monika Hladik of Clearwater, had been writing company checks to herself and forging his signature. Hladik was fired that month, according to an arrest affidavit.

Hladik, 41, had worked for the company for 12 years, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. She was responsible for writing company checks and bringing them to the president for his signature, but was never authorized to sign any checks herself, according to the release.

Detectives believe Hladik wrote 232 checks to herself between 2016 and 2022, which she deposited into her Wells Fargo bank account. In an effort to cover up the theft, authorities said, Hladik manipulated QuickBooks accounting entries for years.

Hladik also excluded herself from the company’s 401(k) program and pocketed more than $4,000 that should have been deducted from her paycheck, according to the arrest affidavit.

When questioned by company supervisors, Hladik said she was “borrowing the money for her mother’s medical bills,” the affidavit states.

Hladik was arrested last Thursday and charged with one count of scheme to defraud. She was being held in the Pinellas County Jail on Friday and no bond had been set, records show.

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Accounting