Second Cape Coral firm presses fraud charges against woman on lam, police report shows
A second Cape Coral company is pressing charges against an office manager already facing charges for spending $106,000 of a Cape Coral business' money on shopping and casino trips after she failed to appear for a scheduled hearing.
Stephenie Parramore, 50, failed to appear for a motions hearing, as well as a trial call the following day.
Jim Toto, one of the co-owners at Toto Custom Homes, told The News-Press that Parramore embezzled $30,000 from his company two weeks before she became a fugitive.
Toto said Parramore was hired under the alias "Stephenie Shea" and she produced a fake ID for her background check.
Parramore then stole several checks, used their company-issued credit card without Toto's knowledge and stole subcontractor documents to create a Chase Bank account, used to deposit the stolen checks into.
According to a Cape Coral police report, police began their investigation March 28.
The report says that Toto hired Parramore on Feb. 27 as a bookkeeper and the same day he met with police he received a call from an undisclosed subcontractor alerting of Parramore's attempted deposit at Chase Bank.
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According to police, Parramore attempted to cash a check under the company name, claiming to be a co-owner. A representative of that subcontractor denied knowing Parramore and stopped the check from going through, the report indicates.
Police said their investigation revealed Parramore on Feb. 28 cashed a check for $4,500, followed by a March 13 check for $6,150.
The report further indicates Parramore signed a tax document.
On the run since April 9
Parramore's attorney, Christopher O'Brien, answered a brief call for comment Tuesday afternoon, but declined to confirm when he last made contact with Parramore.
She faces felony charges of scheme to defraud $50,000 or more, grand theft more than $100,000 and uttering forged bills, checks, drafts, or notes.
She was arrested May 19, 2022, by the Cape Coral Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit and later released.
Court documents said the owner of the small business affected reviewed his America Express card and found Parramore conducted 122 unauthorized transactions each in the amount of $500 totaling $61,000. He also found she had, without authorization, endorsed, cashed and/or deposited approximately 82 unauthorized checks totaling $45,524.31.
The 13-year-old company works with environmental and technical products.
According to court documents, funds taken from a bank account Parramore created were used for personal expenses, restaurants, gas stations, retail shopping, cash withdrawals, cell phone payments, insurance premium payments, credit card payments, and electronic funds transfers through CashApp and Zelle and gambling venues.
Funds were also used, the court documents showed, for two accounts specifically used to fund or contact jail or prison inmates, JPay and GTL Inmate.
Parramore created a second account she used in a limited manner, the documents showed, for online transfers from the first account and IRS Treasury deposits.
No checks or cash deposits were made to this account during the time period noted and debits were comprised of only online transfers to the first bank account.
A Cape Coral police report said Parramore was working in her capacity as an office manager at the business, and misappropriated funds for her own personal benefits totaling approximately $106,524.31 from March through July 2021.
She was employed by the company in January 2020 and issued a company credit card, court and police records showed.
The business owner discovered the casino spending during a review of the credit card statement, a police report said.
According to those documents, Parramore wrote checks to herself and forged or copied the business owner’s signature on several occasions.
The business owner said he had confronted Parramore about the numerous transactions at Vegas III, a legal, machine-operated casino in Cape Coral.
The business owner told police he attempted to work with Parramore to make restitution for the unauthorized transactions but then discovered the unauthorized checks.
A police report said the company filed a claim with American Express disputing the charges and was reimbursed approximately $12,500. However, due to the dispute and credit from American Express, a civil suit has been filed against the company by Vegas Ill seeking $37,500.
Parramore is listed in Florida state prison records under Stephenie Parramore-Hand, and a dozen other aliases, as having served time on grand theft, fraud and forged check charges in 2008 and 2013. She was last released from prison in 2019.
A phone call to a number possibly registered to her lasted 26 seconds Tuesday evening.
"She's not here. Who's calling?" asked a woman who declined to identify herself. She hung up when this reporter identified himself.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Woman on lam in fraud case accused in second Cape Coral embezzlement