Bookkeeper sentenced for embezzling more than half a million dollars from practice
Feb 20, 2026, A PSTA woman was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison for embezzling more than half a million dollars while she was employed as a bookkeeper for a Thousand Oaks medical practice, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Ida Veronica Hernandez, 45, pled guilty on Jan. 21 to seven counts of felony grand theft and a felony count of filing a false or forged document, along with admitting to a special allegation that the losses exceeded $100,000.
The district attorney’s office said between 2020 and 2021, Hernandez transferred large sums of the businesses’ money into bank accounts controlled by herself and her relatives. They said she used multiple aliases.
Hernandez also directed the payroll company to pay her family and friends, along with other schemes.
In total, she stole at least $556,000 from the medical business.
“I wish trusted employees that steal understood the devastation they leave behind,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise said. “It’s not just financial. It’s the mental pain caused by disappointment and the frustration of having to unravel the records for months and sometimes years.
The investigation found Hernandez also committed identity theft against a co-worker after attempting to deflect attention from herself by falsely implicating the co-worker in her crimes.
Hernandez reportedly abruptly quit her job once financial irregularities began to surface.
By the time the case was fully investigated, Hernandez had fled the area. She allegedly went on to commit similar thefts in Orange County, which resulted in a warrant issued for her arrest.
She’s also accused of other financial crimes in Plano, Texas, where she abruptly fled and was later found by investigators as she traveled across the country.
Along with her sentence, Hernandez was ordered to pay restitution to the Thousand Oaks medical practice in the amount of $560,000.
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