WICHITA — In September, Have You Heard? reported that Pistotnik Law Offices filed a civil suit in Sedgwick County District Court against former employee Vicki Olivarez and her husband, Severo Olivarez IV alleging fraudulent and negligent acts by the two.
Vicki Olivarez was a bookkeeper for the firm from July 2002 to Sept. 4.
Now, Vicki Olivarez has been indicted on federal charges of stealing more than $948,000 from September 2004 through September of this year by writing 441 checks to herself, her husband and cash.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, she’s charged with one count of bank fraud and 10 counts of forgery for allegedly signing Brian Pistotnik’s name on checks drawn from the firm’s account.
If Olivarez is convicted on the bank fraud charge, she would face a possible 30 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. On each of the forgery counts, she would face a maximum of 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
A woman who answered the phone at the law firm said no one wants to comment on the case. Olivarez could not be reached for comment.
13 Comments
The only way this could have happened, is if NOBODY was watching, and common auditing practices were not done. Stealing is always wrong, but they had this coming.
Whenever I read a story like this, I get angry at the ‘victim’ employer. Almost always, it represents dishonesty on the part of the employee, plus and employer who is just plain asleep at the switch.
I am not trying to make excuses for dishonest employees. But if the employer was meticulous about audits, it would be much easier for employees to resist temptation. There is responsibility on both sides.
Like sugarpiej says, it’s easy to prevent something like this from ever happening. You’d think Pistotnik would be raking in enough dough to hire several people in the accounting department for checks and balances.
Are you kidding me? You people think the company deserves it. You probably would take a shoplifter’s side too. She had a good job, which is alot more then over 10% of Americans have right now, and she was dishonest an a thief and stole what did not belong to her. I do not think you would feel the same if she stole from you. She is No Robin Hood.
In response to the first poster: Are you kidding me? You are actually saying the Pistotniks had this coming? So if you get robbed did you deserve it? WOW! This is one reason our economy is failing, because people like the first poster are condoning the criminal activity of our society and blamming the hard working citizens that work honest for a living and probably employ people like the first poster on this comment page that are dishonest and looking for an easy way to make ends meet.. I am just furious with the way people think these days then wonder why our society is the way it is, GET REAL folks and look at the reality of this situation and how this will aso effect you. WOW!!!!!
To the second poster:
Obviously you don’t own your own business! It is not easy and how many places can you be at one time? Get your facts straight be for you are so quiuck to judge and even if a billionair gets robbed doesn’t mean it’s ok.. try working hard for a living and you might understand that theory..
WOW! I cant belive anyone would back someone who stole a doller from anyone much less a million dollers! Wrong is Wrong! but sugerpiej did get one thing right common auditing practices i’m sure were not in place or if they were they were flawed but everyone forgets that the BANK is to be checking signatures! Im sure that she didn’t sign her own name to all of those checks she wrote to herself! There are thieves in every buisness no matter how many checks and balances you put in place or how much or how little you make look at Bernie Madoff stole from thousands of rich and not so rich! Theifs are everywere! Maybe it is our fault! We back criminals and give them more rights than the law abideing citizens! someone steals from you and you get bashed becouse people think you deserve it just because you just happen to be wealthy or famous! Sounds like jealosy to me!
To specialk:
Maybe you didn’t get the gist of the first two posts. They are saying when you are making millions, you should not trust anyone explicitly in charge of your money. “They had it coming” may have been a bit harsh, but they have been in business for as long as I can remember. These thieves stole almost $1 million in five years. If I was missing $1 thousand I would be investigating. But then I review my reports and check the balances.
To take money that is placed in your trust is the lowest level of thief there is, especially 441 times. This woman needs to be made an example of pure and simple! When she is sentenced for her crimes, she will face the cold hard fact that personal honor is an important element that she obviously lacked. I hope justice in this case is swift and appropriate….
Silverdire, your missing the fact that SHE was the one whose job it was to make sure the theft didnt occur!
Let me be a little more explicit about my views.
Stealing is always wrong, period. There is no justifying what the woman did, if indeed she is guilty.
However, employees are human beings, and are subject to all kinds of temptations, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Wilkinsona said, “I do not think you would feel the same if she stole from you.” My point is, she wouldn’t steal from me – at least not to that extent, because fairly quickly after it started, it would be detected and stopped. The methods of theft allegedly used here are fairly unsophisticated, and if quarterly audits were done, would have been detected very early. My employer keeps a close watch on every dime – I also work for a small business – and I’m glad they do, because it protects me as well as them. One (government) organization I worked for 20 years ago was fairly loose with documentation, and when I protested I was told not to worry about it. Stupidly, I believed them. A few years later, I found myself being accused, although I had never taken a dime. They could prove nothing, of course, but I could not defend myself against things that were said behind closed doors, in the lunchroom, and in the hallways. My co-workers believed I was guilty, and rumors spread far beyond the building. I learned a painful lesson about dealing with other people’s money. Even now, I document every cent I handle, and I keep copies of the documentation.
Both the employer and the employee have obligations to each other, and in this instance, it appears neither lived up to those obligations. That’s why I said “they had it coming.” Perhaps I should have said “they ought to have expected something like this”, indicating a prediction, rather than an indication that they “deserved” it. No one deserves it.
But it can be prevented. There’s a reason I keep my garage, house, and car locked. There’s a reason I do not bring valuable possessions to the office. When workmen or repairmen come into the house, I make sure all valuables are under lock and key; it protects them as well as me. Many people have been accused of taking items which were simply temporarily misplaced, and I have a responsibility to those who work in my home, and around me in my office, not to allow circumstances in which that could happen.
When an employee is allegedly able to make off with nearly a million dollars inside of 5 years, especially in such a blatant fashion, that tells us a lot about the employer, also.
The moral of this is stealing is stealing, and stealing is taking something that is NOT rightfully yours no mateer if it’s a million dollars or one dollor and at no matter of the circumstance in which it occured. This person who stole from the Pistotniks NEEDS to be prosecuted and charged guilty with punishment and for those of you who say the Pistotniks had this coming are foul bold faced people with lack of feeling for the innocent hard working victim. Where is the justice? If there were more punishment on crimes like this and less void for the criminal and more backing for the victim this would not happen as often.. I also do believe that YES we should be taking every precaution to protect ourselves, investments, ect. however you can not trust anyone these days so therefor this is going to happen again and again in our society and the fact is that when this does happen, it’s the victim that we all should back and the crime should be punished to the fullest then maybe the thieves in this world would think twicw before they decide to steal. Oh and remember that in other countries your hands were cut off for such a crime and maybe our justice system need s to use that as punishment and maybe the thieves will really re-think there actions…
@spyuhire: You never have just one person doing that job. And this is *why*.
So, lets boil this down to brass tacks.
A LAW FIRM… people who should certainly know better and deal with this kind of stuff for a living… clearly failed to have adequate checks and balances. To miss a few improper disbursements is one thing, to have this kind of pattern behavior that extends over time is another. The company has an obligation to chekc up on what its employees are doing, especially when they have access to the checkbook!
Now, does that excuse or make right what this employee allegedly did? Absolutely NOT! She should go to prison for her actions, if convicted. By the same token, Pistotnik and Co. need to learn a life lesson in who to trust and how to ensure that you’re not getting bilked out of thousands of dollars.