FORMER BOOKKEEPER AND TWO FRIENDS TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR EMBEZZLING OVER $448,000 FROM WESTMINSTER SUPERMARKET CHAIN IN FRAUDULENT REFUND SCHEME

FORMER BOOKKEEPER AND TWO FRIENDS
TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR EMBEZZLING OVER $448,000 FROM WESTMINSTER SUPERMARKET CHAIN
IN FRAUDULENT REFUND SCHEME

WESTMINSTER – A bookkeeper and his two friends will be arraigned today for embezzling over $448,000 from a Westminster supermarket chain by processing over 170 fraudulent refund transactions to their personal accounts. Tan Dung Tang, 28, Westminster, and Chau Lee, 32, Garden Grove, are charged with 33 felony counts of computer access and fraud with sentencing enhancements and allegations for loss over $100,000, aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, and property damage over $200,000. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 24 years in state prison. Tang and Lee are being held on $450,000 bail.

Co-defendant Tin Hung Do, 29, Anaheim, is charged with four felony counts of computer access and fraud with sentencing enhancements and allegations for loss over $100,000, aggravated white collar crime over $100,000, and property damage over $200,000. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison if convicted. Do is out of custody on his own recognizance.

All three defendants are scheduled for a continued arraignment today, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department W-15, West Justice Center, Westminster.

Tang is accused of being a longtime bookkeeper for Westminster Superstores, a grocery store chain in Westminster. Between December 2006 and November 2009, Tang is accused using his access to the business’ finances to illegally process 171 fraudulent refunds amounting to almost $2,900 each to his personal bank accounts and credit cards, as well as to the accounts of his friends, Lee and Do.

Over the course of three years, Tang is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $243,000 into his personal accounts. Lee is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $195,000 and Do is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $9,700. The three defendants are accused of stealing approximately $448,000 in all.

The theft was discovered in November 2009 after Westminster Superstores was alerted to the large number of suspicious transactions by the bank. The case was reported to and investigated by the Westminster Police Department.

Deputy District Attorney Sean O’Brien of the White Collar Crime Team is prosecuting this case.

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