The former operations manager for the Santa Ana office of Deloitte Consulting LLP, a major business consulting firm, was arrested Monday, accused of bilking her employer out of more than $500,000.
Jamie Watkins, 48, was released on a $20,000 bond after being indicted in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on federal charges of mail and wire fraud, said Brett Sagel, the assistant U.S. attorney in Santa Ana prosecuting the case.
"You basically have a person in a position of trust" who abused that trust, Sagel said.
"Not just people who sell drugs or carry guns are prosecuted -- people who have money and wear suits and ties to work are prosecuted as well," he said.
Watkins of Santa Ana is accused of defrauding the firm -- a subsidiary of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP of about $550,000 from June 2000 to October 2003, when she was office operations manager in charge of, among other things, purchasing equipment, procuring office supplies and overseeing the day-to-day operation of the office.
