Nonprofit StarVista, which offers counseling, case management and crisis prevention services across San Mateo County, said its former clinical director participated in “unethical, illegal activities against the organization” while prosecutors said she allegedly embezzled around $700,000 from the organization over a 13-year period.
The woman, Clarise Blanchard, 76, of Foster City, is being charged with felony embezzlement, identity theft and forgery, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
StarVista said that her alleged crimes were discovered through a financial audit after she left the company in 2022.
“Fiscal audits determined the former employee acted alone and independently, in their own self-interest, and certainly not as an agent of StarVista. Blanchard’s actions were in no way consistent with their job duties and were completely outside the scope of their employment at StarVista. (Blanchard) selfishly abused her influence to initiate and perpetuate multiple levels of dishonesty,” the agency said in a press release.
An audit was conducted regarding the alleged crimes — which included Blanchard creating a false bank account for herself at Chase Bank, and forging the signatures of the StarVista director — after a donation of $50,000 was found missing, the DA’s Office said.
“The most important thing we can stress is that no service partner assets have been misappropriated,” Reese Walters, a StarVista spokesperson, said in the release.
Blanchard’s defense attorney Colin Moore was not immediately available for comment, and she was arraigned Dec. 14. Blanchard pleaded not guilty to all charges and the court will meet Feb. 28 to discuss the case’s next steps.
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Mike Harris said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Eh HFAB - your traditional non-sequitur? Pulled out of your random grab bag?
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