(CBS/AP) WESTMINSTER, Calif. - A private jet ride to New York City, a hotel room in Times Square, a shopping spree at Tiffany & Co... did this paralegal and school teacher win the lottery?
Or did they forge a check for more than a quarter of a million dollars from a law firm and go on a wild spending spree?
Authorities say it was the latter.
CBS Los Angeles reports that according to the Orange County District Attorney's office, sometime between Sept. 21 and Nov 16., Alexa Johzen Polar, a 34-year-old paralegal, and Rovin Antonella Pabello, a 33-year-old teacher, both from Garden Grove, Calif., stole a check for over $19,500 from the firm where Polar worked.
Officials say the pair then removed the payee's name and replaced it with Pabello's. They then forged the amount for $285,000.
On Nov. 16, police say the friends used an ATM to deposit the check into a joint account they held.
The women used the money to charter a private jet to fly themselves and several friends to New York City, rent five rooms at a hotel in Times Square and go on a spending spree at Tiffany & Co, investigators say.
Bank officials discovered the thefts after "the issuing bank rejected the check that the receiving bank had processed," the DA's office said in a press release. They allegedly spent the money very quickly; it was only a week after the check was deposited that the forgery came to light.
CBS Los Angeles reports the duo posted pictures of their trip on Facebook.
Cypress police detective Greg Faessel told the Los Angeles Times that the women wanted to "live like kings during the holidays. These women were already deep in debt and wanted to enjoy life without any cares for a while."
Polar and Pabello are each facing two felony counts of forgery, one felony count of grand theft, and one felony count of grand theft by embezzlement.
If the women are convicted on all counts, they could face a maximum of more than six years in prison. They are being held in jail on bail of $285,000, the amount they attempted to steal.
"They have to prove that the (bail) money is from a legal and legitimate source," instead of from the allegedly stolen funds, a spokeswoman for the DA's office said.
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