Sarah Denton
A DeLeon Springs woman is accused of stealing more than $250,000 from a DeLand Municipal Airport business where she worked as the bookkeeper, police said.
Sarah Denton, 38, was arrested on a warrant Monday by Volusia sheriff’s deputies and jailed on charges of grand theft over $100,000, fraudulent use of a credit card and organized scheme to defraud more than $50,000. She was out of jail on $12,500 bail. Reached Tuesday by telephone, Denton said she had no comment.
Denton was hired as a secretary for M T Propeller USA Inc. in November 2001 and eventually became the business’ bookkeeper, reports show.
Police said Denton stole the money from the business between 2014 and 2017.
All the goods that Denton bought with the money or what she used the money for are redacted from the police charging document but police said that during the period that the money was stolen, Denton’s husband opened a landscaping business.
Denton was fired Nov. 11 by M T Propeller USA Inc. after Peter Marshall, a manager discovered many fraudulent charges to a Lowe’s credit card and fraudulently cashed checks from a SunTrust bank account, a DeLand police report said.
M T Propeller at 1180 Airport Terminal Road, manufactures airplane propellers in Germany and the DeLand business is the U.S. office of the company, reports show.
On Nov. 11, Marshall discovered that Denton made multiple unauthorized purchases using the Lowe’s credit card totaling $11,374.33. Denton had been making the purchases since Dec. 3, 2014, DeLand police detectives said.
Marshall confronted Denton who could not give him an explanation other than it had been an accident. Denton was fired, police said.
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Marshall declined comment on Denton’s arrest.
After Denton was terminated, the manager also discovered that statements from a SunTrust bank account were missing. Further investigations revealed that Denton made out fake checks to freight companies and then cashed the checks herself. She cashed at least 94 checks and made three unauthorized withdrawals from the company’s bank account, investigators said.
In all, Denton, who was a 16-year employee of the propeller business, is suspected of stealing a total of $253,500, police said.
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