The longtime chief financial officer of a small Texas environmental-engineering firm has been charged with embezzling as much as $1 million.
Dennis Lynn Weiss of San Antonio–based Raba-Kistner Consultants allegedly diverted funds for two to three years, reported the Associated Press. The scheme was reportedly uncovered when co-founder and chief executive officer Carl F. Raba looked into an accounting discrepancy and discovered unauthorized checks totaling more than $150,000.
Raba then fired Weiss, according to the AP.
Adriana Biggs of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office told the wire service that Weiss has been charged with misapplication of fiduciary property from $100,000 to $200,000, although the exact amount of the alleged embezzlement hasn’t been determined.
According to The San Antonio Express-News, Weiss was initially arrested and released after posting a $100,000 bond. He was arrested again the next day, however, after the District Attorney’s Office asked a judge to increase the bond to $400,000 and order Weiss to turn over his passport.
“Our concern with this guy is that there’s a real flight risk,” Biggs told the paper. “It has come to our attention that he’s building a house in Mexico and he has a romantic interest who’s a Mexican national.” Weiss was in the process of converting the embezzled money into pesos, Biggs reportedly added.
Weiss could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Raba-Kistner, which was founded in 1968, had total revenue of $35.8 million in 2006, according to the Texas paper, which cited The Engineering News-Record. The company maintains eight offices within the state and also operates in Mexico. Weiss had served as CFO for 11 years, the Express-News added.