VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. — Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced that Ida Veronica Hernandez (DOB 06/27/1980) was sentenced to four years and four months in state prison for orchestrating a large-scale embezzlement while employed as a bookkeeper for a Thousand Oaks medical practice.
Hernandez had previously pled guilty on January 21, 2026, to seven felony counts of grand theft and one felony count of filing a false or forged document. She also admitted a special allegation that her crimes resulted in losses exceeding $100,000.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise, who prosecuted the case through the Ventura County District Attorney’s Special Prosecutions Fraud and Technology Crimes Unit, stated: “I wish trusted employees that steal understood the devastation they leave behind. It’s not just financial. It’s the mental pain caused by disappointment and the frustration of having to unravel the records for months and sometimes years.”
Between 2020 and 2021, Hernandez had access to the practice’s bank accounts and financial records in her role as office manager and bookkeeper. Instead of using that access for legitimate purposes, she transferred substantial sums into accounts controlled by herself and relatives, stole at least $556,000, and committed identity theft against a co-worker.
Investigators also found that Hernandez used multiple aliases, manipulated the payroll system to divert payments to family and friends, and attempted to implicate a co-worker in her crimes. She abruptly resigned after financial irregularities began to surface.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Major Fraud Unit determined that Hernandez had fled the area and had allegedly committed similar thefts in Orange County, California, as well as in Plano, Texas, prompting arrest warrants in multiple states. She was later apprehended while traveling across the country.
In addition to her prison sentence, Hernandez was ordered to pay $560,000 in restitution to the victim medical practice.
