Embezzlement spurs changes at arts center

A spokeswoman for the Orange County Performing Arts Center said Tuesday that the center has employed a check and balance system after a former employee embezzled more than $1 million.

Ana Limbaring, who worked in the center’s finance department since 1995, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges of grand theft and computer fraud Monday in Orange County Superior Court, officials said.

In 2000, Limbaring, 53, began stealing cash from the center. The loss was discovered during a routine audit.

The embezzlement was the largest known case of charity fraud in Orange County, said Susan Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

As part of Limbaring’s punishment, she was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution and more than $120,000 in unpaid taxes, Schroeder said.

In a letter to Superior Court Judge Craig Robison, Limbaring said that she stole the money to cover a gambling addiction and blew most of the money in Native American-run casinos, Schroeder said.

Following Limbaring’s arrest, the performing arts center made several changes to accounting procedures, said arts center spokeswoman Jennifer Mahal.

The performing arts center brought in forensic accountants to review the center’s accounting processes, Mahal said. The accountants recommended that the center make a change in how they deal with cash transactions and also that some duties, such as account handling, be segregated.

“She was reconciling accounts that she was also in control of,” Mahal said of Limbaring’s former responsibilities.

Now, the person who reconciles the account is not the same person who takes the money to be deposited in the bank. The center also changed its auditing company, a procedure that’s standard every few years, Mahal said.