ST. GEORGE — A man accused of stealing thousands of dollars from his employer by depositing the same payroll checks multiple times is now facing second-degree felony charges.
Eswin Ricardo Gonzalez-Hernandez, 26, was arrested Wednesday and booked into jail following an investigation that opened at the end of March after suspicious banking activity was reported by a local framing company in St. George.
According to charging documents filed with the court, detectives spoke to the business owner of the framing company who said the suspected theft came to light when the company’s accountant found several fraudulent checks that were cashed out of the business account during a three-month period starting in March 2023.
The checks appeared to be payroll checks and were remotely deposited by Hernandez, a former employee of the company, the report states.
Investigators say Hernandez deposited the same paycheck multiple times on several occasions and did this with more than one payroll check. In total, Hernandez reportedly made 13 fraudulent deposits into his account.
Upon review of the company’s bank records, investigators say more than $16,400 was stolen from the company.
On Wednesday, detectives interviewed Hernandez at the St. George Police Department, where they showed him copies of the duplicate deposits.
Police say Hernandez claimed he deposited the first two checks multiple times “by accident” because he forgot about making the first deposit and then deposited the second payroll check twice because he did not think the first deposit went through.
“I asked about the remaining 11 times,” the detective said.
Hernandez reportedly said he did not have an answer and did not know why he had done it. He added that while his spouse was listed on the account, she had no idea there were duplicate deposits being made into the account, the report states.
Following the interview, Hernandez was arrested at 10:30 a.m. and initially booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on 10 felony charges of theft.
On Thursday, the Washington County Attorney’s Office filed the case, which formally charged Hernandez with two second-degree felonies, one count of theft and one count of pattern of unlawful activity.
An initial appearance has been scheduled to take place Monday and Hernandez is being held on $5,000 bail.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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