Police have connected Saidah Christina Byars to the theft of thousands of dollars from a company’s workers, leading to her arrest. She has now been charged with grand theft, organized fraud, and fraudulent use of identification.
In March, the 35-year-old payroll supervisor was employed by Mr. Hospitality Group, headquartered at 999 Brickell Ave. The company then started to get complaints from employees who said they had not received their paychecks.
Management initially thought there was a problem with the new payroll system the company was using, but within the next few weeks, they discovered that over ten current and terminated employees had had their direct deposit information changed to two PNC Bank accounts, according to a Miami Police Department arrest report, Local10 reported.
After conducting an internal audit, the company’s IT department discovered that the Miami native had changed the direct deposit using her personal email address.
According to police, the two bank accounts were connected to her email.
The arrest report stated that Byars received multiple payments totaling between $518.29 and $1,596.41, resulting in a loss of $46,135.21 for the victims.
According to the police, the money was swiftly taken out of her accounts through Cash App payments, ATM withdrawals, and debit card transactions at different establishments.
The report claims that Byars learned that her access to the payroll system had been taken away when she last reported for duty at Mr. Hospitality Group on May 19.
According to police, she walked out of the workplace and no one from the company could ever reach her again.
However, a detective captured and transported her to the Miami Police Department for questioning on Tuesday.
Byars denied stealing the money, according to the police, and claimed that her supervisor had authorized all payroll-related modifications. She further stated that she had a shared computer at the company that anybody could use.
As of Wednesday, Byars was still in custody at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where her total bond was still pending.
