Police: Former accountant at local insurance company charged in $1.4 million embezzlement scheme

Charles Frazier
·1 min read

A Daytona Beach woman was arrested Wednesday, accused of embezzling more than a million dollars from a local insurance company.

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Investigators with the Ormond Beach Police Department began their investigation into 30-yearrold Samantha Rae Link back in July after representatives from Security First Insurance arrived at the station to report suspicious activity on the company’s account.

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The company’s President and Chief Financial Officer reported that a large amount of funds had been sent to a questionable unauthorized account number.

Investigators eventually connected the account to Link, who had been an accountant for the company. They also found other bank accounts Link used to transfer funds from the company to herself.

Samantha Rae Link, 30, charged with grand theft of over $100,000 and organized scheme to defraud over $50,000.
Samantha Rae Link, 30, charged with grand theft of over $100,000 and organized scheme to defraud over $50,000.

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As the company’s accountant, police say Link was fully capable of altering the beneficiary account numbers to send funds to her own personal Wells Fargo Bank account.

In all, police say Link made 34 fraudulent transactions between January of 2022 and July of 2023 totaling $1,474,564.

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Link was fired after the company learned of the mishandled funds.

In conjunction with the Seventh Circuit State Attorney’s Office, Ormond Beach Police arrested link on charges of grand theft over $100,000 and carrying out an organized scheme to defraud over $50,000. She’s being held in the Volusia County Jail on a total of $650,000 bond.

“The teamwork and professionalism shown by our investigators and the prosecutors at the State Attorney’s Office are a true testament that offenders will be brought to justice,” Ormond Beach Police Chief Jesse Godfrey said in a statement. “I couldn’t be prouder of their combined efforts!”

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