Salon bilked out of $245,000

A Newport Beach woman will appear in court Monday on charges of embezzling more than $245,000 from a local hair salon, with which she was associated as a bookkeeper for at least 15 years.

Bethany Jane Brady, 43, is charged with felony counts of grand theft, identity theft, computer fraud and money laundering with enhancements for causing losses in excess of $200,000.

Prosecutors said that between October 2006 and August of this year, Brady skewed the books at Hampton Salon, 301 Bayview Circle in Newport Beach.

The business paid her $250 a month, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney’s office. Prosecutors said Brady used the salon’s checking account to pay her utility bills and also opened a PayPal account with her name but using the salon’s bank account. She transferred money from the salon to her PayPal account and used her PayPal account to pay her credit card, authorities said.

Salon owners noticed the missing money last month when the business was audited. They saw a $245,000 discrepancy, and police arrested Brady.

Brady had been keeping the salon’s books for at least 15 years, the first 13 of which she worked for an accounting firm hired by Hampton Salon. The salon hired her for the $250 monthly fee after the firm had fired her, officials said.

Brady faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted of all charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Santa Ana’s Central Jail Complex. She is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. To post bail she must prove that the unaccounted for money and jump in income came from a legal and legitimate source, authorities said.