Sentencing is Friday for Irvine firm embezzler

A 36-year-old man convicted of embezzling more than $1.9 million from an Irvine-based architecture firm is scheduled to appear for sentencing Friday.

Salvatory Josef Fulwider of Yorba Linda pled guilty to 48 felonies, including grand theft, making false entries in records or returns, and acts constituting forgery with sentencing enhancement for damages exceeding $100,000, fraud or embezzlement exceeding $500,000 and theft exceeding $150,000, court records show.

Fulwider was the financial controller for McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners Inc., between November 2003 and March 2009, and was responsible for corporate finances as well as the personal finances of one of the company’s owners, according to a February 2010 news release from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Fulwider stole $1.3 million from the personal account of one of the firm’s owners, Carl McLarand, the release said.

In December 2008, the firm became suspicious of Fulwider’s handling of company business when one of the firm’s owners had a corporate credit card rejected. Fulwider is believed to have forged bank statements to show that he paid the due balance of the credit card when he did not. He is also believed to have falsified McLarand’s personal finance records to create the appearance that transfers between Fulwider’s account and McLarand’s were personal purchases made by McLarand.

The maximum sentence Fulwider faces is 44 years and three months in state prison. He is scheduled to appear at the Harbor Justice Center.