ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. ???A 30-year veteran former SeaWorld employee was arrested, accused of stealing more than $100,000 in cash from her former employer.
Officials said the suspect, Lisa Olivardia, 50, may have been pocketing money for years.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but she knows right from wrong, you're not supposed to steal," said neighbor Barbara Turner.
On Saturday, the former 30-year SeaWorld employee was arrested for grand theft and scheming to defraud her employer out of more than $100,000 in cash.
"It appears she used her underlings for her own financial gain," said Jane Watrel with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Olivardia was a supervisor in guest relations and SeaWorld's Aquatica Waterpark. Over a period of at least three years, sheriff's investigators said she voided all or part of group ticket sales then kept the money.
"She would go up to the subordinate and say, 'You can go on break now' and instead of logging them off the computer, kept it open to void the transactions and keep large amounts of cash," Watrel said.
Investigators said a company vice president noticed Olivardia had triple the amount of voided transactions of any other supervisor, studied surveillance footage and went to law enforcement.
According to investigators, Olivardia tried to minimize what she'd done then allegedly admitted what happened. According to arrest papers, she said "I did it all."
"She said it was to pay the mortgage or for her child's education, but it appears she was just spending the cash. No receipts," Watrel said.
In an email, SeaWorld told WESH 2 News:
"We have extensive security measures in place, including pre-employment criminal background checks and ongoing proactive measures within our parks to identify this type of activity."
Officials said the suspect, Lisa Olivardia, 50, may have been pocketing money for years.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but she knows right from wrong, you're not supposed to steal," said neighbor Barbara Turner.
On Saturday, the former 30-year SeaWorld employee was arrested for grand theft and scheming to defraud her employer out of more than $100,000 in cash.
"It appears she used her underlings for her own financial gain," said Jane Watrel with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Olivardia was a supervisor in guest relations and SeaWorld's Aquatica Waterpark. Over a period of at least three years, sheriff's investigators said she voided all or part of group ticket sales then kept the money.
"She would go up to the subordinate and say, 'You can go on break now' and instead of logging them off the computer, kept it open to void the transactions and keep large amounts of cash," Watrel said.
Investigators said a company vice president noticed Olivardia had triple the amount of voided transactions of any other supervisor, studied surveillance footage and went to law enforcement.
According to investigators, Olivardia tried to minimize what she'd done then allegedly admitted what happened. According to arrest papers, she said "I did it all."
"She said it was to pay the mortgage or for her child's education, but it appears she was just spending the cash. No receipts," Watrel said.
In an email, SeaWorld told WESH 2 News:
"We have extensive security measures in place, including pre-employment criminal background checks and ongoing proactive measures within our parks to identify this type of activity."
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