"This serves as a warning to people that would go out and commit these kind of frauds that you will be found out sooner or later..., and if you are prosecuted either criminally or civilly, there may be severe consequences," Brown said after the trial.
"I really saw her as a friend," Amber Gilbert testified."She worked very hard to gain our trust. She was very kind to my son. We all loved her. She was like family.", which allows small businesses to transfer and receive payments.She set up the Melio account using her company email address but falsely represented that she was Superior Fence's accountant, its lawsuit alleged.
Superior Fence's owner discovered Padilla's alleged wrongdoing when she took time off during her last month of employment, Gilbert said. Vendors notified the company that they were not being paid. She had receipts showing the vendors had been paid, but they told her the account numbers and merchant identification numbers weren't theirs.
Court records show Padilla has been indicted three times in Bexar County -- unrelated to her employment at Superior Fence -- and charged multiple times in El Paso County, where she previously lived under the surnames Padilla and Puga.