Former Employees Arrested for Embezzling Around $75,000 from Ventura Liquor Store

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Two former employees at a local liquor store have been arrested for embezzling an estimated $75,000.

On Sep. 30, 2025, deputies were dispatched to Happy Place Liquor on Los Angeles Avenue in Ventura and the business owner shared they had been losing a notable amount of money over the course of the previous several months stated a press release Monday from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

The owner estimated the loss at their business at approximately $75,000 and investigators began processing months of video surveillance footage and documentation provided by the liquor store detailed the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

According to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, investigators identified two former employees -a 23-year-old Oxnard woman and a 26-year-old who was living in Medford, Oregon- as the suspects responsible for embezzling money from the business.

Surveillance footage captured the former employees taking money directly from the store's register on multiple times over several months and the investigation also revealed that the duo were fraudulently getting lottery tickets from the liquor store and redeeming winning tickets for cash explained the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.

On Sep. 24, 2026, deputies located and arrested the 23-year-old in the 5500 block of Cypress Road in Oxnard and she was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility for embezzlement shared the sheriff's office.

Detectives obtained a warrant for the 26-year-old who had moved to Oregon and officers with Medford Police Department arrested her before she was extradited to back to California noted the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.