Vancouver man sentenced to 20 months for embezzling $400,000

A Vancouver man was sentenced Monday to 20 months in federal prison for embezzling $400,000 from a San Diego-based investment company.

Derick Jonathan Cameron, 38, previously pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to a charge of wire fraud from when he was employed as a financial controller for RAL Investment Corporation.

Cameron admitted to issuing more than 200 unauthorized checks to himself using the company’s chief financial officer’s electronic signature and depositing them in his personal bank account, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He altered the company’s accounting records to make it appear that the checks were issued to a vendor for business expenses.

The company fired Cameron after discovering the fraud in April 2018 and reported him to law enforcement when he did not repay the company on the agreed-upon schedule.

U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson also ordered three years of supervised release and an $8,000 fine. Cameron had already repaid the company $200,000, a news release states, and the judge ordered he pay the rest of the money he stole. He is required to pay $10,000 of that by March 12.

“The impact of fraud on small businesses can be devastating,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in the news release. “This defendant abused his position of trust to enrich himself, and he has been held to account for his crime.”

Cameron must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by March 14.