The owner of Orange-based Web design firm Sistonia Corp., who is accused of bilking a Michigan bank out of $60,000 and moving to California under a false identity, failed to show up for her arraignment last week and by all accounts has abandoned the business.
Midland County, Mich., authorities say Sandra Maybee, known by her employees and Orange County customers as Candice Sherman, is now a fugitive.
Sherman did not return messages left for her at Sistonia, and neither police nor employees knew where she is. Her Michigan lawyer,who police say has acknowledged that Candice Sherman and Sandra Maybee are the same person,did not return phone calls.
Her case has not gone before a judge or jury, but if convicted, Maybee faces up to 14 years in prison on any of the counts. Sentences in Michigan are served concurrently, meaning she would serve a maximum of 14 years, even if convicted on all four counts she is charged with.
Though prosecutors plan no additional charges for her failure to appear, they said it will weigh heavily against her when a judge sets bail.
The woman had insisted she wasn’t Maybee, saying police were harassing her to reach their real target. According to Michigan County prosecutors, Maybee has been convicted of embezzling her former employer, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Midland County, and had served a probation sentence before taking the Sherman name and moving to Orange County. In the most recent charges, prosecutors accuse her of writing fraudulent checks totaling about $60,000.
Stunned employees, meanwhile, have shut down the business and say they haven’t seen her since a story ran in last week’s Business Journal disclosing the Michigan accusations. Several said the company owes them money and probably will not finish projects.
Customers included South County Business Digest, Churm Publishing, iGolfShops, itradecards.com, FootballHelmets.com, Accessguide.net and Interactjobs.com.
Former Sistonia spokesman Matt Cunningham, who resigned, said he hasn’t seen his former boss and doesn’t know where she is. Cunningham said he and most other employees, who were initially reluctant to cooperate with police, now believe the charges have merit.
Michigan authorities tracked Maybee down after seeing Sistonia’s Web site, which had republished an earlier OC Business Journal profile that mentioned Maybee’s daughter, Gina Maybee, and Sistonia’s Michigan ties.
After e-mailing Maybee’s Michigan driver’s license picture to people in Orange County who knew Sherman and identified the picture as her, police concluded the two were the same person.
“She obviously is a very bright person and had her staff completely fooled,” Rettig said, adding that he’s received several calls from employees who had been uncooperative before but are now anxious about getting back pay. “If only they had believed me when I told them two months ago.”
