An investigation by the State Attorney’s Office and Ormond Beach police led to the arrest last week of Samantha Rae Link, a 31-year-old Daytona Beach resident and former accountant at Security First Insurance, on two first-degree felony counts of fraud and grand theft.
The investigation revealed that Link allegedly stole $1.5 million from the Ormond Beach insurance company. Link is being held at the Volusia Branch Jail and faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
Link allegedly stole the money through 34 wire transfers of between $6,500 and $91,000 each, between Jan. 7, 2022 and last July 2. She started relatively small, wiring amounts of $6,500 or $12,000, then made much larger transfers as time went on, using the company’s business Truist Bank account, into her personal Wells Fargo account. She used at least two other additional accounts to conduct transactions–at Evolve Bank & Trust and Sutton Bank–but mostly used the Wells Fargo account. The exact amount she transferred was $1,474,564.91, or an average transaction of $43,370.
Link “held a position of trust, in the role of accountant,” the investigation stated, granting her “full capability to alter the beneficiary account number.”
Security First Insurance was established in 2006. Company President Melissa DeVriese and Chief Financial Officer Scot Moore went to the Ormond Beach
Police Department after discovering questionable and unauthorized transfers from the company’s account, according to the investigation. The account number was soon connected to Link: she had provided her Wells Fargo account number to her employer as part of her employee records, so making the connection was not difficult. In fact, Link had used her own registered user ID number assigned her by her employer, along with her own handle: Slink (for S. Link).
She did attempt to hide her role by listing beneficiaries of the transfers as being the company’s usual vendors, among them Amazon, Lenderdock Inc. and Maprisk, companies normally paid by the insurer on a monthly basis. Link’s own salary had never exceeded $70,000 in her years of work at the company, according to the investigation.
Once company officials discovered the thefts, they obtained court orders to stop the loss, freezing the money in the Wells Fargo account. It isn’t clear how much of the money was frozen and how much was spent. “By July 25th, 2023, the remaining funds of $106,162.13 were frozen for investigation,” the arrest report states. “Once discovering the repetitive massive loss,” the report states, “Link was relieved of her trusted duties as accountant and terminated from having any other means of handling funds on behalf of Security First Insurance.”
Link had been a resident of Apartment 3202 at 2351 North Williamson Boulevard at the time of her arrest by Daytona Beach police. Circuit Judge Matthew Foxman had signed the warrant and placed Link’s bond at $650,000.
“The Seventh Circuit State Attorney’s Office has a dedicated and very effective White-Collar Crime unit,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said. “We are fortunate to have an excellent partnership with the Ormond Beach Police Department, and together we solved an economic crime of massive proportions.”
ASF says
Perhaps her defense will be “extreme emotional disturbance” due to the pressures of not being able to pay her homeowner’s insurance bill.
Diah Ria-Jones says
I love to see this. strong work FlaglerLive.
bill says
she will go to jail what about the corrupt bidens who did the same thing
wicked crime family joe and family lets see what happens to these
ungodly people
Atwp says
Bill, Trump and his family are the perfect white angles. They never did anything wrong. Indictment multiple times.
TR says
bill, I’m not sure what the legal system will do to her. I hope she gets jail time if proven that she did with what she is being charged of. But I do think IMO nothing will happen to the (as you put it)wicked crime family Joe and family. You and I (and everyone else who has a brain) sees that the charges against Joe and his family members will be swept under the run. All this non sense charges against trump is to take away the focus on what the administration is doing now. The American people are not that stupid to not be able to figure out what is happening. Couple examples: Hunter’s laptop, the coke in the most secure and protected building in America, a so called leader that takes millions of money from over seas. Besides, an indictments doesn’t mean guilty as far as I know. I hope the court system starts doing the right thing to everyone equally regardless of who they are. Weather your a male or female, White, Black, Hispanic or any other. The thing most important is that the facts of the case be brought out in court and any sentence be handed down. But hey one can dream I guess.
Eva says
Well if they “do the right thing”, the corrupt con man who actually managed to get into office will be convicted on the base of all the evidence, that you can HEAR with your own ears, of inciting an insurrection and plotting to overturn a fair election. We can only dream and pray that the blinded brainwashed can open their minds long enough to accept the reality. At least they are in the minority…
And God bless Joe Biden and his Administration that knew what to do to get us back on track in the midst of all the pandemic chaos and evil plotting to overturn our democracy. God bless America.
TR says
If you think Joe Biden and his administration got us on the right track, your correct. it’s the track of destruction and the train can’t stop until he’s out of the WH and behind the walls of 3 square meals and a cot.