A federal jury in San Diego on Monday convicted an accountant of four counts related to a fire — and the subsequent cover-up — that caused $3.5 million in damage to her off-road business. employer, prosecutors said.
Carey Alice Hernandez, 46, was found guilty of malicious destruction by arson, witness tampering and making false statements in connection with the March 28, 2019, fire that burned an off-road warehouse on Balboa Avenue near Convoy Street.
Prosecutors said Hernandez set the building on fire before an audit revealed that more than $744,000 in company funds disappeared under her watch between January 2015 and March 2019. She then lied to federal investigators and tried to convince other company employees that a car seen on surveillance footage from the morning of the fire was not his.
“While it is extremely fortunate that no one was physically injured in this fire, this is a devastating loss for the company,” U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a press release after the sentencing . “This defendant used arson, witness tampering and deception to put the community in danger, but the jury held her accountable.”
Hernandez’s attorney, Keith Rutman, was not available for comment Tuesday.
According to prosecutors, the owner of Off Road Warehouse, which sells auto parts and off-road equipment, decided in late 2018 to sell his business.
Before the sale was finalized, the owner of Off Road Warehouse told investigators that Hernandez was “concerned about the sale,” according to a court document filed by prosecutors.
Prosecutors said that, in an attempt to prevent the sale, fraudulent emails were sent to the potential buyer from an IP address connected to Off Road Warehouse and Hernandez’s home, indicating that a lawsuit was pending. course against the company.
Hernandez also wrote a private email to a co-worker expressing her displeasure with the sale. She also said she would “go out with a bang,” according to court documents.
On the morning of the fire, prosecutors said Hernandez went to the 12,700-square-foot building in Kearny Mesa around 1:15 a.m. and started the fire, burning the business to the ground along with everything in it. was inside, prosecutors said.
The fire was later determined to be the result of two fires started at the business using combustible materials and a flammable liquid, prosecutors said in court documents.
It was the second fire at the warehouse in just four months.
The defense argued in court that Hernandez did not start the fire because she could not believe that burning the building would have prevented an audit and the discovery of the missing funds.
Rutman also said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to link Hernandez to the fake emails or other evidence.
But prosecutors said detectives found surveillance video showing someone coming and going from the scene in an “SUV with dark rims.” Local surveillance video also showed the SUV with dark rims heading to and from Hernandez’s house around the same time in the early morning.
The day after the fire, Hernández read the description of the vehicle provided by investigators. She texted other employees to try to convince them that the rims on her car were a different color than those seen on the SUV in the video, prosecutors said.
A team of at least 25 agents and experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called in to help local firefighters investigate the case. officials said at the time.
Hernandez is expected to be sentenced in July.
Staff writer Alex Riggins contributed to this report.
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