Crime & Safety

Trial Starts Today for La Jolla Bookkeeper Accused of Embezzling $3M

Tara Virginia Moore is also accused of embezzling money the former Jack's La Jolla, from a second business and from her former mother-in-law.

Opening statements are scheduled today in the trial of a woman accused of stealing more than $3 million from a La Jolla restaurant and nightclub where she worked as a bookkeeper.

Tara Virginia Moore is also accused of embezzling money from a second business and from her former mother-in-law.

Detectives in 2011 seized more than $400,000 worth of antiques, furniture, paintings, exotic Italian silk curtains from Moore's home -- items that police allege were bought with embezzled funds.

Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Moore, who filed for bankruptcy in 2009, was identified as a suspect during a yearlong investigation into monetary losses at Jack's La Jolla, a high- end restaurant-bar that closed in 2009.

The alleged fraud came to light when the owner of Jack's hired a forensic accountant to examine the restaurant's financial records dating back to 2003, prosecutor Bill Mitchell said.

Find out what's happening in La Jollawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Moore's attorney, Paul Pfingst, said Moore was actually loaning some of her own money to help keep Jack's afloat.

—City News Service


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