Contact:

Wendy Macfarlane, Senior Deputy District Attorney

(805) 662-1718

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Jennifer Joann Zito (DOB 10/8/73), of Chatsworth, was arrested on a 16-count felony complaint charging multiple counts of embezzlement, grand theft and filing false income tax returns.

The criminal complaint is the result of a joint investigation by the Simi Valley Police Department, the State of California Franchise Tax Board and the Ventura County District Attorney's Office Bureau of Investigation.

While working as the bookkeeper for Simi Valley Cycles from 2001 through 2006, Jennifer Zito embezzled money, equipment and vehicles from the business with the total loss in excess of $700,000. Additionally, Zito failed to report this income on her state income tax returns.

Zito was taken into custody without incident on July 22, 2009, on an arrest warrant issued by Ventura County Superior Court Judge John Smiley. She was booked into the Ventura County Sheriff's Department main jail with bail set at $200,000.