Avon woman accused of being an accessory to hit-and-run fatality also faces felony charges in embezzlement case
Avon resident Stephanie Whitmarsh, out on bond for allegedly helping her daughter flee the state following the hit-and-run accident that killed bicyclist Mario Vildozola Romero in January, has been arrested and charged in another felony case for allegedly stealing from her employer.
The details of the second case date back roughly one year before the arrest of Whitmarsh’s daughter, 24-year-old Sidney Whitmarsh. Avon police opened an investigation into Stephanie Whitmarsh, 46, in March 2023 following a theft complaint from her employer.
According to an arrest affidavit for Stephanie Whitmarsh, Avon Police Detective Theresa Reno first contacted Stephanie Whitmarsh about the theft accusation on April 3, about two weeks after her daughter was arrested in Arkansas. Reno had received records from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment showing Whitmarsh to have earned $108,870 between October 2021 and September 2022, with her employer telling police that total was suspicious because it was more than double her previous year’s income.
Stephanie Whitmarsh, during the April 3 interview, stated that she had taken on more management roles with the company and had been performing tasks from home.
Stephanie Whitmarsh was then arrested and charged on April 29 as an accomplice to her daughter’s alleged crime, with prosecutors alleging she helped Sidney escape detection by “driving her halfway to Arkansas” and driving to the scene of the crime to ensure “you can’t see anything from the road,” according to statements made in court on April 30. She faces felony charges for accessory to crime, tampering with physical evidence and concealing death. Stephanie Whitmarsh was released a day later on a $10,000 bond.
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During a follow-up interview in July, regarding the theft accusations, Reno said Stephanie Whitmarsh “had changed her statements” on the management work and amount of work performed from her home, according to the affidavit.
Reno said in reviewing the information supplied by Stephanie Whitmarsh, her employer, and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Reno found four areas of fraudulent activity including double billed hours; unaccounted hours and mileage billed; unauthorized use of a business credit card and reimbursement of personal spending; and billing hours when out of town.
“There is probable cause that Ms. Whitmarsh committed the criminal act of unauthorized use of a financial device, a class-4 felony, on 55 separate occasions” totaling $3,983.04 according to the affidavit.
There is also probable cause that Whitmarsh committed the criminal act of theft, a class-4 felony, when Whitmarsh double billed her hours, logged unaccounted time and milage, and submitted fraudulent expense reimbursement on personal merchandise, totaling $44,047.41, according to the affidavit.
Stephanie Whitmarsh also faces a charge of cybercrime-unauthorized access, a class-4 felony, for accessing the company’s computer network without authorization and logging “fraudulent time clock entries for time not scheduled, such as days off or out of town on vacation,” according to the affidavit.
Stephanie Whitmarsh was arrested on Aug. 8 for the theft, unauthorized use of a financial device and cybercrime-unauthorized access charges and released on a $5,000 bond that same day.
Stephanie Whitmarsh is scheduled to appear in court for both cases on Nov. 12.
Sidney Whitmarsh was arrested in March in Arkansas. She faces a pair of felony charges after being accused of hitting and killing Romero with her car and leaving the scene during the early morning hours of Jan. 7. In her most recent court appearance, Sidney Whitmarsh’s attorney, Coleen O’Leary, told Judge Inga Causey that her client has rejected a plea deal of 30 years in the Department of Corrections.
