A Ventura County man is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a center which runs clinical drug trials.
Gabriel Garcia was operations manager for Coastal Metabolic Research Center in Ventura. Ventura County prosecutors say he issued checks to people, and providers who didn’t exist, and then deposited them in his personal accounts.
The 52-year-old Camarillo man is accused of stealing nearly $450,000.
Garcia is charged with grant theft, fraud, and 19 forgery counts. He pled not guilty to the charges. If convicted on all counts, he could face more than 15 years in state prison.
