A former assistant to Punta Gorda businessman Bruce Laishley has been arrested for allegedly stealing over $200,000 from his real estate company, Laishley USA.
According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Kristina Parrish was arrested on Thursday, and faces one count of grand theft over $100,000.
Watch Fox 4’s Charlotte County Community Correspondent Alex Orenczuk report on Kristina Parrish’s arrest:
Former Bruce Laishley employee arrested for stealing over $200k of company funds
The charges stem from when Parrish was working as Laishley’s assistant at Laishley USA, from approximately Aug. 2021 to Oct. 2023. The probable cause affidavit states that Laishley and other employees noticed company money was missing in May 2024, and traced the missing funds to “several personal unauthorized transactions” that Parrish allegedly made totalling $200,444.39.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Parrish and found that she had used the company’s Bank OZK account to make various personal expenditures including paying for utility bills, credit cards, car loans, dentist appointments and college tuition for her child among several other transactions.