WOODWAY — The caregiver for the owner of a Lynnwood car dealership paid herself over $670,000 in fraudulent checks, prosecutors allege.
Sheila Saluquen, 51, runs RAZ Caregiving, according to the charges filed late last month in Snohomish County Superior Court. Starting in 2021, she served as a caregiver in Woodway for the owner of the dealership, an 82-year-old man, and his wife, who has dementia.
The couple paid Saluquen, of Lynnwood, between $8,000 and $9,000 per month, divided into two checks, the charges say.
But in April of this year, a woman who helps the couple manage some of their affairs called police. She noticed her boss’s bank account was overdrawn. Along with the couple’s accountant, she reviewed their finances and found Saluquen had been cashing four or five checks per month, according to court papers.
The cashed checks appeared illegitimate, the charges state. Many of the check numbers were duplicates. They had the accountant’s signature, but she hadn’t signed them. They also had a logo that read: “Stephanie Ryan. Courtesy of MHS Licensing.” Ryan designs checks that can be bought online.
They found over $570,000 worth of fraudulent checks dating back to February 2023, according to court documents.
In an email to the employee who discovered the issue, Saluquen reportedly apologized and took full responsibility. She asked for forgiveness and “not to be put in jail so that she could spend time with her family,” deputy prosecutor Michael Boska wrote in the charges. She asked for time to refinance her home loan so she could pay the money back. She offered to pay $5,000 per month.
The 82-year-old man fired Saluquen, according to court papers.
A Woodway police detective later found 160 forged checks deposited between December 2022 and April 2024 and totaling more than $674,000, prosecutors allege. The defendant’s bank account showed a lot of activity at casinos.
On Oct. 2, police arrested Saluquen. When the detective told her the amount of fraud found, Saluquen said she believed it was closer to $100,000, according to court papers.
“I’m sorry, I messed up,” she reportedly told police.
Saluquen reported she needed to pay off debts and had been caught up in gambling, the charges say. She said she’d asked for a raise in 2022 and the man refused.
She added she found checks in drawers in his home while cleaning and stole them, according to court papers.
On Oct. 12, Saluquen posted $25,000 bond and was released from the Snohomish County Jail after over a week in custody. A couple weeks later, prosecutors charged her with first-degree identity theft and forgery.
She has no criminal history, court records indicate.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; X: @GoldsteinStreet.
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