She helped steal $1M from Zirkle Fruit; now the bill has come due

The ringleader behind a nearly $1 million theft from Zirkle Fruit Company will spend five years and eight months in prison for the payroll scheme.

Norma Ruth Garza, 52, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Benton County Superior Court to charges of leading organized crime and four counts of forgery.

Judge Cameron Mitchell went along with the sentence that was part of the plea agreement. He also ordered her to pay the full restitution of $864,646.62.

Garza didn't have anything to say to Mitchell other than admitting her guilt. Her case is the first of 11 to be resolved.

The whereabouts of her fellow bookkeeper and that woman’s husband and father are unknown.

The remaining family and friends allegedly involved in the years-long scam have pending trial dates.

Zirkle Fruit, a Selah-based company, is one of the largest apple and cherry operations in Eastern Washington.

The embezzlement only came to light after Garza and Maria Teresa Galarza both were off on payday. Garza was taking bereavement time because her son had been killed, and Galarza was on scheduled vacation.

The bookkeepers worked out of the Paterson branch office. They issued paychecks to “phantom” employees, or people whose names were on the payroll list even though they never performed actual work, according to court documents.

It was during their absence that the manager of a Finley ranch questioned why he’d been given 10 extra checks for non-employees.

Both women tried to avoid any suspicion by calling in that day and claiming there had been a mistake, but their unusual behavior brought on further attention and sparked an investigation of the company’s payroll, documents said.

The investigation dated back to April 2010, and reportedly totaled $956,153 in fraudulent paychecks.

Garza’s husband, Enrique Barriga Moreno, allegedly received the most paychecks at 289, while also cashing 272 separate checks under his alias Daniel Alvarez. His trial is Jan. 29.

David Prado has a Dec. 12 trial date.

Esmeralda, Marisela and Mario Prado all have Jan. 29 trial dates, along with Jennifer Marie Barriga. And Veronica Araceli Garza, who also goes by Veronica Salinas, is scheduled for trial Feb. 12.

Galarza and her husband, Geronimo Marquez Galarza, both have no-bail warrants on charges of forgery and theft.

Juan Antonio Ulloa, the father of Maria Galarza, is wanted on a $5,000 warrant for theft and forgery charges.

In June, after charges were filed against the 11 co-defendants, Zirkle Fruit issued a prepared statement to the Herald saying the company was cooperating with authorities in the criminal cases, and that “civil collection proceedings will follow.”

The company also said the theft in this case was isolated to one ranch, and that “controls have been implemented to protect against future such operations.”

Garza left her Grandview home during the theft ring investigation because the murder of her son had caused friction with her husband, her lawyer previously said.

She traveled to Florida and Arizona, then went to Mexico to get dental work. She was arrested in Southern California just five miles from the Mexican border.

Garza’s prison sentence was at the top of the standard range for her crimes.

This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 4:11 PM with the headline "She helped steal $1M from Zirkle Fruit; now the bill has come due."