Mission Viejo Teller Accused of Stealing $70,000 to Pay Gambling Debt

A Mission Viejo man was arrested for grand theft Monday on suspicion of stealing about $72,000 from the credit union where he worked.

Alexander Baduria Flores has been a teller for three years, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Flores' bosses noticed about $72,000 that should have been with the teller.

"According to their records, no money was going out," the police spokesman said.

When his boss told him to put the money into the vault, Flores said he would take care of it after a bathroom break, Amormino said.

But the teller never returned, Amormino said.

He later called his bosses and said he had been taking the money over the course of a month. He lost money gambling, and said he meant to pay the bank back by gambling more, according to Amormino.

Flores then arranged a meeting with his bosses Monday. Before the meeting ever took place, police arrested him in the parking lot.

Flores is the main suspect in a similar theft in 2007 from Wescom Federal Credit Union in Temecula, Amormino said.