Former Rancho Mirage Man Caught in Philippines, Extradited on Valley Embezzlement Charges

A man wanted since 2009 for allegedly embezzling more than $650,000 from a Coachella Valley construction company was behind bars Saturday after being caught in the Philippines.

Former Rancho Mirage resident Michael William Barnett, 51, was returned to the United States on Thursday to face criminal charges.

Barnett was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where he is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail.

He is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

District Attorney's spokesman John Hall said that Barnett and another man formed a general partnership company called Brandon Construction in 2004, and the net profits were to be split evenly between them, along with an additional $1,000 per week for each. Barnett's wife, Bettina, did the bookkeeping, and the company operated from October 2004 until dissolving in July 2006.

Afterward, the man who started the company with Barnett learned he had no access to the company bank records. Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigators learned that the Barnetts were "moving large sums of money between personal and business accounts in an attempt to hide company profits," Hall alleged.

The couple had 24 bank accounts through six financial institutions. Financial records showed the Barnetts allegedly received payments from Brandon Construction customers that should have gone to the company. A financial analysis determined that $656,000 was embezzled from Brandon over 21 months, Hall said.

In April 2012, Bettina Barnett pled guilty to one felony count of embezzlement and was sentenced to 180 days in custody and five years of probation.

Hall said District Attorney's investigators and members of the Pacific Regional Fugitive Task Force learned in 2009 that Barnett had fled to the Philippines. Last month, Barnett was found in Manila and held in a Homeland Security immigration facility for illegal entry into the Philippines.

Earlier this month, a judge in the Philippines authorized Barnett's deportation to the United States for a Riverside County charge of one felony count of embezzlement, Hall said.