Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

The Chavez home on Prospect Road stands out from its neighbors in grandeur.

Saratogan is accused of embezzling $18 million

By Cecily Barnes

Before Gilbert and Cheryl Chavez were implicated in an $18 million embezzlement crime, they lived with their two teenage children on Prospect Road in Saratoga. Cheryl worked as an accountant, Gilbert as a pipe-fitter.

In early October, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office charged Cheryl Chavez with embezzling $18 million from her boss, Carl Berg, a builder and venture capitalist in San Jose. Both Cheryl Chavez and her husband, Gilbert, who were charged with possession of stolen property and tax evasion, have been in custody since Oct. 11. Their bail is set at $12 million each.

Chavez was Berg's accountant for eight years, during which time she and her husband lived an extravagant lifestyle, flying between their luxurious homes in Saratoga and Hawaii in their own Lear jets. Although media reports of the couple have portrayed them as greedy and ostentatious, a close friend of the Chavezes came forward to paint a different picture.

Years ago, the couple owned Orchard Spa Salon, next to Happy Donuts in Saratoga. A former hairdresser at the salon, who agreed to be interviewed for this story on the condition her name be withheld, said the Chavezes sort of adopted her, including her in holiday festivities and trips to Hawaii and Tahoe.

"When I worked for them, I was treated very well," she said. "They paid good salaries and had good medical benefits."

She described the Chavezes as good employers. Cheryl was kind-hearted, charitable and the last person you'd expect to steal that kind of money, the hairdresser said.

"The whole thing is bizarre," she said. "Cheryl was a good mother, a good wife and a good friend. It's just so hard to believe she would do something like that."

The hairdresser described the Chavezes as modern-day Robin Hoods, recalling their charitable nature and tendency to bail people out of financial predicaments. "Knowing her as a person and a friend, she was a good person," she said. "Boy, if she is guilty, she fooled a lot of people for a lot of years."

The hairdresser's greatest concern was for the Chavezes' two teenage children. They're the innocent victims in this whole situation, she said sadly. According to the hairdresser, the two children are being taken care of by their uncle. Gilbert and Cheryl Chavez are still in custody.

Dennis Lempert, Gilbert Chavez's attorney, said a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Cheryl's attorney, Harry Delizonna, said there's quite a bit to do before then. "There are 40 boxes of documents the district attorney sent," Delizonna said. "It will obviously take an enormous amount of time to review 40 boxes of documents."