A Taylorsville woman is facing over 100 felony counts for stealing over $100,000 from the rental management company where she worked, primarily by swiping rent checks from renters and transferring them into her account or cashing them for herself.
Malisha Alei Fasavalu, 34, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with theft by deceit and communications fraud, all second-degree crimes, as well as 102 counts of possessing a forgery device, a third-degree felony.
Related posts
In January, Fasavalu was fired from her job at Real Property Management and “was found to have checks owed to the company in her possession on the day of her termination,” according to charging documents.
Fasavalu was fired from her work at Real Property Management in January and “was found to have checks owed to the company in her possession on the day of her termination,” according to court documents.
According to the accusations, Fasavalu had several clients pay her in person and write checks in her name. She allegedly cashed the checks at several grocery stores and businesses in Salt Lake County.
“Between November 2023 and January 2025, a total of 85 different checks were deposited into Fasavalu’s account, amounting to $66,630.83,” according to the charges. “Further, between February 2025 and April 2025, an additional 17 checks were mobile deposited into Fasavalu’s account. The total amount of those checks was $31,927.19. All 102 checks related to both in-person and mobile deposits have been altered.
“The total amount of money obtained through fraudulent checks, resulting in a loss for Real Property Management, is $98,558.02,” the charges allege.
Fasavalu was also charged with forgery in three other cases filed last year in Salt Lake and Tooele counties.
In one case, Fasavalu worked for Evergreen Management Group and cashed rent payments collected from tenants, according to charging documents. It was reported that “Fasavalu would target tenants who struggled writing in English and would have them hand her blank checks or money orders which she would then fill out in her own name and cash,” the charges state.
