Court documents: More than $1 million allegedly embezzled from Philtek

Dear Readers: We apologize for the delay in reporting the details of the criminal allegations against Darren Wayne Alaniz. We originally planned to publish online, Sept. 8, an extended version of our initial story that we published in our Aug. 31 edition, but chose instead to hold it for publication as we initially said we would in today's edition. Shortly after charges were filed in district court, Brad Boles of Marlow, reached out to The Review with a statement. We reported the information we had at that time. We would rather delay a longer story in order to have all the facts. We do not publish rumors, opinions or social media claims. We also do not acknowledge unsigned letters to the editor. The facts set forth in this article are from court records provided by District Attorney Jason Hicks.

Darren Wayne Alaniz, 37, of Duncan, was charged with six counts of embezzlement on Aug. 29, in Stephens County District Court. Documents were provided to the Sixth District Attorney's Chief Investigator Justin Scott in June 2023, by DA Jason Hicks, to proceed with a criminal investigation for the "wrongful taking of monies from Philtek Services, owned by Brad Boles and Kris Boles." Each count is for a specific time period, punishable by up to 8 years in prison.

Alaniz had been employed from 2017 to July 2022, at which time Brad Boles discovered that his lifelong friend had been receiving unauthorized W-2 payments from Boles' family business. The amount was staggering - $1,291,290.67. According to the court affidavit, payments were verified by Regina Johnson, an employee of G&A Outsourcing, of which Philtek Services is a client. G&A was responsible for distributing payroll.

Alaniz had been designated by Philtek Services as the company's agent with authorization to submit, review and approve payroll information for all of its employees, including himself.

Court documents allege that on June 2, 2017, Alaniz's first paycheck was deposited into a bank account for the work time period of May 22, 2017, to May 28, 2017. On Dec. 15, 2020, Alaniz added another account to his employee profile and authorized G&A to direct deposit part of his pay to this new account and the remaining pay to the original account. That first split paycheck was issued Dec. 18, 2020.

During the five-year period (2017-2022), per the court record, payroll vouchers show that Alaniz was paid various combinations of regular pay, bonus, per diem, mileage pay and expense reimbursements. All dollar amounts and the descriptions of pay were submitted to G&A Payroll Specialist solely by Alaniz until his managerial credentials were revoked at the request of Philtek Services owners.

On Sept. 6, 2022, based on Investigator Scott's findings, Boles received an email from Alaniz's email account, based on court documents, in which Alaniz stated he would pay Boles back in part, $300,000 upfront, pending the sale of a store, and $100,000 per year after that.

Alaniz "proposed" to Boles that he would have a $1,500,000, life insurance policy on himself naming Boles as the beneficiary.

That alleged email, per court records, has Alaniz telling Boles that the last thing Alaniz can afford is being charged criminally and that becoming public. Alaniz stated that he promised he would "make it right." As a plea to Boles, Alaniz allegedly wrote that if he were charged, the process of getting the Boles family their money back would take much longer.

According to court records, Alaniz has retained Duncan attorney Carl J. Buckholts for his defense. His initial appearance has been set for 2 p.m. Oct. 19, and a preliminary hearing conference has been set for 9 a.m. Nov. 29. His bond has been set at $25,000. A felony warrant was issued and completed Sept. 5, and Alaniz was also released from custody that same day.