Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A Taylorsville woman faces over 100 felony charges for theft and fraud.
- Malisha Fasavalu allegedly stole $98,558 from Real Property Management via rent checks.
- She allegedly targeted some tenants with language barriers.
TAYLORSVILLE — A Taylorsville woman is facing more than 100 felony charges accusing her of stealing nearly $100,000 from the rental management company she worked for, mainly by taking rent checks from tenants and depositing them into her own account or cashing them for herself.
Malisha Alei Fasavalu, 34, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with theft by deception and communications fraud, second-degree felonies; and 102 counts of possession of a forgery device, a third-degree felony.
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.
The company then initiated an audit and uncovered that "Fasavalu had cashed approximately $12,000 in Western Union money orders. The funds cashed at Western Union were collected by Fasavalu from tenants' rent payments that had not been deposited into the company's bank account," the charges state.
It was then discovered that Fasavalu had several clients pay her in person and had them fill out checks in her name, according to the charges. She then allegedly cashed the checks at various grocery stores and businesses throughout 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 multiple counts of forgery in three other similar 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.
