A Jacksonville purchasing employee is accused of using her job at a local battery plant to steer more than $25,000 in company money to a business she controlled, according to investigators. Shardae Bautista, 40, was transported from South Carolina and booked into the Duval County jail on July 17 after an internal company audit flagged irregular purchases. Investigators say the alleged scheme played out through a series of non-inventory orders that initially slipped past routine oversight.
Bautista was arrested July 17 and booked into the Duval County jail on one count of organized fraud, a second-degree felony for a scheme to obtain property valued between $20,000 and $50,000, as reported by News4JAX. Her bond was set at $25,003, and court paperwork lists a first appearance on Aug. 6. The arrest followed a company audit and a tip that prompted investigators to review disbursement records.
The employer named in the report, Saft America Inc., operates a battery manufacturing facility on Waterworks Street in Jacksonville. Federal environmental filings and corporate records list the plant at 13575 Waterworks St., matching the site described in investigators’ paperwork. EPA facility records classify the Jacksonville plant as a storage-battery manufacturing site.
Alleged Scheme and Investigation
According to an arrest report described by News4JAX, investigators say Bautista used buyer privileges to create three fraudulent purchase orders between January and May 2024 that routed payments to her own company, KAS Solutions. The orders dated Jan. 11 ($9,589.56), Feb. 21 ($9,669.67) and May 9 ($6,391.17) were submitted through the company’s disbursement vendor and total $25,659.40, and records show KAS Solutions received $25,554.53. The JSO report says the probe began Oct. 7, 2025, an arrest warrant was issued April 2, 2026, Bautista was located in York County, S.C., she waived extradition on July 4 and was returned to Jacksonville for booking on July 17.
Legal Implications
Under the Florida Communications Fraud Act, prosecutors can charge an organized scheme to defraud when a person engages in an ongoing course of conduct to obtain property through false pretenses, and penalties vary based on the value of the property involved. The statute allows multiple smaller transactions to be consolidated into a single organized-fraud count, a legal tool prosecutors often use in workplace procurement cases, per the Florida Communications Fraud Act.
Why It Matters Locally
Jacksonville has seen other supply-chain and procurement fraud prosecutions in recent months, including a medical-device ordering and removal scheme that led to criminal charges and jail time and showed how internal controls and audits can uncover costly misconduct. Hoodline previously reported on that case, which highlights the financial and legal exposure manufacturers and hospitals face when purchasing systems are abused.
Bautista’s first court date is scheduled for Aug. 6, and prosecutors may seek restitution and civil claims as the criminal case moves forward. Court filings and other public records will show whether additional charges or civil actions follow, and updates will be reported as they become available.
