Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer — A former water-company employee is being sought on a federal warrant on charges that he fled the country after wiring $9 million into overseas bank accounts on the same day he resigned, court records show.

Abdirahman Ismail Abdi, who turns 33 on Monday, was named in a warrant alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and also faces charges of grand theft and unauthorized computer access in Santa Clara County.

Abdi resigned April 27 from his job at California Water Services Company in San Jose. That evening, a janitor spotted Abdi using his electronic key card to get into the company’s parking lot , authorities said.

At about 11 p.m., the same janitor saw Abdi sitting inside a colleague’s office, where authorities said over the course of six hours he used a computer to send three wire transfers totaling $9.2 million into bank accounts in Qatar.

When Abdi saw the janitor looking at him, Abdi “got up from the desk and appeared to try to hide in a darkened corner of the office,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Christine Garcia wrote in court papers.

The transactions were later flagged as suspicious, and the funds were returned to the company, authorities said.

The next day, Abdi dropped off his wife and two young children to San Francisco International Airport, where the three boarded a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, FBI Special Agent David Brown wrote in an affidavit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose.

Abdi tried to deposit a $25,000 check stolen from the company, Brown wrote.

On April 30, San Jose police served a search warrant at Abdi’s home. A friend living there said he had just talked to Abdi on the phone. Officers spoke to Abdi on the phone and told him to come to the Police Department to answer questions, but he hung up, investigators said.

Abdi disconnected his cell phone and fled to Canada, where he activated a new phone, authorities said.

Abdi, who is not a U.S. citizen, was ordered deported to Somalia in 2005, records show. But shortly thereafter, he tried to re-enter the U.S. at Blaine, Wash., near the U.S.-Canadian border, authorities said.

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