A California woman was sentenced this week to 63 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $3.5 million from her former employer, a warehouse and trucking-services company.
Patricia A. Francisco of Huntington Beach, was sentenced by a federal judge after she pleaded guilty in August to four counts of wire fraud.
In addition to the prison term, Francisco was ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution to California Multimodal LLC, based in Long Beach.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, for more than 15 years, Francisco stole money from fleet, where she worked as a bookkeeper.
Court documents show Francisco used three basic means to misappropriate company funds: she stole company checks, which she made out to “cash;” she caused checks to be written to legitimate vendors, which she then stole and deposited into her bank accounts; and she created bogus expense vouchers for other employees, which allowed to obtain checks that she deposited into her own accounts. As part of her scheme, Francisco used a signature stamp belonging to her boss to sign the checks, according to prosecutors.
Francisco used the money to finance personal expenses, such as a $300,000 down payment on her house, a down payment on a condominium, a $40,000 Cadillac Escalade, approximately $100,000 worth of jewelry, and numerous trips to locations like Hawaii.
Francisco told FBI investigators that she stole the money “because she wanted a better life.” Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court that cited a simple motive for the crimes, “greed – she wanted to live a more luxurious lifestyle.”
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