SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) — A bookkeeper who admitted embezzling more than $1 million from four employers was sentenced in federal court in San Francisco on Monday to five and six months in prison.
Charlyne Basada, 38, of San Francisco, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in January to one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.
At the same time, she admitted stealing $1,085,919 from four small businesses where she worked as bookkeeper or office manager in Walnut Creek and San Francisco between 2009 and 2015.
Basada, who is also known as Charlyne Melendres, was sentenced by Breyer Monday.
She has paid back about $22,000 to her former employers but acknowledged in her plea agreement that she still owes them $1,063,976.
Basada admitted she carried out the embezzlement by sometimes issuing checks to herself for fraudulent wages or reimbursements, and sometimes taking checks that she said were intended for other vendors, writing “CASH” in the payee line and then cashing the check.
Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing brief, “Her embezzlement devastated her employers, and forced at least two of them to continue working after they expected to retire, so that defendant could spend their money on vacations, casinos and shopping, among other things.”
The four businesses were JVM Lending of Walnut Creek and Forum Design, Korts & Knight and Becker Electric of San Francisco, according to court documents.
The five-year, six-month sentence was requested by the prosecutors, who noted that it was the same amount of time as the duration of the embezzlement.
Defense attorney Antony Lowenstein sought a sentence of three years and three months.
He said in a defense sentencing brief that her judgment was clouded by mental health issues and alcohol use and that she takes responsibility for her actions and is seeking to rehabilitate herself through mental health counseling.