Embezzler Fails in|Search of Better Life

LOS ANGELES (CN) – A Southern California bookkeeper who embezzled $3.2 million from her employer because she “wanted a better life” will get a worse one: 5 years in federal prison.     Patricia A. Francisco, 62, of Huntington Beach was sentenced Monday to 63 months in prison. She pleaded guilty in August 2014 to four federal counts of wire fraud.     Francisco stole money for 15 years from California Multimodal, a Long Beach trucking company.     U.S. District Judge Cormac McCarthy also ordered her to pay $2,474,199 in restitution to the company.     Francisco stole company checks she made out to cash, stole checks written to legitimate vendors, and stole bogus expense vouchers she made out to other employees, prosecutors.     She told investigators she did it “because she wanted a better life,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.     In pursuit of a better life, she made a $300,000 down payment on her house, another down payment on a condo, bought herself a $40,000 Cadillac Escalade, $100,000 in jewelry and took trips to Hawaii and other places where life is better.