People v. Yates CA1/1

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant was charged in a complaint, filed October 1, 2009, with one count of grand theft by embezzlement. (Pen. Code,1 §§ 487, subd. (a), 503.) The charges arose out of defendant’s employment as head cashier at a Barnes & Noble in Fairfield, California. Defendant admitted she would keep customers’ money and receipts after they made cash purchases and later create fraudulent returns. Through the scheme, which was

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code. carried out for a year, defendant embezzled about $8,400. In January 2010, defendant entered a plea of no contest. In February 2010, the trial court suspended defendant’s sentence and placed her on three years of formal probation with the condition she serve 60 days in the Solano County jail. Defendant was also ordered to pay $8,300 in direct restitution to the victim, to be paid in $50 monthly installments. The restitution amount was later reduced to $6,000 by stipulation of the parties. The court warned: “I want to make something clear. The reason [defendant] is getting probation is to pay restitution. If this goes by and we are dealing with this in a year and there have been no payments or very little…