The former chief financial officer of the Chicana Service Action Center, who pleaded guilty to embezzling and misappropriating millions of dollars in public funds, was sentenced Friday to a year of home arrest and ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution to three public agencies.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor also ordered Silvia Gutierrez, 71, to serve five years on probation and suspended a four-year state prison term that she could face if she violates the terms of her probation.
Gutierrez — who used public money for bonuses, life insurance and other expenses — pleaded guilty in August to six counts of embezzlement, four counts of misappropriation of public funds and two counts of preparing false documentary evidence.
Three other people, including two other former executives of the group, were sentenced last week.
Sophia Esparza, the former CEO of Chicana Service Action Center, was sentenced to six years in state prison and ordered to pay more than $10 million in restitution to two Los Angeles County agencies and one Los Angeles city department.
Esparza, 65, pleaded guilty to five counts of misappropriating public funds, four counts of embezzlement, two counts of preparing false documentary evidence and one count of filing a false tax return.
Prosecutors said Esparza operated the now-defunct nonprofit organization with a bogus board of directors and used embezzled funds for items such as luxury apartments, sports cars, a yacht cruise and season tickets to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Clippers.
Co-defendant Thomas Baiz — a 62-year-old former vice president of corporate and government affairs for the nonprofit — was ordered to serve 500 hours of community service, five years on probation and to pay nearly $6 million in restitution as a result of his guilty plea to three counts of embezzlement, two counts of misappropriation of public funds and one count of conspiracy to misappropriate public funds.
Baiz was given credit for 346 days he had already served in county jail, and the judge suspended a three-year state prison term that Baiz will not have to serve if he complies with the terms of probation.
Michael Lorenzo Tompkins, a 59-year-old former employee who pleaded no contest to one count of embezzlement, was sentenced to three years in state prison and ordered to pay $1.45 million in restitution to the city of Los Angeles.
All three former executives were charged in 2015, with Tompkins being charged earlier this year.
The case stemmed from an investigation by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Office of County Investigations, a division of the Department of the Auditor- Controller’s Office, the Inspector General’s Office for the U.S. Department of Labor and the state’s Franchise Tax Board.
–City News Service