A 51-year-old Garden Grove woman was sentenced Wednesday to two years in jail for embezzling more than $1.2 million from two Santa Ana-based companies.
Kathy Lynn Martinez pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to two counts of grand theft by embezzlement and a count of grand theft by employee, all felonies. As part of the negotiated plea deal with prosecutors, 22 other felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement and grand theft with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime exceeding $500,000 were dismissed Wednesday.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Stephen McGreevy ordered Martinez to pay $1,283,569.68 in restitution.
Martinez admitted in her plea agreement that, from Dec. 17, 2012 through Aug. 8, 2021, she stole money from Roche Excavating, David Roche and Santa Ana Equipment. She stole more than $1 million while an employee for all three, she said.
Also, from Nov. 24, 2021, and Feb. 17, 2022, she stole $150,000 from Specialty Steel when she worked there, she said.
According to court records, Santa Ana police said she embezzled $151,389.46 over six months from Specialty Steel when she worked as an accounting manager. When she was arrested, she admitted to taking $105,588.54, police said in court papers.
According to the criminal complaint in the other case, she embezzled $1,132,180.22 from Roche Excavating.