Former Pleasanton city employee Laurie Smith was sentenced to eight months in jail earlier this week for embezzling $77,000 of city funds. Smith, 34, of Livermore was also ordered to pay back the $77,000 to the city. The city is seeking an additional $20,000 to cover the cost of the investigation. However, the final amount Smith will owe will not be determined until her restitution hearing in Alameda Superior Court in Hayward, scheduled for January.
The judge allowed Smith 123 days for time already served in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. After she was arrested in May on one count of felony embezzlement, she remained in custody until her sentencing date.
Smith, an accounting assistant, was part of an elaborate “lapping” scheme where she would take cash from one account’s deposit and deposit a check from another account to cover the amount taken. The scheme was discovered after officials noticed that a $1,500 check for the Fire Department was deposited into the wrong account.
Smith has already paid back $1,500, but said she does not have the money that she took from the city. She worked for the city for more than five years. The embezzling scheme took place over the course of four years.
–Rebecca Guyon
