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Bookkeeper Accused of $10M Embezzlement Tried to Pay Boss Back

Associated Press
Published | Updated

VISTA, Calif. – A former bookkeeper accused of embezzling nearly $10 million from her company admitted wrongdoing when confronted by her boss and agreed to give up her home, cars and fancy clothes to make amends, court papers say.

But some of the promised items were missing when the company arrived to get them, according to the arrest warrant declaration.

Annette Yeomans, 51, surrendered March 6 and is charged with more than a dozen theft and forgery counts. Prosecutors allege that she embezzled the money from 2001 to 2007, blowing it on gambling and luxuries, while she was chief financial officer for Quality Woodworks, a cabinetry business in San Marcos.

The San Diego County sheriff's office previously has said the company was forced to lay off workers and restructure operations because of the losses, which went unnoticed because Yeomans had a trusted position.

According to the declaration, the scheme began unraveling early last year when a credit card company investigator notified Quality Woodworks that Yeomans used one of its checks to make a payment on her personal account.

Yeomans apologized when confronted by the company president and told him "the drugs made her do it," the declaration said.

Yeomans was fired and agreed to turn over her assets to settle a lawsuit filed by the company.

Yeomans agreed to give up her Escondido home, two vehicles, 400 pairs of shoes worth about $600 each, jewelry, designer clothes, flat-screen televisions and other belongings. But when the company took possession of her home, some items listed on the settlement agreement were missing, the declaration said.

Yeomans, who is being held on $10 million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. A call seeking comment from her attorney, John Tranberg, was not immediately returned Friday.

Yeomans' husband, John, was a cabinet installer at Quality Woodworks but has not been charged with any crime. But the company's lawsuit filed last year included him as a defendant and said he "either expressly or tacitly" agreed to his wife's actions.