Embezzler Gets 4-Year Term, Must Repay Funds

A Ventura bookkeeper has been sentenced to four years in state prison for embezzling $191,000 from her employer, authorities said Thursday. Katherine A. Bordeaux, 38, pleaded guilty last month to grand theft, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Howard Wise.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Edward Brodie ordered Bordeaux to repay $190,998 to her employer, Intercontinental Realty in Ventura, and $16,884 to the California Franchise Tax Board. She also will pay $2,900 in fines.

The fraud began in January 1997 when the owner of the real estate company became sick and Bordeaux took over accounting responsibilities for a group of rental properties, Wise said.

She stole cash deposits made out to Intercontinental Realty and forged electronic signatures on checks to cash them for her own benefit, authorities said.