S.F. Giants staffer gets prison for stealing $2 million from team

By Stuart Pfeifer

March 27, 2012 12 AM PT

The former payroll manager for the San Francisco Giants baseball team was sentenced to nearly two years in prison after admitting that she stole more than $2 million from the team.

Robin M. O’Connor pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud. She had been accused of transferring team money to her personal bank accounts from June 2010 to June 2011.

U.S. District Judge James Ware sentenced O’Connor on Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison and ordered her to reimburse the team nearly $1.5 million. She had already repaid some of the stolen money and surrendered personal assets to authorities, including a BMW vehicle, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

O’Connor, 42, made multiple electronic fund transfers from a bank account controlled by the Giants to her personal bank accounts, prosecutors said in a sentencing brief.

The Giants discovered the thefts and reported them to authorities. O’Connor “immediately confessed” when federal agents arrested her at her home in July 2011, prosecutors said.

She was ordered to begin serving her sentence June 11. The case was investigated by the FBI.