A former San Francisco Giants payroll manager admitted in federal court in the city today to embezzling $2.2 million from the team and pleaded guilty to a charge of wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a penalty of two years and nine months in prison for Robin O’Connor, 42, of American Canyon, when she is sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Francisco on March 5.
O’Connor confessed in a written plea agreement that she diverted $2.2 million from the Giants and unidentified Giants employees between June 2010 and June 2011 by transferring funds to her personal bank accounts.
She said in the agreement that she has thus far repaid $936,000 of that amount, including $360,000 returned “during the course of the scheme” and $600,000 returned after Giants officials discovered the fraud and fired her on July 6.
O’Connor promised to pay an additional $1,457,000 in future restitution to cover all remaining losses she caused, the agreement said.
She pleaded guilty before Ware this afternoon to one count of wire fraud, which she carried out by arranging an electronic transfer of $286,428 from a Giants account to one of her personal bank accounts on Sept. 14, 2010.
O’Connor worked as the team’s payroll manager from 2007 until she was fired on July 6, she said in the agreement.
She said the money she embezzled included funds derived from improperly reducing employee tax withholdings; funds intended to pay employee salary and expenses; and funds from fictitious paychecks she created.
Property that she will forfeit to help pay the restitution includes a 2011 BMW and a 2011 Ford Raptor, according to the document.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
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