The last few weeks have not been kind to the San Francisco Giants. First came the wave of injuries to key players, then came the team's recent inability to consistently play well, and now comes news of a former employee being arrested on federal charges for money embezzlement.
Robin O'Conner, 41, a former payroll manager for the organization, has been arrested for wire fraud and fraud in connection with a computer. The amount allegedly stolen? $1,513,836.28. That's a lot of Panda Hats and life-sized giraffes.
Local affilate ABC 7 of San Francisco has the details on what exactly happened:
Here's how the scheme unraveled. Last month, O'Connor applied for a loan to buy a house in San Diego. The affidavit says she forged a letter from the Giants' HR manager, explaining large deposits into O'Connor's account "Because of her outstanding contributions ... that assisted us in accomplishing our goal of winning the 2010 World Series, she was given two additional payments of compensation in May 2011." $100,090.71 and $200,348.89.
When the lender, Bank of America, sent a copy of the letter to the Giants for confirmation, it was over.
Smooth.
You have to wonder about O'Connor's thought process in this whole matter. Did she really expect the bank to not confirm a $300,000+ salary bonus with her employer? Perhaps a few tens of thousands of dollars could pass, but that's a serious amount of money. She honestly couldn't have gone into this expecting to get away with this, right? I'd certainly hope not.
"They're felonies, so they're not the most serious felonies, but they do carry a penalty of up to five years in federal prison per count," said ABC7 legal analyst Dean Johnson.
A few Buster Posey autographed baseball cards might go a long way in prison should she be sentenced to serve time. Just don't steal them, Robin.