A woman accused of stealing more than $300,000 from the University of California, Los Angeles while working as a fund manager at the school’s history department pleaded no contest on Monday, officials announced.
Diana Fonseca, 37, of Carson, pleaded no contest to six felony counts of grand theft but admitted to the special allegation of aggravated white-collar crime, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
As part of her plea deal, Fonseca agreed to pay $336,000 in restitution to UCLA for the stolen funds.
In July 2018, officials at the university’s history department found that Fonseca had created fake purchase orders for electronic equipment, prosecutors said.
Officials later discovered that Fonseca had previously submitted 45 separate fraudulent travel reimbursements between May 2013 and October 2017. All that money, however, went to her personal checking account, prosecutors said.
“Public employees have a financial responsibility to the people they serve,” the DA said. “This criminal conduct drained resources from the history department that could have been used to benefit students and fulfill the university’s academic mission.”
She is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown L.A.