East Bay woman who embezzled $1.6 million from youth charity sentenced to prison
A former finance manager for a Bay Area charity that serves youth was sentenced to 27 months in prison for embezzling over $1.6 million from the organization, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a press release that Carrie Lynn Grant of Pleasant Hill deposited money from the charity, described as an organization that helps prepare youth to succeed in a global economy, into her own account while creating fraudulent records to cover her tracks.
Bay Area News Group identified the charity as Junior Achievement of Northern California, based in Walnut Creek.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the 62-year-old Grant embezzled the money between November 2017 and June 2023, spending the money on floor seats to see the Golden State Warriors, box seats for a San Francisco 49ers game, first-class air travel, a condominium in Hawaii, among other expenditures.
Grant was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in August, the office said.
In addition to the prison term, the judge also sentenced Grant to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay restitution, the amount to be determined at a later date.
Grant will begin serving her sentence on March 9.