A Camarillo woman accused of embezzling more than $184,000 from a local engineering firm where she worked pleaded guilty this week, authorities said.
Alexis Ann Pate, 34, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of felony grand theft and admitted she stole more than $100,000 from M3 Civil Inc., the Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced in a statement.
Pate used multiple schemes to embezzle money from Camarillo-based M3 Civil from April 2005 to January 2011, prosecutors said.
Company owners discovered the thefts after Pate was fired, prosecutors said. No accounts or clients funds were compromised, officials said.
Pate faces up to four years and four months in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 22, officials said.
Embezzlement is a type of theft crime that is committed through misrepresentation or an entirely clandestine approach. It is committed by a person in a position of responsibility or trust, when he or she transfers or misappropriates funds for personal use. This is a nonviolent crime; years in prison and other harsh criminal penalties are therefore often not the right form of punishment. Restitution is usually the primary goal of the prosecuting attorney.