SAN FRANCISCO, California – A Filipino payroll clerk is now behind bars on charges of embezzlement and grand theft.

Maria Lourdes Dionisio of Pacifica, California, together with Hannah Yau, a financial analyst, pled not guilty to the charges during their arraignment at the San Francisco Superior Court Thursday.  

Dionisio and Yau were arrested by the San Francisco Police Department for their alleged involvement in a scam amounting to an estimated $ 2.6 million.

Court documents showed that Dionisio and Yau wrongfully issued checks to themselves over a 4-year period, resulting in $2.6 million worth of losses to their employer, Autonomy Inc., a San Francisco software programming company with headquarters in England.

The District Attorney said the alleged embezzlement was discovered after Dionisio overstated her salary when she filed for unemployment insurance 2 months ago, supposedly to get more benefits.

Dionisio was fired in May for reasons not related to the theft.

Investigation revealed that she listed an annual salary of $449,740 which was a far cry from her base salary of $63,000.

District Attorney Kamala Harris described it as a well-planned scam.

“To pull off a fraud of this magnitude over a number of years is about more than just being a rogue employee. There is a level of planning and sophistication involved here that makes this crime especially egregious,” said Harris.

During their arraignment, both defendants told Judge Samuel Feng that they could not afford to pay for their own lawyers. Bail was set at $1 million for each defendant.

Dionisio’ court-appointed lawyer, Atty. Daniel Byrne, said he would seek to reduce the bail amount.    

“I understand that there’s going to be a significant amount of documents that will be given to us. And we will be filing a motion to try to reduce bail,” explained Byrne.  

If found guilty, Dionisio and Yau face a sentence of up to 6 years in prison. Considering the gravity of the charges and voluminous documents involved, officers of the court said they expect this to be a long drawn out case. Balitang America