SAN MARCOS — Annette Yeomans lived like the rich and famous, but unfortunately she was neither and will now spend nearly two decades behind bars for embezzling millions from her San Marcos employer.
Yeomans, 51, was sentenced July 6 to 18 years in prison in accordance with her plea agreement. The chief financial officer for Quality Woodworks in San Marcos, Yeomans pleaded guilty in June to 10 counts relating to the embezzlement of $9.9 million from 2001 to 2008.
She admitted to nine counts of forgery and one count of filing a false state tax form. Additionally, two allegations—aggregating losses that exceeded $2.5 million and aggravated white collar crime—were attached to the charges.
Prior to her plea, she had faced 108 felony charges.
According to the declaration in support of an arrest warrant written by San Diego Sheriff’s Detective Vickie Armitage, Yeomans developed a “sophisticated system for her thievery” utilizing eight main ruses to continue living the luxurious lifestyle her income would not afford her.
One ruse involved her fraudulently using unauthorized business checks to pay off weekly and monthly debit balances on 13 personal credit cards, which she ran up on shopping trips to New York City and Italy as well as high stakes gambling at San Diego and Las Vegas casinos, Armitage wrote.
According to the affidavit, Yeomans had purchased so many clothes, shoes and purses with her embezzled earnings over the seven years that she turned her home’s fourth bedroom into a walk-in closet that cost approximately $25,000 to refurbish, Armitage said. “The new closet had a granite covered center island, crystal chandelier and a 32-inch plasma TV.”
In Yeomans’ last month of employment, February 2008, Quality Woodworks did not have enough money for the owners to draw a paycheck; however, she continued writing fraudulent checks for her own personal use. Further, during the last two years of her employment, she proposed that the company could not afford giving out any raises to its 58 employees and actually had to lay off employees due to the loss in profits.
In April 2008, Quality Woodworks entered into an out of court civil settlement agreement with Yeomans and her husband, John, the affidavit states. Most of the Yeomans’ material possessions were offered to the owners to help pay back part of Annette Yeomans’ debt.
John Yeomans was never criminally charged in the case.
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