Woman sentenced for embezzling, impersonating lawyer

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — A West Allis woman has been sentenced to two year in prison for embezzling about $30,000 from her former employer and impersonating an attorney.

The Journal Sentinel reports Rebecca L. Pineda, 34, was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest in September to embezzling from The Packing House.

Authorities said Pineda took money from bank deposits, used company credit cards for personal purchases, signed over unauthorized checks to herself to pay down her debt, secretly inflated her salary and did not withhold payroll taxes on her checks. She also doled out money to coworkers without permission.

After parting ways with The Packing House, Pineda impersonated an attorney and threatened to sue the business if it did not pay her for her last week of work.

Pineda has already paid $14,000 in restitution, and is required to pay about $14,000 more.

Christopher Wiken, who runs The Packing House, said in a victim statement that Pineda’s criminal actions toward his family-owned restaurant “literally almost put us out of business.”