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SoCal Woman Squanders Company Cash on Her Shoe Empire

A woman from the San Diego area has been arrested for embezzling over 9 million dollars from her former company which she used to buy shoes and other items
Photo by tinou bao/Flickr

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Annette Yeomans, a 51-year-old woman from the San Diego area, turned herself in at the jail in Vista yesterday. The former bookkeeper got herself booked, on charges related to the grand theft and embezzlement of $9.9 million from her former workplace, according to abc7.com. Between 2001-2007 Yeomans cooked the books at Quality Woodworks in San Marcos, forcing her employers to layoff her co-workers as she skimmed off the top to buy "400 pairs of shoes that she kept in a room-sized closet that contained a crystal chandelier and a plasma television."

Her shopping sprees would run her up $25k weekly on her credit card, and she'd pay the balance off with company funds. In addition to the shoes, Yeomans enjoyed shopping on Italian vacations, gambling in nearby casinos, and driving in luxury cars; "she spent at least $240,000 on 400 pairs of shoes, $300,000 on designer clothing and 160 purses valued at $2,000 each."

Her credit card company waved the red flag for the company; American Express called Yeoman's employers when they received a payment for her balance out of the company checkbook. "Yeomans was fired last year and agreed to turn over her assets to the company, which has recovered about $2 million from the sale of her home, some cars and other property."

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