Defendant Paid for Breast Augmentation and Sports Tickets With Money Embezzled From Employer
The following is a press release issued by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office
At the conclusion of a contested sentencing hearing, defendant Sonia Lucia Lau, age 36, of Ukiah, was handcuffed and taken Tuesday morning from a Mendocino County Superior Court courtroom to the Low Gap jail to begin serving a Realignment local prison sentence.
Lau was convicted by plea on December 1, 2020 of eight separate felony counts of embezzling money from her employer while working as the bookkeeper. Included in and covered by the eight counts were 1,194 separate acts of theft by Lau.
Finding the underlying facts to be aggravating, the Court sentenced the defendant to 92 months in the local prison, the maximum sentence allowed by law.
However, as allowed by the 2011 Realignment laws, the Court “split” the defendant’s prison sentence so she will only have to serve “24 months” incarceration with 69 months to follow on “mandatory supervision.”
As part of the Realignment legislative package passed by the California Legislature in 2011, a split sentence allows a judge to split local “prison time” between actual incarceration and a period of community supervision by a county probation officer.
Because of that same legislation, Lau will only have to serve one-half of the prison sentence as ordered, meaning 12 months in jail.
While both the prosecutor and the probation department agreed that a split sentence was appropriate, District Attorney David Eyster argued at the hearing that the split should be 48 months incarceration with 44 months to follow on mandatory supervision. The Adult Probation Department had recommended a split of 36 months incarceration with 56 months to follow on mandatory supervision. The final sentence as ordered undercut both of those recommendations to the defendant’s advantage.
As mandated by law, the defendant was ordered to repay $204,492.43 in restitution to the victim at the rate of at least $1,000 per month. But as pointed out by the DA, the legal rate of interest on restitution debts is 10% per annum. “Even if she makes payments as ordered each and every month, the restitution payments being required of the defendant will never come close to even touching the stolen principle that is owed,” said Eyster.
As noted in the probation report, the victim reported that Lau had worked for him for 15 years. He had known Lau since she was a teenager and, later on, had financially helped her to purchase a home. The defendant admitted she was treated like a surrogate daughter by the victim.
As cruel repayment for the victim’s kindness, during the law enforcement investigation it was uncovered, for example, that Lau spent $15,000 of the victim’s money in one week attending San Francisco Giants baseball games. On another outing, she spent $12,000 of the victim’s money attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight night. The victim also unknowingly paid for the defendant’s breast augmentation. And the victim is still saddled with paying off over $50,000 in credit card debt that was run-up by Lau.
The law enforcement agency that investigated this case and developed the necessary evidence to support the convictions was the Ukiah Police Department.
The prosecutor who originally filed the charges and handled the case through today’s sentencing hearing is DA Eyster.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Carly Dolan presided over today’s sentencing hearing.
Earlier: Ukiah Woman Pled No Contest to Charges of Embezzling Over $200,000 From Her Employer
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And the photo doesn’t even show if the guy got his money’s worth! Poor reporting by the press release.
Right, your honor I’d like to see the evidence!
This guy makes an excellent point
A complimentary lifetime of sliding oiled members through the augmentations seems appropriate in an eye for an eye kinda way.
So you are saying the crime was a bust?
Unlike the stuff above, that’s actually funny!
She’s sounds like a good date, baseball, UFC Championship and new headlights the only problem is I’d probably get home and wonder where my wallet went and why my bank account is empty.
Well good thing she was married so her husband just enjoyed the free good times
Maybe the victim wants the bags of silicone (or saline) back!
@KYM KEMP This is the “mature” commenters you speak of. Just as disgusting as the article.
Unusual to see an arrestee wearing glasses in a booking photo.
that is correct,
What do a store bought set of ta ta’s cost these days?
About $12-15k unless you get the strip mall shop variety.
Maybe the voters should remember this the next time this judge comes up for reelection. 12 months jail for that bullshit is mighty light penalty if you ask me.
What happens if she can’t pay the victim back? Because I imagine she will find it hard to find work with her record.
Judge Carly Dolan was appointed to be a Superior Court Judge in Mendocino County by Governor Jerry Brown in 2017. Her only lawyer jobs up to that point were in Mendocino County in the public defender’s office. She had worked her way up to assistant Public Defender when she was selected to become Superior Court Judge. She is a registered Democrat. She receives a yearly salary of $200,031…
I would have like the 48-44 split the DA wanted. This wretched defendant will never have the money (maybe sell that home the vic helped her get) but jail time is needed for this wicked ingrate. In some ways the judge was constrained by law, but I am tired of criminals getting a better deal than their vic’s.
the “vic” that had been selling guns to felons and kids for years, this is why its no longer a real gun store only ammo. so who really did the damage to the community? the one that was selling gun to criminals that have and will continue to hurt and kill people with those same guns? or the lady that took the “vis” “hard earned money”
This is really, really sad. It seems that there is a lesson in here somewhere, but the people that need to learn the lesson probably won’t get it. There is a new idiot born every second.
It was an ammo and gun store, she will probably get a pardon.
Restitution paid in full in 17 something years. About the time augmentation reaches belt level.
Plus 10% interest. So if she only pays 1k a month, technically she’ll add 8k a year to the principal. Not sure what they expect her to do except rob more mofos
10% interest borders on usury. The government is borrowing money at less than 2% interest right now. If she refinanced her home she would pay about 4% on a 15 year note.
If you fall behind on your property taxes for any reason- including medical emergency- the wonderful county of Humboldt ( like all counties) will let you take out a payment plan at 18% interest- plus fees! This is on money they borrow at 2%. But hey- if you cannot keep up with the payment plan they just auction off your home… How do we allow these bloodsuckers to operate like this?!
Yup. Doing that crap right now. It is better than the interest AND the penalties. But still, predatory.
What ever happened to truth in sentencing, she is handed over a 92 month sentence, but she goes in knowing she only has to serve 12 months. Why the pretense of a severe sentence, when the reality is a light sentence? Who are we trying to fool here?
She still has to do 12 months and her daughters are paying the consequences! She will hurt 😞
Tough shit. She should do more time. I feel bad for her kids but only her kids and the victim. In a way her kids are victims as well. Hopefully her kids learn a lesson from this since she is not capable of teaching them right from wrong.
I always like to say think about the victims. Screw the criminal they have it to easy. BTW dont tell me her husband if she has one could not have known or suspected what was going on.
Obviously he did but he didn’t commit the crime just encouraged it which is as bad. Her daughters are little so hopefully they can be raised good because I know their grandparents are good people. Nd honestly 12 months for the crime is like a slap on the face
Credit card debt? Would that be under the heading of; the card-holder is not responsible for fraudulent charges made without the permission of the cardholder? AKA Creditcard fraud, but it could have been a debit card in which case the could be stuck which is why you never hear of debit card fraud (using spell check try typing the two as one word -spell check will always separate debit card.)
Whenever the public stops making silly breast-jokes, what the heck happened here?
The victim let this person run his store, which must take in plenty of cash, the person running the store stole the proceeds, and spent them as she pleased. Now the victim has prosecuted her, and the person who stole the money got a few days in jail.
Surrogate daughter? I got to ask, how long were the victim and the criminal involved, and, why was nobody around to watch…?
IMO, these two had a cozy relationship, which turned not-so-cozy, and, they were trying to punish each other in funny ways…
Boobie jokes aside, there’s obviously a lot going on here that nobody is talking about…
I hope someone is investigating this business, but, it’s Mendo, so they are probably just not…
Remember, there’s always another job, and background checks are few and far between, in some areas…
Good catch. For a moment there I thought no one was going to blame the victim, but now here you are.
Nah, I blame society, and general moral decline…
A victim who allows themself to be victimized, isn’t really a victim, anyway.
Ahh you.must be a criminal. So much for ethics if people are weak they deserve what they get according to you. Never mind right from wrong if people are prey you will exploit them according to your statement.
The owners knew her for years they saw her like family so they trusted her. They even allowed her to take her daughter to work they were really nice people. They didn’t need to do a background check because she had no back criminal history and because they knew her when she was a teen.
She will never pay the restitution
Hell yeah! Get it girl. At least while ur doing time u can keep the new rack!!
Update: or can she?? Repo Man style. Be very interesting to see how this plays out.
How sad her two daughters are going to suffer the most. The owners of the gun shop were more than generous to her she was treated like a daughter and she was able to take her daughter to work it’s sad that she took advantage of such nice people!
New series on ‘American Greed’.
A truly despicable person. Disgusting that she has two daughters who will learn moral lessons and behavior from their mommy. That she was able to do this makes me consider that she is a sociopath…and unable to learn from any of this because she has zero moral compass. And perhaps she is a high- functioning sociopath- she was able to trick the owners for years and then trick the judge into a light sentence. ..If so then her daughters are better off without her influence in their home. If not then I hope she learns, gets her morality back in order and raises her daughters to be much better…
good luck getting a job
She was working at ATT in ukiah when she is out who knows if it will be as easy
Thanks for keeping me abreast of this situation…
The judge should of made her do a quit claim deed for her house and turn it over to the victim, he then could of sold it and recouped some of his money, and if her children and husband end up on the street thats on her. He needs to place a lien on anything of value she owns before she takes her name off of any cars or the house.
She lost her home and a lot of other things they had to move in with her parents.