From Niesha Lofing:
A Sacramento woman has been ordered to serve more than three years in prison and pay more than $250,000 in restitution for embezzling money from a local charity.
Donna Joe Goodenough (left), 46, was a bookkeeper for Options in Supported Living, a charity that provided 24-hour assistance to people with developmental disabilities, a news release from Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully's office states.
From January 2007 to May 2008, Goodenough issued checks from the business to herself, cashing them at three different check-cashing stores. She also altered the company's paperwork to hide the transactions, the release states.
Goodenough also used the company's credit card for personal expenses.
Authorities learned of the embezzlement after an employee of a company where Goodenough used the credit card called the charity to confirm Goodenough's authority to use the card.
Goodenough, who pleaded no contest to charges of grand theft and tax evasion, was sentenced to three years, four months in state prison and was ordered to pay $225,000 in restitution to Options in Supported Living and $25,900 to the state Franchise Tax Board.
Goodenough had failed to report the $177,000 she stole in 2007 on her state income tax return, tax board officials told The Bee in previous reports.
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