A former employee of the Sweetwater Union High School District has paid $56,988 back to the district that she had embezzled and a judge gave her house arrest for a year on July 17.
Danya Margarita Williams, 42, appeared before Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Francis Devaney and he imposed terms of three years probation with credit for two days previously spent in jail.
“She paid off the restitution two months ago,” said her attorney, Kerry Armstrong, in an e-mail.
Armstrong asked for house arrest at her Chula Vista home instead of jail. The District Attorney’s office agreed not to ask for prison if the restitution had been paid.
Williams pleaded guilty May 15 to misappropriation of funds. Other charges of grand theft and embezzlement of public money were dismissed.
Devaney said he considered alternatives to jail. She posted $50,000 bond some months ago on condition she not handle finances of others and have no contact with people from the Fifth Avenue offices in Chula Vista where she used to work.
Williams resigned her position in Sweetwater’s human resources department in February 2018, according to Manny Rubio, the spokesperson for the district.
The scheme involved Williams cashing money orders in the amounts of $52 and $75 that were received from people who were paying the cost of fingerprint and background checks for those who were applying for jobs in the district.
In October 2017 an employee noticed that two money orders were missing, but had been photographed. Two new money orders suddenly showed up, and had recently been purchased at a 7-Eleven store in Chula Vista after word of the investigation emerged. The new money orders didn’t match the photos of the previous money orders.
Some money orders were altered with the payee name listed as DaNSia W. or Danya Williams and not the school district. Bank records showed she deposited money orders in a bank account she controlled.
District employees identified Williams as the person cashing those money orders on 7-Eleven surveillance cameras, according to court records. The thefts occurred from June 1, 2016 to Dec. 8, 2017 and over 800 money orders were stolen.
