SAN LUIS OBISPO — San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow announced on Tuesday, Mar. 16, that Joy Wilde (42) has been sentenced to serve ten years and four months in state prison following her plea of no-contest to 18 counts of embezzlement, two counts of forgery and one count of attempted embezzlement of a local construction company.
Wilde pleaded no-contest on Feb. 18 to every charge alleged against her, including an allegation that she stole over $500,000. The admission to stealing more than $500,000 requires Wilde to serve her sentence in state prison, as opposed to county jail.
The investigation, which was completed by the Major Fraud Unit of the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, revealed that over the course of more than three years, Ms. Wilde stole $877,123 from her former employer, Greg Wiemann Construction while working as a bookkeeper and office manager. The theft scheme involved Wilde passing 64 fraudulent checks and attempting to pass three others.
In addressing the unusually long prison sentence for an embezzlement case, Superior Court Judge Jesse Marino highlighted the “outrageously large amount of money” taken by Wilde and concluded that the decade-long prison sentence was warranted “due to its sheer volume.”
The victim, Greg Wiemann, was present at sentencing and recounted the significant impact of Wilde’s theft in a letter to the court. Judge Marino recognized that Wiemann had placed a great deal of trust in Wilde and that Wilde’s deceit was “the most difficult aspect of this case” for the victim.
“Embezzlement crimes are significant at several levels,” said District Attorney Dan Dow. “In addition to the financial devastation that large-scale thefts can wreak on a business, is the very personal impact realized when a long-term employee in a position of confidence violates that trust. It frequently happens at the hands of someone you have come to know, trust, and with whom you have developed a strong relationship. This office takes these cases seriously and will continue to prosecute them aggressively.”
The case was investigated by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Michael S. Frye of the Major Fraud Unit.
A copy of the Amended Information document can be found here.
