Almost two weeks after the state charged a Juneau woman for stealing half a million dollars from her employer, she’s admitting guilt.
Christena Leamer, 43, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty Monday in Juneau Superior Court during an arraignment that turned into a change of plea hearing. She agreed to turn herself into Lemon Creek Correctional Center to serve 60 days in prison prior to her sentencing, which is now scheduled for Nov. 15.
Juneau District Attorney James Scott said the state will ask Judge Louis Menendez to sentence Leamer to five years in prison with four years suspended for the first-degree felony theft conviction. That means she would serve one year behind bars. A plea deal in place says Leamer can ask for up to three months of community service in lieu of some of the prison time, but no more. If she posts bail before her 60 days are up before the sentencing, the deal is off, Scott said.
Leamer must also pay $343,000 in restitution to her former employer, the Juneau Bone and Joint Center, as part of the deal. Any other amount the center wants to collect can still be considered in civil court.
[Woman accused of embezzling $500K from Juneau Bone and Joint]
“To never see a day in jail” for stealing half a million dollars would be ill-received by the community, Scott said. After the hearing, Scott sent an email to the Empire further explaining the importance of serving time for such a crime.
“Given the magnitude of her crime and the loss suffered by the victims, I wanted a sentence that included at least two months in an actual jail cell, what courts used to refer to as ‘shock incarceration.’ It is my hope that this is not seen as retributive, but that genuinely dissuades her from committing similar offenses in the future,” Scott wrote.
The class B felony Leamer pleaded guilty to — first-degree theft — is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. How much time Leamer will have to spend on probation was not not part of the plea deal, and will be at the discretion of Judge Louis Menendez at sentencing.
In September 2007, Leamer began using a business credit card issued in her name to make personal purchases that totalled $514,371.76, according to charging court documents. The purchases did not end until she left the company in October 2014. Among the things she paid for those seven years were her utility bills, phone payments and almost 50 flights for herself and family. Disneyland passes, a Tim McGraw concert and her cat’s cremation were also all paid for with the company credit car.
Leamer’s illegal activity was not discovered until the office manager who replaced her noticed the account had inconsistencies and reported it to authorities in September 2015.
Part of Monday’s plea deal, if the judge accepts it during Lemaer’s upcoming sentencing hearing, also helps her to avoid federal charges via an agreement between DA Scott and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt.
“(It’s a) medical business that received medical funds (such as Medicaid, which is a joint state and federal program). She could essentially be charged with theft of those funds and that would give us jurisdiction,” Schmidt said in a phone interview Tuesday.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
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