Former Boulder education charity bookkeeper Diana Lewis sentenced to six years for embezzlement in Colorado

FROM DAILYCAMERA.COM -

The bookkeeper who stole almost $180,000 from an education charity in Boulder was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday.

Diana Lynn Lewis, 44, will also serve three years of mandatory parole for one count of felony theft after a sentencing hearing that featured emotional testimony from the CEO of Impact on Education, the nonprofit that Lewis embezzled from.
In her ruling, Judge Gwyneth Whalen cited the amount of money and the length of time over which the embezzling occurred as reasons for the sentence.
"In times of budget cuts to education, the district relies even more on the goodwill of the community," Whalen said. "That goodwill has been irreparably damaged."
Whalen also noted Lewis' previous conviction for stealing from an Alzheimer's facility meant she had to overlook the numerous letters of support from family and even some old work supervisors who said Lewis would "give the shirt off her back to anyone."
Lewis forged several checks a year to herself and family members worth approximately $178,000 from 2004 to 2010. She would then cut and paste bank statements and input false information in the organization's online accounting system to cover her tracks.
The CEO of Impact on Education, Fran Ryan, told the judge that they suspect Lewis stole even more money from the nonprofit, including silent auction items and even coins from a lemonade stand that students had donated.
"I worked three months of additional time to clean up this mess," said Ryan, who added that she has already had donors tell her they were no longer giving money to Impact on Education because of the incident. "I've cried about this. I'm crying now. I haven't seen any tears from Mrs. Lewis."
Lewis did shed tears while apologizing in brief remarks to the organization, as did her family members in attendance when the sentence was announced.
"She worked for Impact on Education, and the impact on education she chose to have was to put $178,000 in her own pocket," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Zenisek said at the hearing. "She had her opportunity to make good, and she failed."
The District Attorney's Office had been seeking eight years, but Zenisek said he felt the sentence was "appropriate."