Pacifica's finest criminal?

2 held in $2.6 million theft from software firm

Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 29, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle July 28, 2010 06:05 PM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(07-28) 18:05 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Two Bay Area women were arrested and charged with embezzlement Wednesday after allegedly writing $2.6 million in bonus checks to themselves over a four-year period at a San Francisco software company, prosecutors said. The investigation started shortly after one of the women, Maria Lourdes B. Dionisio, 46, of Pacifica, filed for unemployment insurance in May after she was fired from the firm for unrelated reasons. Dionisio listed annual pay of nearly $450,000, far above her $63,000 salary, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said. Dionisio was a payroll clerk at Autonomy Inc., a business software company whose customers include Coca-Cola, FedEx and Lockheed Martin. Investigators say Dionisio and Autonomy financial analyst Hannah Yau, 56, of Fremont, each pocketed about $1.3 million by capitalizing on their positions overseeing payroll transactions. "Essentially, these were foxes guarding the henhouse," Harris said during a news conference announcing the charges. Both women are accused of felony grand theft and embezzlement. Dionisio also faces felony computer use crimes. Investigators said they are freezing some of the women's assets and examining their finances to determine what became of the money. Dionisio and Yau are being held in San Francisco County Jail. Bail for each was set at $1 million. E-mail Kelly Zito at kzito@sfchronicle.com

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Submitted by Jim Alex