February 14, 2010 Californina Power employee steals almost $1 million www.privateofficer.com
sacbee.com A former contract employee at the California Power Authority pleaded guilty today to bilking the agency out of $684,000 while working there, according to a news release.
Benjamin Bustamante, 32, West Sacramento, is scheduled to be sentenced April 30 in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, according to the release from U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison and a $1.36 million fine, the release states.
The case is the product of an extensive investigation by the IRS-Criminal Investigation, Wagner said.
Bustamante used false invoices in 2006 to siphon $684,216.53 out of a now-defunct CPA energy conservation program, according to court records.
Had the payments been legitimate, the money would have been passed on by Bustamante to commercial and industrial customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. enrolled in the conservation program. Instead, the money went into his pocket, according to a court affidavit.
Bustamante paid $165,967.52 for two new Porsche automobiles and a new Harley Davidson motorcycle, and he transferred $20,000 to his personal checking account, the affidavit states.
He even used some of his money to pay back taxes for 2002 and 2003 to the IRS, the affidavit says.
In addition, it says, withdrawals by Bustamante from the business account into which the stolen funds were funneled were structured so as to defeat currency transaction reporting requirements imposed by the IRS on financial institutions.
Bustamante already was a convicted felon when he went to work for the CPA, having pleaded guilty in Sacramento Superior Court in 1998 to grand theft and burglary, the affidavit states.
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