From Kim Minugh
A 24-year-old woman who worked as a dental office manager in Roseville will serve a year in jail for embezzling more than $47,000 from the business and its patients, according to the Placer County District Attorney's office.
Holly Ann Keate (photo left) of Rocklin also must serve five years of probation and pay back the embezzled money, a judge ordered last week, according to a news release from the DA's office.
In September, Keate pleaded no contest to a charge of grand theft by embezzlement, the release states.
Keate embezzled the money between Aug. 15, 2008 and Jan. 22, 2009. Her former employer, Dr. Thomas Schlehofer, wrote in a letter to the judge that Keate deceived people "with her power of authority over patients," according to the news release, and "abused her managerial position with malicious neglect of patients, their personal files, their credit cards and their cash."
She also preyed on senior citizens without insurance, Schlehofer wrote to the judge, according to the release.
Keate used the money for vacations, laser treatment and elective plastic surgery, the release states. She was arrested at Sacramento International Airport just before boarding a plane headed for Hawaii.
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