Ex-CalPERS employee sentenced after pleading no contest to financial elder abuse charges
.JPG "The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, headquarters buildings are photographed Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, in downtown Sacramento.")
A former CalPERS employee, who stole about $685,000 from 10 retirees, has been sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay full restitution to the victims she defrauded, California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated Monday.
Gloria Najera-Villanueva, who worked as a senior analyst with CalPERS, targeted victims who were elderly, disabled, had powers of attorney over their finances or conservatorships, the attorney general said in a news release.
Court papers state that between September 2017 and January 2021, Najera-Villanueva illegally accessed the personal banking information of the 10 CalPERS retirees, using their money to pay her own credit card bills.
Bonta said she also manipulated the retirees accounts so their money went straight into her bank accounts.
“Abusing the trust of elders to steal their hard-earned retirement money is despicable,” Bonta stated. “Rather than serving the public, Gloria Najera-Villanueva abused her position of trust to steal from vulnerable retirees.”
“Justice has been served for our members and their families who were defrauded,” CalPERS’ General Counselsaid Matthew Jacobs stated. “We want to thank the authorities for their efforts on this case on behalf of CalPERS and the public employees we serve.”
Najera-Villanueva pleaded no contest on Thursday to three felony charges of financial elder abuse in Sacramento County Superior Court Superior Court. As part of a plea deal, more than a dozen other grand theft charges were dropped.
The Office of the Attorney General did not immediately respond to requests for information on Thursday’s sentencing.
The case first came to light after CalPERS filed a civil lawsuit in April 2021. The lawsuit alleged that Najera-Villanueva, 45, an employee of 25 years, defrauded retirees whose accounts had gone to dormant status, meaning the pensioner was unreachable and not receiving money directly.
CalPERS said one of the recipients was homeless.
CalPERS has more than 9,000 dormant accounts among its more than 700,000 recipients receiving benefits.
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 5:06 PM.