Retired clerk admits to embezzling more than $709,000 while working at Anaheim school

A 64-year-old retired school clerk pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison for embezzling more than $709,000 from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District while working in a billing office at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, according to records obtained Tuesday, March 17.

Cynthia Marie Campbell pleaded guilty Friday to 222 felony counts of misappropriation or embezzlement of monies by a public officer with sentencing enhancement allegations of aggravated white collar crime exceeding $500,000.

In a motion to increase her bail, Anaheim Police Department Detective John Azze said she was employed by the school district as a student finance clerk from about February 1998 until her retirement in November 2017.

The embezzlement came to light when the school district was sent a late payment notice on a bill from a yearbook company that was marked as paid, Azze said. An audit of the records indicated Campbell had taken $709,083.71 over the years, Azze said.

The embezzlement from the school’s Associated Student Body funds occurred between 2012 and 2017, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said they were limited to reviewing those years due to a lack of bank records for prior years.