OAKLAND — A woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from two Oakland-based employers was ordered to pay $330,000 as part of a plea deal announced Wednesday by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Yolanda Cheers, who is also known as Yolanda Brown, pleaded no contest to felony grand theft by embezzlement in late January, in a deal that saw the dismissal of about a dozen other forgery, identity theft and other embezzlement charges, court records show.
Prosecutors claimed Cheers funneled two, $4,000 transfers to herself from the National Equity Project, whose finances she helped oversee. A few years later, prosecutors say Cheers tried to get an unauthorized loan in the name of BMWL & Partners — a business that later discovered several unauthorized pay bonuses and credit card charges in Cheers’ name, according to the DA’s announcement.
Cheers paid for the settlement with two cashiers checks presented on the day of her plea, the DA’s announcement said.