This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
An Ogden woman who stole thousands of dollars intended for children with autism has been sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Rebecca Irene Campos, 32, was charged last year in 2nd District Court with second-degree-felony theft for stealing funds from the Northern Utah Autism Program, an Ogden preschool for children with autism, between September 2015 and August 2016.
Campos pleaded guilty in January to a reduced third-degree felony count of theft.
Last week, Judge Michael DiReda suspended a zero-to-five-year prison term, and sentenced Campos to 180 days in jail as part of a 36-month probation. Campos also must perform 60 hours of community service and pay $10,739.02 in restitution. DiReda granted Campos work release in order for her to pay the restitution, said defense attorney Branson West.
At the time of the thefts, Campos was the organization's "parent president," according to a December Facebook post from the organization, and was the only person with access to a spending card for an account containing money from private donors, charges say.
Campos had notified a school employee that the account's balance was getting low, which struck the employee as "odd," charges state. The employee requested bank statements, which showed Campos had misused the funds for personal purchases.
When confronted by the employee and another person, Campos allegedly admitted to using the money for herself and her family, citing "financial difficulties," charges state, and she allegedly told them she had quit counting after she had spent $5,000. Two other employees told police they had seen Campos "purchasing merchandise for her children" on two separate occasions, charges state.
Since becoming aware of the situation, the school has "taken many steps to ensure that this is something the program doesn't have to endure in the future," the organizaton's Facebook post said.