Fresno woman headed to prison for embezzling thousands. ‘It almost put us out of business’
Fresno businessman Chris Pacheco spoke emotionally in Fresno County Superior Court Thursday about feeling betrayed by his former business manager, who embezzled more than half a million dollars from his companies.
The former business manager, Shannon Andrade (formerly Standifer), was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for siphoning thousands of dollars in cash from the bank accounts of A-Plus Signs and Mega Prints.
Judge James Kelley also ordered Andrade to pay restitution of $513,667.67.
Andrade, 42, is accused of using the stolen money to pay for everyday items, including cable bills, groceries, and pet supplies.
But she also enjoyed the high life, prosecutors said. She spent $1,250 at Tiffany & Co., $1,400 for a suite at an Oakland A’s baseball game, and $1,391 for dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, according to court records.
Pacheco, an owner of the print and sign companies, said he trusted Andrade implicitly. He believed in her so much that around 2014, he gave her the financial authority to sign checks on behalf of the company.
At the time, Pacheco, who is also in the radio business, had expanded his radio holdings and needed to spend more time with the new venture and away from the printing and sign companies.
“That is when we gave Shannon signing privileges because we trusted her,” Pacheco said. “And at that moment, she got forged signatures from my wife and from me. And she got ATM cards from First Fresno Bank. The facts are pretty clear. She lied through her teeth every day.”
Victor Lai, senior deputy district attorney, said Andrade, who worked at the company for eight years, used every possible way to steal from the company over the course of several years.
“She did it through ATM withdrawals, false checks, and through direct payments,” Lai said. “It was shameless conduct that shocks the consciousness.”
In asking for leniency, Andrade’s attorney Ryan Yoo said his client lives with mental illness, the trauma of her stepson having cancer, and the break up of a marriage.
“She has taken steps to better herself, personally and for the benefit of the community,” Yoo said.
Yoo asked the judge to grant Andrade probation.
Pacheco and his business partner Jeff Ashlock at A-Plus Signs pushed for prison time. Ashlock wanted the judge to understand that Andrade’s theft took a toll on the company and its 30 employees.
“It put us under tremendous financial stress. It almost put us out of business,” Ashlock said.
Ashlock told the judge that Andrade wasn’t the only employee who had gone through personal struggles. He said one employee lost a teenage son.
“He was still working hard to feed his family. He didn’t steal from our company,” he said.
Pacheco got choked up when he talked about how he and Ashlock do everything they can to take care of their employees. When Andrade had to take time off to care for her stepson, they supported her.
So when the detectives asked him to look at closed-circuit video footage of Andrade every time she went to the ATM, he couldn’t take it.
“She went to the ATM machine every single week for three years,” Pacheco said. “Do you know how frustrating it is to sit there before a police officer and say, yes, that is (the defendant’s) face and to do it 167 times? Halfway through, I said I don’t want to do this.”
Andrade’s scheme was discovered in 2018 while she was out of the office. Several vendors had sent emails asking Andrade when they would get paid. Company records, however, listed those accounts as having already been paid.
Investigators said Andrade had printed the checks for the vendors so it would appear that the bill was paid, but she never sent the checks out.
Company officials found 76 printed checks totaling approximately $261,000 in Andrade’s drawer.
Andrade was charged with 11 felonies in October 2018. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, she pleaded no contest in March to one count of embezzlement.
The judge allowed Andrade to remain out of jail until June 10, when she must return to court to begin her prison sentence.
