Woman sentenced for embezzling from jail vendor

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A woman has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for embezzling $720,000 from a company that supplies San Bernardino County jails with phone cards and other materials.

Carmen Ascencio, former manager of the Rancho Cucamonga branch of Canteen Corrections, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of embezzlement and was sentenced in West Valley Superior Court.

Ascencio, of Palmdale, was arrested in September following an investigation by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

According to police reports contained in her court file, investigators found evidence that Ascencio embezzled the funds over the past five years using three methods:

-- She falsified invoices for inmate phone cards and cashed the checks for herself, taking $401,000.

-- She underreported vending machine sales at local jails and kept the balance, totaling $95,000.

-- She stole sacks of quarters totaling $224,000 that were meant for use by inmates in jail pay phones.