Windsor woman gets year in jail in Healdsburg law firm embezzlement

A Sonoma County judge sentenced a Windsor woman to a year in jail for , county officials said Tuesday in a news release.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Dana Simonds sentenced April Gabrielle Hale, 39, of Windsor, to a year in jail, three years of felony probation, and ordered her to pay the victim, Healdsburg attorney restitution in the amount of $179,432, according to Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch.

"The charges in this case arose out of an investigation which began when the victim, who was the owner of a Healdsburg law firm, found a discrepancy between his firm’s accounting program entries and his law firm’s bank account statements," Ravitch said in the news release. 

"The victim’s research revealed several unauthorized charges to the firm’s bank account and, ultimately, indicated that Ms. Hale, the firm’s office manager and bookkeeper, had used the firm’s bank account to pay several of her personal bills for several years." Ravitch said.

Ravitch said the total amount of firm money used by Hale from 2006 through early 2010 to pay her personal accounts was more than $100,000.

Officer Tom Whitemore was the investigating officer on the case and Deputy District Attorney Robin Hammond was the assigned prosecution.