Patricia Cascione sentenced to one year in jail

By Kerry Slater

An accountant has been sentenced to one year in jail and five years of formal probation for embezzling more than $93,000 from the Girl Scouts and a local cancer center over a four-year period, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced.

Deputy District Attorney Benyomin Forer of the Cyber Crime Division said Patricia Cascione, 53, of Santa Clarita pleaded no contest on Wednesday to one felony count of embezzlement by a public or private officer and agreed to pay restitution as to both victims named in the criminal complaint.

Cascione, a certified public accountant, was the chief financial officer of the Beverly Hills Cancer Center and the volunteer treasurer for two local Girl Scouts of the United States of America chapters as well as a Girl Scouts service unit when the crimes occurred, the prosecutor said.

From March 1, 2013, to Feb. 13, 2017, Cascione used funds totaling $58,863 from the Girl Scouts accounts for her personal use. Furthermore, in her CFO role, the defendant diverted $34,500 in donations from the cancer center to one of her Girl Scouts accounts in order to embezzle the money, the prosecutor added.