MEDFORD, MA - Over eight years, a Medford woman stole $1.4 million from her aging employer to fund a lavish lifestyle of luxury cruises and cars. This week the woman, Linda Marie Medeiros, 52, was sentenced to three to four years in prison, according to Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Between April 2007 and August 2015 Medeiros was employed as a bookkeeper by the victim, who is in her eighties, and was frequently entrusted with blank checks, intended to be used to pay routine expenses. Instead, Medeiros would insert her own name as the payee on certain checks and thereafter deposit them into her own bank account, according to the district attorney. The stolen monies were used for a comfortable life style for the defendant including for cruises, frequent foreign vacations and a luxury motor vehicle.

"This case is a reminder that, although there is always a concern about being a victim of a random scam, those close to us can also be financially exploiting us, and we must all remain vigilant and monitor our financial transactions. If something seems amiss, you should immediately alert authorities," said District Attorney Ryan. Medeiros pled guilty to six counts of larceny over $250 from a person over sixty.

Judge Kimberly Budd sentenced Medeiros to 3-4 years in MCI Framingham, to be followed by a period of 10 years probation, during which time she is ordered to pay restitution totaling over $1.4 million to reimburse her employer for the monies stolen. Medeiros will begin serving that sentence on May 31, 2016. This incident was investigated by Detective Ian Spencer and Lt. Sean Kennedy, of the Lincoln Police Department and by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.