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BY MOLLY HULSEY
Tim Lincecum. Brian Wilson. Barry Zito--a few names you might recognize as big-name players in the San Francisco Giants’ journey to the 2010 World Series. A name you might not know? Robin O’Conner. The Giants’ former payroll manager was arrested Tuesday for allegedly embezzling more than $1.5 million from player accounts.
How was she caught? ESPN reports...
“The first sign of trouble came on July 5, when the Giants were contacted by Bank of America, who said O'Connor had applied for a residential loan... The loan file included a letter on San Francisco Giants letterhead explaining two large deposits that had been made into O'Connor's bank account.”
According to that letter- the team was treating O’Connor to some cash because she helped them win the World Series. Now- she faces felony fraud charges.
KGO broke the story-- and analyzes how her scheme went wrong.
“‘I’m reminded of what prosecutors often say to juries, which is ‘we don’t catch the smart ones.’ The people who get convicted are the ones who leave enough evidence behind to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ABC7 I-Team’s Dan Noyes reached O’Conner through her Facebook page, and she replied, ‘I really want to speak out about this, but I am not allowed to do this as part of an agreement that I have at the moment.’ ”
The New England Sports Network wonders how O’Conner ever thought she could pull it off.
“Did she really expect the bank to not confirm a $300,000+ salary bonus with her employer? Perhaps a few tens of thousands of dollars could pass, but that's a serious amount of money. She honestly couldn't have gone into this expecting to get away with this, right? I'd certainly hope not.”
So what happened to all that dough? Here’s KPIX.
“Anne, do we know if there is any chance that they could recover some of the money that she allegedly embezzled?’ ‘In fact, the Giants say she actually paid back that $600,000 that she admitted to embezzling. As for the rest, I’m not sure. How much did she spend on keep? I’m sure the case is going to continue to unravel for weeks.’”
Finally- a Yahoo! blog wonders which accounts the money actually came out of.
“The U.S. Attorney's office doesn't want the Giants saying which players O'Connor allegedly bilked, but it figures that an embezzler would siphon funds from where they would least be missed. The Giants with the biggest paychecks this season are Barry Zito, Lincecum, Aaron Rowand and Huff.”
All those players make at least $10 million a year. For Newsy, I’m Molly Hulsey. Multiple Sources. The Real Story.
