East Bay woman who embezzled $1.6M from charity gets 2 years in federal prison

OAKLAND – An East Bay woman has been sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for embezzling more than $1.6 million from a Walnut Creek-based charity, prosecutors said.

Carrie Lynn Grant, 62, of Pleasant Hill, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Aug. 11.

Grant served as the financial manager for Junior Achievement of Northern California, a nonprofit organization that provides educational materials and programs to prepare youths to succeed in the global economy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Between November 2017 and June 2023, Grant deposited charity funds into her personal account and created fraudulent records to cover her tracks, prosecutors said.

Grant spent the stolen money on, among other things, first-class air travel, floor seats for a Golden State Warriors game, and a condominium in Hawaii, prosecutors said.

According to her attorneys, Grant initially took the money to make ends meet but later “used the money to give her daughter and her experiences and a life she could not otherwise afford.”

“Ms. Grant is extremely remorseful and ashamed of her actions in this case that led to her taking approximately $1.6 million from JA,” Grant’s attorneys wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Grant’s attorneys argued their client should be sentenced to five years of probation.

“Such a sentence, in addition to the collateral consequences of Ms. Grant’s first felony and federal offense, is serious,” they wrote in the memorandum. “It will curtail her liberty, it will subject her to stringent supervision, and, along with the conditions of supervision, it will deter her from future criminal conduct and protect the public.”

In addition to a prison term of 27 months, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin sentenced Grant to three years of supervised release. She will begin serving her sentence on March 9.