FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2010
CONTACT:
ADA Brian Buckelew, DA Harris’ Office (415) 553-1383
Erica Derryck, DA Harris’ Office (415) 553-1167
FORMER MANAGER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO LOEWS METREON THEATER CONVICTED OF EMBEZZLING OVER $300,000
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – District Attorney Kamala D. Harris announced today that Kenneth Rae Kintsley, 42, was convicted on April 8, 2010 of eleven felonies related to his embezzlement of over $300,000 from the San Francisco Loews Metreon Theater where he worked as the house manager for several years (CN 2215746).
"The District Attorney investigators and Assistant District Attorney Sharon Bacon did a first-rate job following the paper trail in this case," said District Attorney Kamala D. Harris. “As a result of their hard work, this defendant has been held accountable for stealing an outrageous sum of money and abusing the trust of his employer.”
After a five week jury trial before the Honorable Carol Yaggy of the San Francisco Superior Court and two days of jury deliberations, Kinstley was convicted by the jury of every charge on the Complaint, which included one count of embezzlement (penal code section 504), one count of grand theft (penal code section 487(a), one count of altering data in a computer or computer system in order to devise or execute a scheme to defraud (penal code section 502c1A), one count of altering data in a computer or computer system in order to wrongfully obtain money (penal code section 502c1B), and one count of accessing and without permission altering data in a computer which resides or exists internal or external to a computer or computer system (penal code section 502c4). Kinstley was also convicted of three counts of filing an untrue tax return under penalty of perjury (Revenue and Taxation code section 19705(a)) (3 counts for tax years 2001, 2002 and 2003,) and three counts of failing to supply information with intent to evade taxes (Revenue and Taxation code section 19706) (3 counts for tax years 2001, 2002, and 2003). The jury also found “true” two allegations: one for taking over $100,000 and the other for taking over $200,000.
After the verdicts were read, Judge Yaggy remanded the defendant into custody without bail.
According to the evidence presented at trial, the defendant, who was employed as the house manager of the Loews Metreon Theater in San Francisco, embezzled large sums of money from the theater for several years. As house manager, the defendant was tasked with maintaining the daily receipts for the theater, but from September 22, 2001 through January 9, 2004, the defendant skimmed over $300,000 from those daily receipts and kept those skimmed proceeds for himself. The defendant attempted to conceal his crime by altering computer entries in the form of false void and refund tickets and cancelled deposits. He also hid his ill-gotten gains by filing false tax returns over several years. The defendant’s scheme unraveled in 2004 when an internal audit identified irregularities and a subsequent investigation by Loews Metreon indicated that the defendant had embezzled a large sum of money from the theater for several years. Loews Metreon contacted the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the District Attorney Investigators conducted a further investigation that led to the filing of a criminal complaint against the defendant.
This prosecution was the result of an investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations; specifically, the hard work of Lieutenant Carlos Sanchez and Investigator Diane Kenny. The victim in the case, Loews Metreon Theater (now AMC Loews Metreon Theater), was highly cooperative and assisted greatly in the prosecution. Sharon Bacon is the Assistant District Attorney who tirelessly prosecuted this document-intensive case.
The sentencing date is June 11, 2010 at 9:00 AM in Department 28 of the San Francisco Superior Court. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison.
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