LOS ANGELES — A former state employee was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for her role in defrauding the California Office of AIDS out of more than $2 million from 2017 to 2018.
Christine Iwamoto is the second former Office of AIDS employee to be sentenced in the scheme after Schenelle Flores, 46, was given a prison term of nearly six years on March 3. Iwamoto was ordered to pay nearly $500,000 in restitution, and Flores was ordered to pay more than $2 million.
The scheme diverted funds from the Office of AIDS, part of the California Department of Public Health, which the pair used for lavish trips to theme parks, sporting events and hotel rooms.
