Woman gets jail term,
probation for embezzling

JoAnn Rodrigues is also ordered
to repay $888,178 she stole

A former office manager for a local termite treatment company was sentenced to a year in jail with no possibility of early release and five years' probation for embezzling $888,178 from her employer over a three-year period.

In rejecting a 10-year prison term for JoAnn Rodrigues, Circuit Judge Richard Pollack said Shawn Murray and his company, Aloha Termite and Pest Control, would never be repaid if she were incarcerated for that long of a period.

But he warned Rodrigues, 54, of Halawa, that he will send her to jail for 10 years if she fails to make sincere efforts to repay Murray on a monthly basis upon her release. Rodrigues apologized to Murray and company employees yesterday. She pleaded guilty in September to first-degree theft, money laundering and 13 counts of forgery.

Murray, 46, who opened his termite company five years ago but has been in the business for 25 years, said Rodrigues wrote the first check out to herself two weeks after his business opened in October 1999. In 2002 she stole more than $600,000.

"She didn't give a s-- about anybody but herself," Murray said after the sentencing. "She took almost a million dollars in three years." And she has yet to explain why she took all that money, he added.

He had known her for the past 13 years after working with her at another pest control company, trusted her as a friend and made her godmother to his firstborn, now 7 years old.

Among the evidence he discovered of her duplicity was a $10,000 check she wrote to the San Diego Chargers Association from the Aloha Termite account for VIP service in executive box seats for her and members of her family at a Chargers football game. She spent nearly $20,000 on that trip, telling her co-workers how great it was and that it would not have been possible without her friends and family chipping in to pay for it, he said.

"She came to work and would smile and laugh while she was stealing from me every day," said Murray, who blamed himself for putting so much trust in her.

The worst part was having to explain to his son why his "Aunty J.R." was not coming around anymore and why he had to fire her, and not being able to explain why she did what she did.

Because of Rodrigues, Murray nearly lost his company, filed for bankruptcy, is still in debt, reduced his staff and cut pay for remaining employees.

Prosecutors asked for 10 years because Rodrigues has two previous convictions for second-degree theft and forgery.

Deputy public defender Kevin Souza asked for probation, arguing his client could abide by the law as long as she was not put in charge of other people's money.

"She gets tempted and she takes," he said, and the prison system is not designed to address her issues.