Former Manager Admits Embezzling $1.4M From Contra Costa Employer

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — A former employee of Ramar Foods International in Pittsburg pleaded guilty at her arraignment Thursday to felony grand theft embezzlement, identity theft, money laundering and tax evasion, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office said.

The DA's Office reached a plea agreement with 60-year-old Mary Antoinette Narvaez Hernandez, who was the accounting manager at Ramar Foods International when she committed financial crimes between 2016 and 2021.

During that time, she embezzled a total of $1,399,342.84 from the company and failed to pay $97,568 in taxes to the State of California, according to a news release Friday from the DA's Office.

"Financial crimes are often complicated," said District Attorney Diana Becton. "That’s why our Major Financial Crimes Unit has forensic accountants who can investigate complex illegal schemes and why we have attorneys with expert knowledge of white-collar crime. The goal is always to get justice for victims."

Hernandez has already paid $410,198 in restitution to the victims, has cooperated with the Pittsburg Police Department and has accepted responsibility in the matter, the DA's Office said.

Susie Quesada, president of Ramar Foods, spoke at the arraignment and said Hernandez "had many friends in our company who also trusted her and helped her."

"It is with deep regret now that we look upon the years of working with Mary Anna tainted with lies and deception," Quesada said. "It is for our employees, who like our family, were betrayed by her deception and thievery, that we applaud the myriad law enforcement professionals and this court for bringing her to justice."

As part of the agreement, Hernandez must stay away from Ramar Foods. She must also pay restitution and taxes owed. She cannot possess firearms, arming devices, or ammunition, and she must pay for the cost of the investigation and prosecution.

She was sentenced to a seven-year suspended state prison sentence with three years of formal probation supervision and one year in the county jail. She can apply to serve jail time through the Contra Costa County Sherriff’s Custody Alternative Facility. Her probation supervision includes strict terms and conditions calculated to protect the community against further financial crimes. A violation of any of these terms or conditions will impose the suspended seven-year prison sentence.

"A plea agreement like this one is an effective way for the victims to receive financial restitution from what was stolen from them — and for the state to recover tax revenue that was unlawfully evaded by the defendant," Becton said.