Tam Valley Man Sentenced for Embezzlement Scheme

A Tam Valley man convicted of embezzling more than $1.3 million from his Silicon Valley employer was sentenced last week to 32 months in state prison, as well as $1.3 million in restitution, the state Attorney General’s Office.

Richard Schwalbe, 57, had pleaded no contest in late June to two counts of grand theft. As part of the plea bargain Schwalbe agreed to in June, he'll serve 16 months in Santa Clara County Elmwood Correctional Complex, according to his defense attirney Douglas Horngrad.

Schwalbe was arrested in January 2010 after a Department of Justice investigation found that he took advantage of his position at Solectron Corporation (an electronics company now called Flextronics International) to collect in his own account over $800,000 in debt owed to Solectron.

In a second scheme, Schwalbe misused his job as a global credit manager at Solectron Corp. in Milpitas to renegotiate a debt owed by Singapore-based Insiphil, causing the company to continue making payments to an account controlled by Schwalbe.

Schwalbe allegedly set up a fictitious business with a Mill Valley banking account in which he deposited the funds. In total, Schwalbe embezzled more than $1.3 million from Solectron, state prosecutors said.

"Embezzlement is a serious crime and comes with serious consequences," Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. "White-collar criminals must be held to the same standards as everyone else."

Schwalbe, a debt and bankruptcy consultant, was arrested at his Tam Valley home in January 2010 on a warrant from the state Department of Justice. He was sentenced in Santa Clara County Superior Court, where the case was prosecuted. Schwalbe is free on bail pending sentencing.