Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that a fund manager at UCLA’s history department pleaded no contest July 26 to stealing more than $300,000 from the university through fraudulent purchase orders and travel reimbursements.
“Public employees have a financial responsibility to the people they serve,” District Attorney Gascón said. “This criminal conduct drained resources from the history department that could have been used to benefit students and fulfill the university’s academic mission.”
Diana Fonseca (dob 9/1/1983) of Carson pleaded no contest to six felony counts of grand theft and admitted to the special allegation of aggravated white-collar crime. As part of her plea, she agreed to pay full restitution, $336,000, to UCLA for the stolen funds.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on November 1 in Department 50 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
On July 26, 2018, officials at the university’s history department discovered that Fonseca had created fraudulent purchase orders for electronic equipment. Between May 2013 and October 2017, Fonseca submitted 45 separate fraudulent travel reimbursements for herself. All the funds went to her personal checking account.
Case BA490737 was investigated by the UCLA Police Department.
