Mother of four going to jail for embezzlement

A Yuba City woman, the mother of four young children, wept Monday in Sutter County Superior Court as she was sentenced to a year in jail for embezzling more than $25,000 from her employer, Northside Fitness.

In the audience, the health club's co-owner, April Helm, also wept as 30-year-old Alexa Carmen Keeney, a family friend as well as an employee, was handcuffed and taken to jail.

"I thought she would be with me as long as we ran the business and grow with us as the company grew," Helm wrote in a letter to Judge Brian Aronson.

In a February interview at the Sutter County Probation Department, Keeney said she stole the money to support her Oxycontin habit.

Helm and her husband, Jeff, declined comment as they left the courtroom. In the letter, April Helm said she felt news of the embezzlement had damaged her husband's reputation in the business community.

Keeney, who was hired as a receptionist but promoted to bookkeeper, took cash, forged checks, left bills unpaid and failed to send in payroll taxes, April Helm wrote.

Aronson rejected the Probation Department's recommendation of two years in prison, instead giving Keeney the year in jail and five years probation.

"I feel no one wants to see that," including the Helms, the judge said about a prison term.

He called the case a difficult one to decide because Keeney had no prior criminal record and was remorseful. But her actions may have caused the Helms to lay off other employees or prevented them from giving jobs to other people who need work, he said.

"This type of crime reverberates among more people than you can imagine," Aronson told Keeney.

Keeney's attorney, Justin Scott, said he was "shocked and chagrined" when Keeney wrote a letter of apology to the Helms soon after she was arrested, making his job as a lawyer more difficult.

"She acknowledged her wrongdoing, reached out and asked forgiveness," Scott said.

Deputy District Attorney Amanda Hopper called the crime "incredibly egregious" but agreed with Aronson that probation, rather than prison, will give Keeney an opportunity to pay the Helms restitution of $28,936.

Keeney and her husband, Steven, have four children ranging in age from 4 months to 10 years. He left the courtroom carrying her purse as she was led away.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.