Dental Assistant Gets 3 Years For Embezzling

YUBA CITY, Calif. (AP) – A Northern California dental assistant has been ordered to serve three years in prison for stealing $203,000 from her former employer and reportedly using the money to purchase jewelry and cosmetic surgery.

Tiffany Lynae Lovell was sentenced Friday in Sutter County Superior Court for embezzling funds over the five years she worked as an office manager for a Yuba City dentist.

Prosecutors say the 31-year-old Biggs resident charged personal items on a company credit card and altered time sheets to collect pay for days she didn’t work.

A county probation department report says Lovell used money stolen between 2005 and 2010 to buy jewelry, clothing and electronics for herself and others.

She is also suspected of spending some of it on cosmetic procedures including breast augmentation, the Appeal-Democrat of Marysville reports.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)