Indianapolis woman gets 4 years for embezzling $5.5 million

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An Indianapolis woman has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $5.5 million from her former employer.

Kristi Espiritu was ordered Tuesday to serve 46 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release. She also must pay $2.74 million in restitution to each of two business owners.

Prosecutors said that during the six-year scam Espiritu bought expensive personal items and trips costing as much as $100,000 with her personal credit card. They say the 40-year-old then paid for the purchases with money from Indianapolis-based Network Storage Inc., where she was an operations manager. The company owners said her main tasks were paying bills and managing financial books. She earned more than $100,000 a year.

The thefts happened between 2008 and 2014.