Woman receives 6-month sentence for role in 8-year dental practice embezzlement scheme

After pleading guilty to two felony embezzlement charges, Karen Valach was sentenced to six months in home confinement, according to the Rutland Herald.

Ms. Valach spent eight and a half years embezzling from Cornerstone Dentistry in Rutland, Vt. At her sentence, Ms. Valach paid $50,400 in reimbursement to Michael Dick, DDS. She had already paid back $21,000 prior to the sentencing. It is estimated Ms. Valach embezzled close to $102,000 between 2009 and 2016. 

The judge, however, deviated from the plea deal with sentencing Ms. Valach. She was originally expected to serve no more than 28 days in prison. However, the judge was not willing to sentence Ms. Valach to home confinement unless it was longer than 28 days.

Along with the six-month sentence, the judge sentenced Ms. Valach to five years probation. In a statement to the court, Ms. Valach said she hopes, "one day my former coworkers won't think of me in a hateful way, but maybe as a person who has screwed up and can be forgiven," according to the Rutland Herald.

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