Payroll manager pleads guilty to stealing $138,000 from Petaluma company

A Vallejo woman will be sentenced to just over a year in prison for embezzling $138,000 from her Petaluma employer, SPG Solar, prosecutors said.

Eileen Madayag, 43, stole the money while working as payroll manager from October 2011 to May 2014, prosecutors said. She rerouted employee paychecks into several accounts in her name and intercepted payments from clients to her employer, prosecutors said.

The company became suspicious when managers noticed a former employee was still receiving paychecks through direct deposit, prosecutors said. Madayag was arrested after an internal audit showed additional deposits made in the names of other former workers. Also, the company found some current employees were receiving double deposits, prosecutors said.

Madayag pleaded guilty to embezzlement last week and admitted sentencing enhancements for thefts of more than $100,000.

As part of a plea bargain with prosecutors, she will receive a 14-month prison term, to be served in county jail, when she is sentenced Jan. 14.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.