MAN GETS 6 YEARS IN EMBEZZLEMENT

A Santa Rosa man convicted of embezzlement has been ordered to spend six

years in prison and pay $1.8 million to the Petaluma safety equipment company

where he had been the general manager, the Sonoma County District Attorney's

Office said.

Ryan Sawyer Merman, 69, pleaded guilty last fall, admitting to six felony

counts that included forgery, elder fraud and embezzlement. He was formally

sentenced Tuesday, authorities said.

Merman was a trusted friend for 25 years of Dianne and Bill Anderson,

owners of STX, Inc., which manufactures and sells protective construction and

safety equipment such as knee pads, harnesses, gloves, tool belts under the

trade name Alta Industries.

He was named general manager 12 years ago at about $100,000 a year, but

took several hundred thousand more each year by writing checks to himself and

overstating company assets, prosecutors and company officials said.

The total exceeded $1.8 million, prosecutors said.

The theft, dating back to at least March 2002, was discovered during an

audit this year.

Merman remained in the Sonoma County Jail on Thursday morning but was to be

transferred to San Quentin State Prison for assignment to a state penitentiary

where he will serve his sentence.

-- Mary Callahan