The San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series thanks to great pitching performances from Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Brian Wilson.
And they got timely offensive contributions from the likes of rookie Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe. You remember those guys. How could anyone forget?
And what about Robin O'Connor, a payroll department manager? There's no way the Giants get past the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS without her.
Wait. You say you don't remember O'Connor? Well, she must have played a big role in winning San Francisco's first World Series, because she got a huge bonus from her teammates.
KGO-TV in San Francisco is reporting, in fact, that O'Connor ? who had an annual salary of $80,000 ? was paid $1,513,836.28 between June 2010 and June 2011. That's what an affidavit from an FBI special agent says. O'Connor, who was fired in July after working for the team for four years, has been arrested for embezzling money from Giants players.
The U.S. Attorney's office doesn't want the Giants saying which players O'Connor allegedly bilked, but it figures that an embezzler would siphon funds from where they would least be missed. The Giants with the biggest paychecks this season are Barry Zito (pictured), Lincecum, Aaron Rowand and Huff. All make at least $10 million a year.
How O'Connor got caught is quite amusing. But first, check out this video report from KGO's Dan Noyes:
Last month, O'Connor applied for a loan to buy a house in San Diego. The affidavit says she forged a letter from the Giants' HR manager, explaining large deposits into O'Connor's account "because of her outstanding contributions ... that assisted us in accomplishing our goal of winning the 2010 World Series, she was given two additional payments of compensation in May 2011." $100,090.71 and $200,348.89.
When the lender, Bank of America, sent a copy of the letter to the Giants for confirmation, it was over.
A loan for a house in San Diego, expensive cars in the driveway. It's funny, what the KGO legal analyst said: "I'm reminded of what prosecutors often say to juries, which is, we don't catch the smart ones..."
So, not only did O'Connor steal money from the Giants, but she faked a letter on her own behalf that says she helped them win the World Series! If I'm the players, I'm more upset about that assertion than the actual thievery of funds. She's no Mike Fontenot, after all.
The affidavit says O'Connor admitted forging the letter and diverting more than $600,000 from player accounts; she made a wire transfer, returning that money to the team. Then, the Giants conducted a review and found $900,000 more misdirected to O'Connor's personal accounts.
No wonder the Giants have been such curmudgeons lately. The NL West is slipping away, they don't have any explanations as to why, and a team employee was ripping them off. Allegedly.
Hopefully they can recover all of the money and, more importantly, get an apology for that letter detailing her big at-bats against Cliff Lee in the Series.
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