Humboldt County Woman Sentenced To 20 Months In Federal Prison After Pleading Guilty To Embezzling Over $500,000 From Her Construction Company Employer

SAN FRANCISCO - Christina Ann Mobley was sentenced yesterday to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges that she defrauded her former employer, a construction company located in Fortuna, California. United States District Judge Charles R. Breyer handed down the sentence.

Mobley, 59, was charged in an indictment filed February 5, 2025, with multiple counts of mail fraud and wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Mobley was employed as the business manager for a Fortuna construction company. When the company's bookkeeper retired, Mobley took on the accounting and bookkeeping duties. She became essential to the business and was trusted with management of the company's bank accounts, checks, and payroll systems. The indictment alleges that Mobley used that access to steal over $500,000 from the company.

On December 10, 2025, Mobley pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 and two counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, based on the various methods she used to defraud her employer. Mobley admitted that she directed checks mailed from the company's bank account to be applied to the account for her personal credit cards to pay for personal expenses such as cash advances at casinos and personal travel; issued electronic payments of company funds to her personal credit cards; wrote checks from the company to herself, including for the repayment of her car loan; and inflated her vacation time, work hours, and bonuses in the company's payroll system, resulting in unearned and excessive payments to herself. Between January 2022 and November 2024, Mobley admitted that she embezzled more than $500,000 from her employer.

United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian and FBI Special Agent in Charge Scott Schelble made the announcement.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Breyer sentenced Mobley to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered restitution in the amount of $586,000. Mobley was ordered to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons in 90 days.

Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Barry is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI.