SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The onetime head of a South Bay parent-teacher association was sentenced today to three years probation for embezzling around $14,000 from the organization.
Kaitlyn Faith Birchman, the former president of the Imperial Beach Charter School PTA, pleaded guilty in February to a felony forgery count. Had she gone to trial and been convicted of forgery and grand theft, she would have faced a potential three-year, eight-month prison sentence, according to the prosecution.
Per the terms of her probation, Birchman will have to complete 15 public work service days and make $10,000 in restitution to the PTA. If she pays the $10,000, her forgery conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor, according to prosecutors.
Birchman, 30, was taken into custody in early January at her Temecula home on an arrest warrant issued in November. She cooperated with investigators, according to Sgt. Karl Miller, who said the thefts occurred over a roughly year-long period. At the time, Birchman's children were attending the charter school, he said.
