Ex- Symantec marketer gets 3 years for embezzlement

A former marketing director for antivirus software maker Symantec has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for embezzling more than $ 1 million to fund a lifestyle that included vacations in Las Vegas, Hawaii and Florida, authorities said Thursday.

Lena “Mickey” Jacobs Coombs, 48, of Highland, Utah, pleaded guilty in December to a single count of wire fraud in U. S. District Court in San Jose. She had originally been indicted on 26 counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of money laundering. On Wednesday, she was sentenced and ordered by U. S. District Judge Lucy Koh to pay $ 915,412 in restitution.

Investigators said she stole from the Mountain View company from 2010 to 2012. She was later fired from her position in Lindon, Utah.

Authorities said Coombs used American Express cards issued by Symantec to pay for personal expenses, including car payments, home remodeling, concerts, child care and a trip to the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis. She used company credit cards at hotels in Waikiki Beach and Kapalua, Hawaii; Las Vegas; and at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the indictment said.

She was able to steal the funds by creating a company in Utah called Dart Marketing and Events and falsely claiming that the company had completed marketing activities on Symantec’s behalf, authorities said. She hid her connection to Dart Marketing and falsely told co- workers that another person ran that firm, authorities said.