A former UC Davis employee — who had earlier pleaded guilty to using $160,000 of funds from a federal program for her own purposes — was sentenced Jan. 6 in Sacramento to serve 12 months plus one day in prison and pay restitution of $128,681.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ordered Beverly Benford, who was in the courtroom, to surrender herself on Feb. 17 at a yet-to-be designated prison or to a U.S. marshal. He also ordered that her time in prison be followed by a three-year term of supervised release.

In June, Benford pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property. In a plea agreement, the Sacramento woman admitted to using $160,000 of funds from the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, which she had administered on behalf of the university, for her own purposes.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Lapham said the amount of restitution was determined by the total of the misappropriated funds less the value of items recovered.

Benford, 67, resigned her position in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition in October 2006 and is no longer employed by the university.

Trust factor

“The university is a public institution and steward of taxpayers’ money,” said Robert Loessberg-Zahl, assistant executive vice chancellor at UC Davis. “We expect our employees to uphold that trust and to abide by the law and university policy.”

A federal grand jury indicted Benford in March 2007 on the one count of theft of government property. At the time, federal prosecutors alleged that Benford made fraudulent purchases and travel expense claims over a period of at least six years, going back to at least July 2000. The alleged misappropriation of funds was initially reported to UC Davis officials in August 2006 as a whistleblower complaint.

When a campus investigation found that U.S. Department of Agriculture funds possibly were involved, university officials reported their findings to the federal government, and the USDA subsequently launched its own investigation.

Loessberg-Zahl said the university has already taken steps to improve administrative oversight and financial controls for the nutrition program, which educates thousands of food stamp recipients throughout California on proper diet and nutritious food purchases.