Former hospital worker sentenced

A Fountain Valley hospital employee has been sentenced to three years in prison for embezzling more than $300,000 over five years.

Bridget Dominique Ganier, 38, of Las Vegas, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to stealing money from Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center’s cafeteria registers, according to a release from the Orange County district attorney’s office. Ganier was also ordered to pay more than $306,000 in restitution.

Ganier worked as the cafeteria’s executive assistant from September 2003 to June 2008 and supervised the daily revenues and deposits. During that time, she altered receipts and records to hide more than $300,000 she stole from the nonprofit hospital, according to the release.

The money was put into her personal bank account and used to buy a new home in Las Vegas, rental homes in Orange County, multiple vehicles and jet skis.

The theft wasn’t discovered until July 2008, when Ganier went on vacation and an administrator realized the cafeteria’s revenue doubled when she was gone, according to the release. The employee called police and Ganier was fired.

During Ganier’s last month of employment, the cafeteria revenue showed $9,280, but jumped to $28,565 the month after Ganier left, according to the release.

Ganier moved back to Las Vegas while the Fountain Valley Police Department investigated the incident. She began working at the hospital in 1998 as the cafeteria secretary and was promoted in 2003 when the position became vacant, according to the release.

— Britney Barnes