Woman who embezzled $100,000 released from jail Woman who embezzled $100,000 released from jail (July 18, 2001)

Melissa Edelman, a former employee of the Barksdale Group in Menlo Park, was released from county jail July 12 after a judge applied the time she had already served in jail to her sentence, said a spokesperson for the district attorney's office.

On June 12, Ms. Edelman, 31, of Hillsborough, pleaded no contest to one charge of embezzlement of $101,400 in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Menlo Park police arrested Ms. Edelman in April and confiscated two truckloads of furniture, clothes, jewelry, and other expensive goods that she was suspected of buying with a Barksdale Group company credit card.

She worked at Barksdale Group as administrative assistant, said Menlo Park Police Detective Sgt. Larry Shannon. Police estimate that the purchases, which included a trip to Hawaii, were made over a period of about 10 months.

Ms. Edelman was ordered to repay the Barksdale Group by the end of her probation, which will last three years, said Deputy District Attorney Peter Lynch.