Woman accused of stealing to pay back Valley victim

A Carson City woman who admitted to embezzling $35,300 from a Carson Valley business in 1999 was accused of stealing from a Reno company to finish paying her restitution.

Bobbi Ruiz, 38, is serving up to six years in prison after being convicted on Aug. 11 of stealing $11,369 from a Reno firm.

She was returned to Douglas County on Monday to face a probation violation on the 1999 case.

Ruiz was sentenced to up to four years in prison for attempted forgery and promised to pay $35,300 in restitution to the firm where she worked as a bookkeeper.

She returned to Douglas County court on several occasions in the intervening four years when she was behind on her payments.

However, she finished paying the debt just as the theft in Reno was being revealed.

Parole and Probation officers placed a hold on $10,653 they say Ruiz took from the victim in Reno to pay off her restitution in Carson Valley.

She denies the claim, saying she used money her husband gave her to pay off the debt. Her former employer in Reno told officers Ruiz said she was using the money to pay off her credit cards.

Judge Michael Gibbons revoked Ruiz's probation in the 1999 case and ordered that she serve one to four years in prison consecutive to the Washoe County sentence minus 120 days credit for time served.

Her attorney Tod Young said he felt the money being held by Parole and Probation should go to Ruiz's first victim.

"It's simply a case of the first person stolen from should be the first person to get paid," he said.

"In the end she owes both of them."

Gibbons was unwilling to decide where the money goes until he has learned whether there is any evidence Ruiz took the money in Washoe County to pay the Carson Valley victim.