Indian-American sentenced to 11 years in prison for theft

An Indian-American financial officer, who had been on the run since 2008 after pleading guilty to stealing more than USD 500,000 from a former employer, was sentenced to 11 years in prison today.
Santhosh Thomas, 51, who worked as the Westmont-based Collaborative Learning Inc's chief financial officer, pleaded guilty to felony theft in January 2008 but failed to show up for a court hearing in June of that year.
He had been on the run ever since, but was arrested in April this year near Houston and brought back to the DuPage County jail, Illinois' attorney's office was quoted as saying by Daily Herald.

Thomas stole nearly USD 513,000 by withdrawing money from the company's bank account, writing checks to himself without authorisation and making unauthorised purchases with a company credit card, prosecutors said.
He was sentenced to eight years for the theft conviction and a consecutive three-year sentence for jumping bail.
He was also ordered to pay full restitution to Collaborative Learning.