**SENTENCING MEMORANDUM ON BEHALF OF JANA ORTIZ**

**Introduction**

Jana Ortiz asks the Court to impose 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by a term of supervised release with a scheduled restitution condition. That sentence is sufficient but not greater than necessary. Counsel does not ask for probation, and does not suggest that repayment has undone what Ms. Ortiz did.

**I. The offense and the harm are serious, and Ms. Ortiz does not minimize either.**

This was not a lapse. Over three years Ms. Ortiz submitted 48 false vendor reimbursements totaling $180,000, using the approval authority Harbor Youth Arts gave her as finance manager to both take and hide the money. She directed a junior bookkeeper to code a transfer as "program supplies" while withholding that the vendor account was her own—conduct that misused a subordinate and compounded the concealment. The repetition, the planning, the concealment, and the abuse of trust properly aggravate the offense, and the Court should weigh them fully even though they inform the guideline calculation.

The harm was concrete. Harbor Youth Arts suspended its after-school music program for six months, laid off staff, and 70 children lost services. Those consequences fell on the organization and on children who had nothing to do with Ms. Ortiz's choices. The executive director's statement does not forgive the offense, and Ms. Ortiz does not ask the Court to treat it as forgiven.

**II. History and characteristics.**

Ms. Ortiz is 52 and has no prior criminal record. She has worked continuously for 27 years. Twelve letters describe her as reliable, remorseful, and supportive of coworkers; counsel does not offer them as evidence of charitable work or of good deeds not already in the record. She pleaded guilty and received credit for acceptance of responsibility.

**III. Restitution: the pre-detection payment is entitled to more weight than the post-plea payment.**

Before any audit began, Ms. Ortiz repaid $70,000 from an inheritance—at a point when she was not under investigation and had no charge to answer. That payment is the strongest single piece of mitigation available on this record, because it reflects a choice made without external pressure. After pleading guilty she paid an additional $30,000. That payment also shows acceptance, but counsel acknowledges it carries less weight because it followed detection and plea. Together the payments leave an $80,000 balance. Neither payment erases the victim's loss.

**IV. Family care and health, stated no higher than the record permits.**

Ms. Ortiz provides evening care to her father, who has Parkinson's disease, and her sister provides care two days each week from 20 miles away. Counsel does not contend this care is irreplaceable, because the record does not show that no other arrangement is available. This is real hardship to relatives, relevant but not extraordinary, and it does not justify a major variance.

Ms. Ortiz has controlled type 2 diabetes. The presentence report states that the Bureau can supply the required medication and diet. Counsel therefore asks only that the Court note the condition for designation and care purposes; it is not a basis for a variance.

**V. Claims counsel does not make.**

Ms. Ortiz has asked counsel to attribute the offense to gambling addiction and childhood abuse. No medical, treatment, or personal record supports either assertion, and counsel will not make it. The Court should assume no such explanation exists. Ms. Ortiz took the money because she chose to, and she stands before the Court on that footing.

**VI. The requested sentence and restitution condition.**

Twelve months and one day is real imprisonment for a first offender with 27 years of work, preserves good-time eligibility, promotes respect for law, and deters others in fiduciary roles. It also preserves the $62,000 bookkeeping position that remains available after sentencing—the only realistic source of further repayment.

Ms. Ortiz's verified monthly disposable income is approximately $1,700. She proposes restitution of $600 per month during supervised release, plus any windfall applied in full. Counsel does not promise the $80,000 balance will be satisfied within the supervision term and does not claim inability to pay.

**Conclusion**

Ms. Ortiz requests 12 months and one day, supervised release, and the restitution schedule above.