Woman sentenced for stealing money from her Alamo Heights employer

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A former manager at an Alamo Heights restaurant is going to prison for four years for embezzling almost 125-thousand-dollars from her employer.

24-year-old Jessica Martinez was sentenced on Wednesday. She entered a plea of “no contest” last month to taking the money from Bird Bakery.

Martinez conducted more than 450 fraudulent transactions between late 2016 and spring of last year.

Because of her actions, the bakery couldn’t give raises or bonuses to its workers and the owners had to shift funds from their Dallas location to subsidize the payroll for Alamo Heights.

Martinez used the money to buy designer items for herself and others.

BIRD owner Elizabeth Chambers Hammer released a statement:

“From the day we opened our doors at BIRD, it has been our goal to approach and operate our company as a small business – no matter how large the company becomes. From day one, we have treated our employees (and guests) like family and have put significant trust in our staff, particularly senior management. Unfortunately, one of our trusted managers chose to commit an egregious crime over the course of many, many months and today, thanks to Dawn McCraw and Judge Stephanie Boyd, justice was served.”

Bird Bakery is located at 5912 Broadway Street.