A Joshua Tree woman who was convicted in September of embezzling from the Morongo Unified School District was sentenced to three years’ probation on Friday. Karin Buttinelli, 50, worked in the school district’s payroll and benefits office when she gave herself 68 hours of overtime that she did not earn in August and October 2014, for a total of $1,927. After deliberating for only one and a half hours, jurors convicted her of grand theft with a finding of true that Buttinelli embezzled more than $400. Judge Rodney Cortez could have sentenced Karin Buttinelli to three years in state prison or fined her up to $10,000.
