Filipina pleads guilty to stealing P5M from Navy base in Japan

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Federal prosecutors said a Filipino woman has pleaded guilty in Kansas to stealing nearly $100,000 (P5 million) from a US Naval base in Japan.

 

The prosecutors announced Monday that Cynthia Lopez Creseni pleaded guilty Friday to theft of public money. She stole $99,068 or P5,089,816 from the Morale Welfare and Recreation Center at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

 

At the time of the thefts, Creseni was lead cashier of the game/slot room.

 

Prosecutors said Creseni was placed on administrative leave after reporting the funds missing when she returned from a US vacation in February 2015.

 

She sold her home and returned to the Philippines. Agents learned she entered the US in July 2015. She was arrested in January 2017 in Overland Park, Kansas, for overstaying her visa.

 

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 4.

 

Editor's note: $1=Php51.377