Newport bookkeeper charged with theft, commercial burglary

A financial bookkeeper at a Newport Beach architectural firm is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges that she used company money to pay for more than $160,000 in personal expenses.

Suzanne Denise Baumann, 40, of Anaheim Hills, is charged with two felony counts of grand theft, one count of second-degree commercial burglary with a sentencing enhancement for the crime amounting to more than $100,000.

Prosecutors claim Baumann made unauthorized purchases with three company credit cards and in one instance, paid down $44,000 on her personal credit card account with the firm’s money.

She was arrested by Newport Beach police Tuesday.

Baumann faces up to six years and four months in prison if convicted on all counts. She’s being held in Orange County Jail, pending a bail hearing at her arraignment.

—Joseph Serna