Bookkeeper pleads not guilty to grand theft

A financial bookkeeper for a Newport Beach architectural firm accused of siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars from her company for personal expenses pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Suzanne Denise Baumann, 40, of Anaheim Hills, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of grand theft second-degree burglary and identity theft from the Central Jail in Santa Ana.

She faces up to six years and four months in prison if convicted on all charges.

Police said as the financial bookkeeper, who worked at Scheurer Architects in Newport Beach since 1996, Baumann used her role to quietly buy $115,700 worth of personal items on company credit cards. Prosecutors claim she also paid off $44,000 in personal debt with company money.

In another incident, she used a stolen company credit card inside the Newport Beach Police Department to pay for a massage therapy license, prosecutors claim.

Baumann is scheduled to be back in court for a pre-trial hearing Jan. 12.

Joseph Serna