EMBEZZLER SENTENCED TO YEAR BEHIND BARS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A Quartz Hill woman has been sentenced to a year in jail for embezzling $203,000 from a paralyzed Palmdale woman for whom she worked as a caretaker.

Romona Ramos, 40, was accused of taking money the woman gave her to buy a house on 20th Street West in Palmdale for both women to live in, prosecutors said.

``We saw that it was in her best interest to resolve it,'' said Ramos' attorney, Ed Tolmas. ``It was in the best interest of everybody. When you avoid a trial it's in everybody's best interest.''

Ramos was sentenced Wednesday after she pleaded no contest to a felony count of dependent adult fiduciary abuse. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a misdemeanor count of providing false information on a loan application.

In addition to the one-year sentence, Ramos was placed on five years' probation and was given a suspended prison sentence of four years.

``That's our standard offer to somebody who doesn't have a prior record,'' said Deputy District Attorney Teresa Gomez of the District Attorney's Office elder and dependent abuse unit. ``If she violates probation, she will go to state prison.''

Had Ramos been convicted of the felony, she would have faced up to six years in prison, officials said.

Prosecutors said Ramos took the money from the victim for the purchase of the house and did not transfer title to the victim, whom authorities said was a 44-year-old quadriplegic.

The alleged theft was discovered when the defendant's brother alerted the victim, Gomez said. A total of $140,600 was spent on the house, and more than $62,000 remained unaccounted for, investigators said.

Ramos' brother, 42-year-old Joe Arellano of Palmdale, also was charged with stealing money from the victim. He became the victim's caretaker after his sister left, officials said.

Arellano was sentenced in February to 45 days in jail, officials said.

Romona Ramos had been working for the victim for more than year, providing 24-hour care and acting as a nurse and caretaker. Ramos was referred to the victim by a former caretaker of the victim.

Ramos was arrested Dec. 22 following an investigation that began in July, officials said.

Detective Bob Campbell said escrow closed in May on the house in Ramos' name, and Ramos moved in a short time later. In July, the victim was told that her money had been misused, Campbell said.

Ramos moved out of the new house about early August, and the victim moved into the house in October.