A former Fortuna city council member has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after admitting she stole more than half a million dollars from her longtime employer.
Christina Mobley pleaded guilty to four counts of mail and wire fraud. She was accused of stealing $586,000 while working for Fortuna-based Beacom Construction.
Mobley began working for the company in 2002 and became office manager in 2018.
According to court records, she began stealing from the company in 2022 through unauthorized wire transfers, inflated vacation pay and unauthorized overtime.
Prosecutors said she used the money to pay personal expenses, including a car loan, and to gamble.
The theft was uncovered during an FBI investigation that led Mobley to resign from the Fortuna City Council in 2025.
Mobley's attorney asked the court to sentence her to probation rather than prison, arguing that a gambling addiction rooted in abuse during childhood and her first marriage contributed to her crimes.
"These severe conditions on top of her untreated trauma contributed to her turning to gambling to numb herself from reality," Mobley's lawyer Jennifer Wirsching wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Wirsching said that Mobley has expressed deep regret for her actions and is seeking to address her past trauma.
Federal prosecutors pushed back on those claims and sought a 27-month prison sentence, arguing Mobley continued stealing even after she knew Beacom Construction was facing serious financial difficulties.
"The Defendant had made herself so essential to Beacom that they needed her to keep working even after the FBI identified aspects of her fraud and she confessed to what they knew," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "As the victim impact statements detail, however, her continued employment enabled her to steal yet another $2,000, which ultimately forced the company to fire her."
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer sentenced Mobley to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She also was ordered to pay $586,000 in restitution.
