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Choir director sentenced to prison for embezzlement

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman who stole nearly $100,000 from a youth choir organization in West Virginia has been sentenced to prison.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports 51-year-old Jacqueline Holly Portillo was sentenced Monday by a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge to four concurrent terms of between one and 10 years in prison. She stole roughly $98,000 from the Appalachian Children’s Chorus between March 2010 and August 2017.

Portillo is the nonprofit group’s former executive director. She pleaded guilty in June to four embezzlement counts.

Prosecutor Rob Schulenberg says Portillo used the chorus’ money to go to the beach, stay in hotels, buy meals and pay thousands of dollars in veterinarian’s bills.

Portillo’s attorney, Ben Freeman, argued for a home confinement sentence for Portillo to allow her the opportunity to pay the chorus restitution.

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