Danielle Steel's Assistant Sentenced For Stealing $760K

By Cara

Friday, April 23, 2010, 12:32

Romantic novelist Danielle Steel"s former assistant is said to have been sentenced to nearly three years of imprisonment for stealing more than 760,000 dollars from the writer.

Kristy Watts worked for 15 years and earned an annual salary of 200,000 dollars for part-time work that included handling Steel"s payroll and accounts.

Watts (48) was pleaded guilty last year, for depositing numerous cheques made out to “cash" in her own bank account, using the author"s credit card rewards points and paying herself more than her salary.

The US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Watts to two years and nine months in prison. She has paid the author 969,752 dollars to settle a lawsuit by selling her house and furnishings.

Watts is married to a San Francisco Police Department officer and has a six-year-old daughter.