ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A former manager and executive assistant for a company in Alpharetta has learned her fate for embezzling millions to pay for trips, designer bags and college football tickets.

According to court documents, between 2015 and 2020, Sonya Hesenius, 60, of St. Petersburg, Fla., was an employee at a company in Alpharetta as an office manager and executive assistant who provided third-party yard management services.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said that during her employment, Hesenius made fraudulent charges on corporate credit cards and caused the company to reimburse her credit card for personal expenses.

Officials said to hide her scheme, she approved all the charges herself, withheld supporting documentation from the company, and disguised the unauthorized spending in the company’s accounting system as legitimate expenses such as newspaper advertisements.

Hesenius’ activities included the following:

• Using more than $172,000 on her daughter’s wedding
• Over $600,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue on items such as designer handbags
• Over $460,000 for herself, family members, and friends to travel all over the world
• Flying herself and her family on private jets to vacations in France, Greece, Hawaii, and Turks and Caicos, totaling more than $145,000
• Tickets to attend University of Tennessee sporting events, the Kentucky Derby, the Masters, the Stanley Cup Finals, and various concerts, totaling more than $238,000
• A recreational vehicle costing more than $100,000, using $40,000 of company money as a down payment
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars on high-end furniture
• Plastic surgery and dental expenses
• Conversions of company funds into cash through over $1 million in PayPal, Venmo, and Square transfers to herself and family members

In total, Hesenius stole $8,614,729.37.

“Hesenius was entrusted with handling the financial responsibilities for the company where she worked,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “But she chose to steal from the company, blatantly using company funds to pay for expensive, overseas vacations for herself and family members, plastic surgery, shopping binges at exclusive retail stores, and other exorbitant purchases.”

She was convicted on these charges on November 29, 2023, after she pleaded guilty.

Hesenius was sentenced to six years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Hesenius was also ordered to pay restitution.

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