San Francisco: Woman admits to ripping off families for dead veterans’ funerals

SAN FRANCISCO — A former federal worker was given three years probation for an embezzlement scheme that targeted a particularly vulnerable demographic: the families of dead military veterans.

While working at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Bella Phoenix overcharged veterans’ families for funeral costs and pocketed the difference, once even brazenly showing up to the home of a man whose father had recently died to take $800 in cash when the victim’s credit card had been declined, prosecutors said.

Phoenix ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and received the three-year probation term from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, court records show.

The plea agreement covered two crimes in 2021: Phoenix pocketing $800 from one veteran’s son, and taking $3,860 from