Money spent on lavish personal expenditures as well as community causes

By Miriam Raftery

December 6, 2012 (El Cajon) – “What I did was so shameful, and I will have to live with what I did for the rest of my life,” former El Cajon Councilwoman Jillian Hanson-Cox stated tearfully at her sentencing hearing last Monday.  Federal judge Michael Anello sentenced her to 30 months in prison after she admitted embezzling money from her former employer and failing to report the income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Hanson-Cox is also ordered to pay more than $3.6 million in restitution to her ex-employer, Century Design Inc. (CDI) and another $1.2 million to the U.S. Treasury. 

“While embezzling millions of dollars from CDI, former Councilwoman Hanson-Cox not only traded on her reputation as a public official but also betrayed every citizen who expected her to act honestly in both her private and public affairs,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.