Ex-nonprofit leader gets 2 years for embezzlement

TAMPA -- The former head of Tampa Bay Reads, a nonprofit that collected millions of dollars to promote literacy, will spend two years in federal prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the charity, a judge ordered today.

Debbie Nieto, 44, was also ordered to repay more than $317,000 in restitution, the amount of money prosecutors said she pocketed while she served as executive director.

Nieto pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bank fraud in December 2006.

Prosecutors said she began writing checks to herself in 1999. She gave herself bonuses, doubling, and sometimes tripling, her monthly salary. She also obtained debit cards from the charity's bank account and used them for household expenses.

Tampa Bay Reads was founded in 1998 and dissolved in 2004. It raised about $1-million for literacy projects in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Tampa Bay Reads may be best known for a 2002 event that never took place.

The charity was to hold a basketball weekend featuring Shaquille O'Neal, but the NBA player never showed. Instead of receiving 50 percent of the weekend's profits, the charity was forced to shell out $8,900 for a banquet when organizers couldn't cover the expenses.

- Kevin Graham, Times staff writer