A 30-year-old Redwood City man who managed the Jack in the Box on Woodside Road has pleaded no contest to felony embezzlement after prosecutors said he siphoned off more than $232,000 in restaurant income to feed a gambling addiction. Juan Vanegas now awaits sentencing in a case that stretched across much of 2025 before it unraveled.
According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Vanegas took $232,280 from the Woodside Road location over the course of 120 separate deposits of restaurant income. Those deposits were taken between January and August 2025, per the District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say Vanegas used his position as manager to steer the money away from the business and into his own pocket, ultimately spending it to support a gambling addiction, according to the District Attorney's Office. The scheme came to light only after a Jack in the Box business accountant noticed the missing funds, the same office said.
Conflicting Numbers on What Comes Next
The case now heads toward sentencing, though the record includes two different figures for what Vanegas could face. The District Attorney's Office requested more than three years in state prison, the report notes, while a judge ruled on Oct. 20 that Vanegas would serve up to one year in county jail, with an enhancement for embezzling over $200,000. Formal sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10, 2026.
Under California law, embezzlement is defined in Penal Code section 503 as the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted. That statute underpins the felony enhancement for embezzling more than $200,000, as in Vanegas's case.
The judge's Oct. 20 ruling that Vanegas would serve up to one year in county jail with an enhancement was far less than the DA's prison request, and formal sentencing is scheduled for December.
