Embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation or taking of property by a person to whom it has been in trusted. More often than not, this charge results when a person is an employee of a company. The punishment for embezzlement depends on the value of the item(s) that were misappropriated.
Frequently, the manager or owner finds out about the loss and will confront and ask the person to write out what they have done, in exchange to forgo any court process. However, more often than not, they statement is used against the person and the cops are in route to arrest and take the person to jail.
Under Penal Code section 514, every person guilty of embezzlement is punishable in the manner prescribed for theft of property of the value or kind embezzled; which could be a misdemeanor or felony, and is punishable by a sentence of jail up to one year or imprisonment in the state prison, depending on the amount of loss.