L.A. woman gets jail for theft from Heston

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Hollywood management firm employee was sentenced on Friday to slightly more than five years in jail and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for stealing money from actor Charlton Heston and his wife, among others.

Sharon Walker, 56, admitted stealing more than $150,000 from Heston, the Oscar-winning star of "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" who died in April, and over $560,000 from writer and producer Stephen Cannell and his wife, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said in a statement.

Cannell is responsible for creating TV series such as "The Rockford Files," "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" and "21 Jump Street."

Walker was accused of embezzling the money over six years starting in December 1999 when she worked for a Los Angeles business management firm with Heston and Cannell as clients. The District Attorney's office said Walker forged signatures to pay her own credit card bills.

She pleaded no contest, which is the equivalent of a guilty plea under California law, and was sentenced to five years and four months in prison. Walker also was ordered to pay full restitution to her victims, as well as more than $80,000 in back taxes.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Philip Barbara)