A Temecula bookkeeper accused of embezzling $1.6 million from the Oceanside dental office where she worked was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison.

Victoria "Vicki" Lee Wafford, 50, squandered most of the money she stole on luxuries, trips and gambling while her employer and co-workers suffered, Deputy District Attorney Anna Winn said.

Wafford's attorney has said she was driven by a prescription drug addiction, though her victim, dentist James Hargas, called that an excuse.

Wafford's crimes bear a similarity to that of Annette Yeomans, a 58-year-old finance executive sentenced to 18 years in prison in July after prosecutors say she siphoned nearly $10 million from a San Marcos woodworking company over 10 years, spending the money in casinos and on luxuries.

Winn, who prosecuted both cases, called the women "cold-blooded."

"To go to work each day side by side with their co-workers and bosses who treat them well and know that every day they're harming them and their families" is a ruthless kind of crime, Winn said.

Hargas said Wednesday's sentencing brought little relief.

"She ruined my economic security and future for life," said Hargas in a statement read by Winn in a Vista courtroom.

The dentist said he took out a second mortgage, went into credit card debt and put off payments to his retirement account to make payroll and vendor payments as Wafford's thefts increased. He expects to delay retirement indefinitely to make up for his loss.

"It's hard to make up $1.6 million at 58," he said. He loves his work, he added, but said the loss is a blow.

He said his employees, who expected profit-sharing, retirement benefits and bonuses, also suffered because of Wafford's theft.

Wafford, a short, stocky woman with curly blonde hair, did not speak during Wednesday's hearing. She showed little expression, and her lawyer tried to stand in front of her, shielding her from public view.

Judge Daniel Goldstein ordered Wafford to pay $76,660 in back taxes to the state Franchise Tax Board. He also ordered her to return to court in December to settle the question of how much restitution she must pay Hargas.

However, Winn said Wafford's assets only amount to about $50,000.

Federal agents seized everything of worth at her Temecula home, including a power boat, multiple sets of golf clubs, a Lexus, a newer Toyota Tundra and about $1,000 in coins, Winn said.

Wafford is believed to have gambled away much of the embezzled money.

Winn said Wafford and her husband, Dana Wafford, a Temecula plumber, have no assets in their home. She said Dana Wafford was initially suspected, too, but because his wife handled all the household's finances, it would have been impossible to prove he knew about her crimes.

Wafford wrote more than 1,000 checks from the dentist's account to herself and credit card companies from 2001 to 2008, Winn said.

In the accounting books, however, Wafford listed the payees as dental suppliers and other vendors, according to court documents.

Prosecutors accused Wafford of forging Hargas' name with a rubber stamp or similar device.

While Hargas was going into debt and worrying about how to stay profitable, Wafford was wearing designer clothes and taking golf vacations to Hawaii, the dentist said.

"She was always dressed in Nordstrom's, always well-groomed," Hargas said. His own wife didn't live so well, he reflected ruefully.

The theft came to light in the summer of 2008, the dentist said, when he launched an extensive audit of the books to get personal loans to cover business expenses.

He said Wafford had been giving cooked books to his accountant.

Hargas said the revelation that Wafford was falsifying prescriptions in his name about the same time also cast suspicion on her.

Wafford was accused of going to a number of pharmacies with falsified prescriptions for hydrocodone, a narcotic used to treat pain, according to court documents. Hargas said he learned of the alleged fraud when a Temecula drugstore called him.

Wafford had been looking at a sentence of 48 years had she been convicted of the 60 counts of embezzlement, theft and prescription drug fraud she originally faced, Winn said.

But in an agreement reached with prosecutors, Wafford pleaded guilty in early October to one count of grand theft and an additional allegation that she stole more than $500,000 from her employer.

Call staff writer Sarah Gordon at 760-740-3517.