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A Crescent City mother and daughter are facing probation and up to 60 days in jail after pleading no contest to embezzling between $22,000 and $23,000 from a local cleaning business.

Wendy Malone, 61, and her daughter, 33-year-old Kaitlin Malone–Smith, were ordered to pay about $22,000 in restitution to Corinne Higgins, co-owner of Wen-Cor Cleaning, as part of a plea agreement reached on Thursday. Malone was Higgins’ partner in the business, according to Keith Morris, who prosecuted the case for the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office.

According to Morris, both defendants are ordered to pay the full restitution amount by Dec. 10 or they will be in breach of the plea agreement.

“(Then) we can pull the plea and sentencing and go forward with trial,” he told Redwood Voice Community News on Friday.

Malone was ordered to pay $16,000 in restitution, while Malone-Smith was ordered to pay $6,000. They both said they were prepared to make their restitution payments, which also includes paying for half of the fees incurred for investigating the embezzlement.

Malone is also ordered to relinquish any firearms she owns and is prohibited from possessing others in the future.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 5.

According to Higgins, who testified before Del Norte County Superior Court Judge William Follett on Thursday, Malone had made three payments of $1,440 and Malone-Smith had stopped taking pay for her work. 

These payments were made before the DA’s office filed the case, Morris said.

On Thursday, Higgins said that as a result of the payments both the mother and daughter made, the embezzled funds had been reduced to about $18,000. The remaining $4,000 of the restitution will cover the costs incurred during the investigation of the embezzled funds. Higgins said she has had to have the past two years’ worth of taxes adjusted and has had to refund clients for work that wasn’t completed.

According to the DA’s complaint filed in July, the embezzlement occurred between Aug. 1, 2023 and April 1, 2025. Malone had been charged with two counts of grand theft by embezzlement.

In addition to being charged with grand theft by embezzlement, Malone-Smith was charged with felony embezzlement by an employee and fraudulent use of an access card.

Malone was represented by Crescent City attorney David O. Cooper, while Malone-Smith was represented by lawyer Elly Hoopes.