By DENISSE SALAZAR

A former supervisor at Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to embezzling from the dealership.

David Delgado, 37, of Laguna Niguel, was sentenced Monday and was ordered to pay more than $1 million, of which almost $100,000 is due to the dealership immediately. He pleaded guilty in June to two counts of wire fraud for bilking his employer.

Delgado, who worked at the dealership for seven years, admitted that for at least three years he created bogus time sheets for temporary workers and then pocketed at least half of the money, authorities said.

The embezzlement scheme started in 2004 when a temporary employee offered Delgado half of his paycheck if he kept him on the payroll, authorities said. Over the next few years, Delgado recruited additional temporary employees and also created fictitious temporary employees, authorities said.

Delgado used the embezzled funds to make mortgage payments, make home repairs, pay bills and purchase computers.