A former employee of a La Jolla business who embezzled from the company has been sentenced to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $250,000 in restitution. Khris St. Ives Dulay Lu, 34, was handed the sentence by U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez last month for embezzlement from Metabasis Therapeutics, which operated at 11119 N. Torrey Pines Road. Lu worked in computers at the now-defunct business. Lu gained unauthorized access to names and personal identification of employees and their family members and opened some credit cards in their names, according to court records. There were 96 people affected by Lu’s actions. Lu purchased air, hotel and show ticket packages on Travelocity on the forged credit cards in 2008. He then sold those ticket packages on the Internet. Benitez ordered Lu to pay Travelocity and Barclay’s Bank amounts of more than $200,000 and $50,000, respectively. Lu fled to Japan before he could be arrested. The U.S. successfully obtained Lu’s extradition from Japan last February. He pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and committing credit card fraud across state lines. He could have received a maximum 10-year prison sentence. —Neal Putnam