Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

If you mean the contest was somehow a fraudulent ploy, I would say no you wouldn't get in trouble if what you say can be proven, because there is no intent on your end.

If you're asking if you would get in trouble for taking the $ 500 and that is somehow fraudulent because you didn't enter yourself in the contest, I don't see a problem with it. Someone else entered you and you won, I'd say congratulations!

I generally agree with Ms. Hofmeister, with two caveats.

First, I presume you had no knowledge of the employee's actions until afterwards. Your question implies that you didn't, but it doesn't actually say so.

Second, even if you didn't do anything wrong, it could appear that you did. Innocent people are sometimes prosecuted if circumstances make them appear guilty. Sometimes they are even convicted. I have no reason to think this will happen to you, but I can't rule out the possibility.

Let me add that it's not clear to me even that the employee committed a crime. She and/or her employer may be civilly liable, but offhand I don't know whether she violated any criminal laws. (I haven't researched the question, so it is quite possible that she did.) If no crime has been committed, then you can't be implicated in it.