SAN DIEGO -- Celeste Miranda hit the road three years ago, shortly after NBC 7/39 reported that she was responsible for hundreds of people coming to San Diego only to find their vacation home locked and their money gone.

On Monday, Miranda was in court, telling a judge that she had learned some lessons since she started taking people's money. The judge told her she would be spending six years in prison.

In 2001, Miranda owned Cequis San Diego, a vacation rental company in Mission Beach. The tourists who sent her deposits arrived in San Diego with nowhere to go.

Prosecutors said that Miranda collected more than a million dollars from at least 300 people.

"People have been put out, people have lost their vacations, people have been hurt, and how do you compensate for that?" said deputy district attorney Jim Waters.

For her part, Miranda said that she would pay back the $1,478,073.24 she took from her victims.