Tamara Sanchez pled not guilty on Dec. 23 to embezzling $108,000 from the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, allegedly to "fund her shopping," acc. to a spokeswoman for the Dist. Attny.
The wife of a Los Angeles County deputy, Sanchez allegedly stole the funds between Feb. 1, 2001 and Nov. 30, 2002, while she worked as a receptionist for the 1,850-member union. Reportedly, she forged signatures and misused a singnature stamp to modify about 80 checks from the union's general acct., not the acct. set aside for families of fallen deputies. Police arrested her on Nov. 19. Union president Wayne Quint fired her shortly after, and she was formally charged with grand theft and falsification of records on Dec. 19. Sanchez faces a maximum punnishment of 5 yrs., 8 mos. in prison if convicted. [Orange County Register 12/21/02]
