LAKE COUNTY — A former accountant for the Northshore Fire Protection District was arrested last week on felony embezzlement charges, according to Lake County District Attorney Jon Hopkins. A total of 19 charges were filed in a complaint filed by the district attorney”s office.
Hopkins confirmed Tuesday that his office investigated what he called a “white collar crime,” allegedly committed by Nice resident Laurel Ann Bell, 57. Although he did not reveal when the investigation began or why, Hopkins said the investigation focused on a 14-month time period.
“The DA”s office did an investigation and determined that in the period of time from February 2006 till June 2007, while she (Bell) worked as an accountant for the Northshore Fire Protection District, she ? according to what we allege ? embezzled $4,853,” Hopkins said.
The charges against Bell include six counts of misappropriation of public funds (California Penal Code section 424), six counts of embezzlement (PC sections 504 and 514), four counts of filing false documents (PC section 115, subsection [a]) and two counts of grand theft (PC section 487, subsection [a]). Bell was booked into the county jail on $10,000 bail Wednesday; she posted bail and was released the same day.
According to Fire Chief Jim Robbins, who oversees the Northshore Fire Protection District, Bell was a long-time employee. The district was recently formed by a consolidation of fire stations in Upper Lake, Nice, Lucerne and Clearlake Oaks. Before the consolidation, Bell was the secretary and handled finances for 13 years at the station in Nice, formerly called the Nice Community Services District.
Bell kept the books for the entire district after the consolidation. Robbins said the previous Nice fire chief recommended Bell for her accounting skills during the process of placing staff members where they would be most needed. “What was so nice about it is that she had worked for the county in the auditor”s office for a number of years, so she knew what we needed to have done for the county,” Robbins said. “That”s why she came so highly recommended.”
Robbins said like any special district, the Northshore Fire Protection District is a subdivision of the state. “But under certain laws, you have to have someone outside the agency be your banker, basically,” Robbins said.
The county auditor-controller”s office performs that function for the fire district by running its transaction data through its general ledger, according to Cathy Saderlund of the auditor-controller”s office. The county treasury acts as a bank for the districts to deposit money. Audits are performed by independent contractors and turned in to the auditor-controller”s office, but not for approval by the county.
“At our end, she (Bell) had to keep an accounting ledger, pay accounts receivable, make deposits when we get money in for anything outside the tax base,” Robbins said. The portion of taxpayer dollars that goes to the fire district is collected by the county.
Robbins said that the district makes money from ambulance services, burn permits and fire mitigation fees that are based on square footage for new homes. Robbins said it was a common occurrence for people to make payments in cash or by writing a check at the fire stations.
“If cash was brought in to the station or brought to her location, she or whoever was taking it could put the cash in their pocket and never put it down on the deposit for the county and they would never know,” Robbins said.
“We had some money missing we know we collected at one of our stations and never received in the main office,” Robbins said. “In the 37 years I”ve been here, we”ve never had a dime missing, and it upset me that we had money missing.” Robbins said he called a meeting and questioned employees, leading to further research into the matter.
Bell is scheduled for arraignment Jan. 11, 2008 at 9 a.m. in Dept. 2 of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
