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(CA.) Social worker charged in embezzlement case
Social worker charged in embezzlement case
By BLAIR CRADDOCK BEE STAFF WRITER Published: September 4, 2003, 06:47:55 AM PDT Prosecutors have brought embezzlement charges against a longtime caseworker in Stanislaus County's social services agency, accusing her of stealing more than $150,000 in foster care and adoption program funds. Colette K. DeLeon, 51, an eligibility worker in the Community Services Agency, stole the state and federal money from Aug. 1, 2000, to July 31, 2003, authorities said. DeLeon is due for arraignment Sept. 10 on three felony counts: embezzlement by a public officer, embezzlement by an employee and grand theft, Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said. She said two people who did not work with De- Leon have been charged in the case: Michel Marie Sirl, 26, accused of grand theft of more than $150,000; and Joseph Michael Robinson, 25, accused of grand theft, which is theft involving an amount greater than $400, and second-degree burglary. Shipley could not provide details on Sirl's and Robinson's roles in the alleged embezzlement. Attempts to contact DeLeon, Robinson and Sirl were unsuccessful Wednesday. DeLeon, who was arrested this week, is free on $100,000 bail, Superior Court records show. Robinson is free on $50,000 bail, and also is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 10. There is a warrant out for Sirl's arrest. Ken Patterson, director of the Community Services Agency, said the embezzlement appar-ently involved about $170,000. It was not taken from foster and adoptive parents, he said. Instead, the money came from double-billing the state and federal governments, he said. Patterson, who has headed the Community Services Agency since October, said the alleged scheme took "somebody who had really deep program knowledge (to) figure out how to construct this." The alleged scam stemmed from cases in which children changed foster homes or were adopted, Patterson said. Caseworkers filled out forms, authorizing the new caregivers to receive an average of $1,468 a month for each child in foster care, or $688 a month for an eligible adopted child. In the DeLeon case, each of those authorizations turned into two, he said. Real foster families got their payments, he said, so they did not know that anything was wrong. Meanwhile, duplicate payments went to "people who weren't really giving care to children." Patterson said DeLeon went on sick leave, and her replacement discovered inconsistencies and alerted a supervisor. DeLeon worked 15 years for the agency, and many of her peers respected her competence, he said. No criminal convictions appear for DeLeon in Stanislaus County Superior Court records. "This is a sad day for us," Patterson said. He described the Community Services Agency's 850 employees as "a pretty honest and diligent bunch," and said he takes pride in the department's low rate of fraud and error. Stanislaus County will have to repay the lost funds to the state and federal governments, he said, but that will not threaten the stability of the foster and adoptive care programs, which cover about 1,460 children for about $19 million a year. The agency will try to recoup the money from the defendants, Patterson said. He said the agency is studying ways to improve its automated reports, so errors can be caught more quickly, to prevent this from happening again. Bee staff writer Blair Craddock can be reached at 578-2385 or . Copyright © 2003 The Modesto Bee. http://www.modbee.com/local/story/73...-8310660c.html |
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