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Former Mendocino County Sheriff’s employee convicted of embezzlement
Melissa Alcala Alvarez, age 28, now of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, appearing with private defense counsel, was accused to stealing public funds over a 16-month period while she was employed at the sheriff’s office, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office reported.
Beginning Aug. 29, 2016, and continuing through Nov. 1, 2017, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office alleged that $35,000 was systematically stolen by Alvarez while she was responsible for and working alone with cash receipts.
After Alvarez left her job at the sheriff’s office, county financial employees were auditing Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office records when fraudulent accounting was discovered that led to a criminal investigation, an effort spearheaded by Sheriff’s Sgt. Andrew Porter, officials said.
“Prior to submitting the gathered evidence to the District Attorney’s Office for review and charging consideration, Sgt. Porter and Chief District Attorney Investigator Kevin Bailey traveled to North Carolina to confront the suspect and give her an opportunity to explain ‘her work’ at the sheriff’s office,” according to a District Attorney’s Office report.
Initially denying all wrongdoing, Alvarez eventually admitted some wrongdoing but refused to confirm all the incriminating evidence, including bank records, which had methodically been compiled as evidence against her, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Authorities said accounting safeguards have subsequently been instituted at the sheriff’s office to prevent similar acts from being perpetrated in the future.
Following Alvarez’s guilty pleas on Monday morning, the court referred the matter to the Adult Probation Department for a social study and sentencing recommendation.
A formal sentencing hearing is now scheduled for 9 a.m. May 22 in Department B of the Mendocino County Superior Court in Ukiah.
Anybody interested in the outcome of this case is welcome to attend the May 22 hearing, the District Attorney’s Office said.
The District Attorney’s Office said the sentence options range from 64 months in county jail to supervised probation with up to a year in county jail. Any sentence will include a requirement that the defendant fully reimburse the Sheriff’s Office for all monies she misappropriated.
The prosecutor handling this matter is District Attorney David Eyster. The agencies involved in gathering the necessary evidence against the defendant were the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the Mendocino County Auditor-Controller’s Office, the Mendocino County Counsel’s Office, and the District Attorney’s own investigators.
The judge who accepted the defendant’s guilty pleas and who will be the sentencing judge in May is Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield.