Little League president accused of embezzling $20,000 for vacation

A youth baseball league president in Alameda County was arrested Thursday on suspicion of embezzling money that he used to fund a family vacation to Southern California, authorities said.

Jeremy Cardera embezzled $20,708 from the Pleasanton American Little League while he served as league president -- and bank statements, hotel records and social media photos verified that he used some of the money to finance a family trip, Pleasanton police Sgt. Kurt Schlehuber said in a statement.

Cardera, 35, withdrew money from the league’s account at ATM machines, and typically deposited the same amount of money into his personal account -- often the same day as his withdrawals, Schlehuber said.

Police began investigating on Dec. 29. Little League officials asked Cardera about the questionable transactions, prompting him to resign and offer to pay back the funds, police said.

Cardera, listed as a restaurant manager on jail records, wrote a check to repay the money, but it couldn’t be cashed because of insufficient funds.

Police arrested him on suspicion of embezzlement and passing a bad check. He’s being held in an Alameda County jail with bail set at $20,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

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