Court Clerk Will Be Sentenced in Theft of Traffic Bail Money
A former deputy clerk of Alhambra Municipal Court will be sentenced May 28 on a felony charge of altering public records to conceal the theft of $6,500.
Karolyn Ridley, 31, of Altadena pleaded no contest as her preliminary hearing was about to begin last week before Judge George Trammell III in Los Angeles Municipal Court.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence Mason said Ridley was charged after an audit last December found irregularities in the way traffic bail money had been handled. Mason said Ridley took $6,500 between October and December from bail money paid to the court and altered or destroyed records to hide the theft.
Mason said the crime is punishable by up to four years in prison.
Dominic Polimeni, Alhambra Municipal Court administrator, said Ridley was fired after the theft was discovered. She had worked at the court for five years.
Polimeni said procedures for handling bail money have been changed as a result of the findings of the audit.
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