Moorpark Official Faces Trial on Post Office Theft Charge

The mayor pro tem of Moorpark pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge that he embezzled $5,500 from the U.S. post office where he had worked as a clerk.

The official, Danny Allen Woolard, 39, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real in Los Angeles. The judge ordered Woolard to stand trial on the charge Jan. 13.

Woolard, a councilman since 1984 and a 30-year resident of the east Ventura County city, was indicted by a federal grand jury Nov. 21 after a two-month investigation. He is accused of stealing money from the postal window at the Moorpark post office, where he was employed.

The charge was based on audits of Woolard’s cash transactions on June 13 and Sept. 25, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Jon Cederberg. Woolard resigned from his post office job Sept. 26.

Woolard, who said he has been unemployed since then, was assigned a public defender for his arraignment. “I qualify for a lot of reasons and they all add up to no money,” he said after the hearing.

But Woolard said that he planned to hire private counsel for his trial.

Woolard said the case will not interfere with his duties on the City Council. “I have no intention of stepping down,” he said.

Woolard had worked for the Postal Service since 1973, and had been a window clerk in Moorpark for the last five years, Moorpark Postmaster Monte Preston said.