Councilman Admitted Postal Funds Bought ‘Coke,’ Records Show

A Moorpark official accused of embezzling $5,500 from the post office where he worked confessed that he took the money over several months to support a cocaine habit, according to court documents.

A federal judge is expected to decide Monday whether the confession will be allowed as evidence in the embezzlement trial of City Councilman Danny Allen Woolard, scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Woolard told postal inspectors last fall that he intended to pay back the stolen money but “got caught up in the chain of events that all cocaine addicts experience,” according to his handwritten confession, which was filed in court Dec. 22.

“This is a problem which is impossible to remotely understand unless you have truly been under the influence of this drug,” Woolard wrote.

2-Month Investigation

Woolard, 39, a councilman since 1984 and a 30-year resident of Moorpark, was indicted by a federal grand jury Nov. 21 after a 2-month investigation. Woolard was accused of stealing the money from June to September from a postal window at the Moorpark post office, where he had been employed 13 years.

Woolard’s attorney, Deputy Federal Public Defender Brian Q. Robbins, placed a copy of the confession into the court file with a motion to suppress the statements Woolard made to postal inspectors during questioning Sept. 25.

Said He Was Coerced

Woolard, who pleaded not guilty to the charge at his arraignment in federal court Dec. 1, said in court papers that he was coerced by the postal inspectors into making his confession.

“This statement was basically against my intention and will, and was an outgrowth of my fear of being arrested and taken publicly in handcuffs out of the post office,” Woolard said in documents filed with the court Dec. 23.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Duane J. Deskins, who is prosecuting Woolard, denied in an interview Thursday that the confession was coerced. Woolard was read his constitutional rights before speaking to two inspectors, he said.

Woolard refused to comment.

Moorpark Postmaster Monte Preston discovered the $5,500 theft after a surprise audit of Woolard’s work Sept. 23, according to court records. Preston told postal inspectors that he had become suspicious of Woolard because the employee had been requesting large quantities of stamps “for no apparent reason,” the records said.

Later that day, according to court records, Woolard asked Preston in a note to delay reporting the incident until later that week to give Woolard time to “fix” the apparent cash shortage.

Postal inspectors said that Woolard told them he borrowed about $5,500 “from a friend in the community” the following day and used the money to purchase stamps, which he later returned to the Moorpark post office in an attempt to cover up the thefts.

When postal inspectors arrived Sept. 25 to question Woolard, Woolard “discovered” in a cabinet stamps worth $5,500.31, the exact amount missing from his window, according to a report by postal inspectors. Woolard later confessed to putting the stamps there the previous day after purchasing them in Los Angeles, records said.

Woolard first told the postal inspectors that he had taken the money to pay off a $7,000 gambling debt, court records said. But, later that day, he admitted taking the money to pay for cocaine, court records show.

He resigned from his postal job the next day.

Since July, Woolard has served as mayor pro tem. Other council members have said they will await the end of the case before deciding whether to take any action.

Woolard’s trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday before U. S. District Judge Manuel L. Real.