Local News in Brief : Woolard’s Request for Lesser Sentence Denied

A federal court judge Monday denied a former Moorpark councilman’s request to reduce part of his sentence for embezzling postal funds.

In papers filed with the court, Danny Allen Woolard, 39, said he was willing to serve his six-month prison sentence but asked U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real to place him on three years’ probation instead of five because he is “repentant.” Woolard also asked the judge to reduce the hours of community service he is to perform from 2,000 to 1,000.

Real, who sentenced Woolard on Feb. 24 for stealing $5,500 from a cash drawer at the Moorpark Post Office, said he had already considered Woolard’s repentance in his original judgment. Besides the probation and community service, Woolard was sentenced to serve six months of a seven-year sentence. The maximum sentence he could have received was 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

In asking for leniency in February, Woolard told the judge that he had returned the stolen money and no longer had the drug habit that moved him to steal. Woolard had told authorities that he took the money because he was addicted to cocaine.