Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Embezzlement Suspect to Repay Charities
A man who posed as a priest and faked a list of advanced degrees has agreed to plead guilty next week to embezzling $43,493 from Catholic Charities of Orange County.
Adair Allen Simmons, 37, has also agreed to pay back all the money he took while serving as director of Catholic Charities, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans said.
Judge Kathleen O’Leary told Simmons at a hearing Wednesday that because he promised to make restitution, he could expect to be sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Should Simmons fail to repay the money, he would be in violation of probation and subject to a three-year prison term, Evans said. A hearing at which Simmons will enter the plea is scheduled for Nov. 12.
Investigators said most of the money Simmons is accused of taking went directly or indirectly to a troubled 29-year-old man with whom Simmons “maintained a relationship both professional and social.” Simmons was fired in December, 1986, after an audit disclosed questionable withdrawals of funds.
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