Local News in Brief : Embezzlement Charged
A Los Angeles County Fire Department accountant was charged Monday with embezzling $526,663.52 from a petty cash fund.
The six-count felony complaint filed by the district attorney’s office accuses William Paternostro, 40, of stealing the money from 1982 to 1987. Paternostro could face up to 11 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven E. Weiss said.
With the formal filing of charges, Paternostro will be suspended without pay until the case is resolved, a Fire Department official said. After he became a suspect in the case, Paternostro, a Fire Department employee since 1976, was transferred from his accounting post to a clerical job in the department’s hazardous materials unit.
According to Weiss, the money embezzled had been sent to the Fire Department as payment for such things as services rendered at a county fair as well as to pay for hardware and other supplies.
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