Ex-Picus Aide Gets 60 Days for Theft From Constituent

A former aide to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus was sentenced Thursday to 60 days in jail and three years’ probation for stealing more than $3,000 from an elderly constituent who had sought help in making a charitable donation.

At the same time, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said it is investigating the former aide, Carlotta Z. Olguin, in a second case in which she is suspected of stealing money from an elderly neighbor.

The alleged victim notified the district attorney’s office in April that she had asked Olguin to help her with banking, according to court documents. The woman said she checked with her bank and found that $10.87 remained of $15,817.61 she had deposited in a joint account with Olguin, the documents say.

No Details

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward G. Feldman would not discuss how much money Olguin is suspected of taking or other details of the case, pending an outcome of the investigation. No charge has been filed in the new case.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David A. Horowitz ordered Olguin, 40, of Lake View Terrace to surrender to authorities on Aug. 15 and begin serving her sentence in County Jail. The judge, agreeing to give Olguin time to settle personal affairs, allowed her to remain free on the $1,500 bail she posted after her arrest in February.

Olguin, who worked as Picus’ liaison for senior citizen and Latino affairs, pleaded guilty in April to one count of felony grand theft for stealing $3,134.94 from a 76-year-old man who had asked her to send the money to the National Organization for Women in memory of his deceased wife.

In sentencing Olguin, Horowitz told her: “You abused your position of trust. That is the key thing as far as I am concerned.”

Olguin had worked for Picus for eight years in the councilwoman’s Reseda field office before resigning March 18.

In December, Olguin accompanied Jack Newman, 76, of Long Beach to a Valley Federal Savings & Loan branch in Woodland Hills where he withdrew the money from his account, authorities said. Olguin received $2,000 in cash and deposited the rest in her personal account; no money was sent to NOW, authorities said.

Olguin’s attorney, Robert F. Johnson, urged the judge to sentence Olguin to probation because she has no prior record and paid back Newman’s money, plus $43 interest.

“She has lost her job, lost her pension. . . . This will follow her the rest of her life,” Johnson said.

New Case

In the new case under investigation, Olguin “allegedly diverted cash for her personal use” from a joint bank account she opened with a 71-year-old neighbor, according to a probation report.

The woman, Guadalupe Martinez of the Pacoima area, had asked Olguin in January, 1985, to help handle her banking because she speaks only Spanish, the report says.

The woman consented to include Olguin’s name on a joint bank account “but never gave Mrs. Olguin permission to withdraw from the account,” the report says.

In return, Olguin promised to pay the woman’s taxes from the account, starting in 1985, the document states. However, Martinez discovered that only one installment had been paid on her taxes in 1987 and that she owed $1,822, according to the document. The report did not specify what type of taxes were to be paid.

When Martinez heard that Olguin had pleaded guilty to grand theft, she checked her account and found it had been nearly depleted, the report says.

In handing down Olguin’s sentence Thursday, Horowitz said he was “not concerned at all with the possible new case. It is not appropriate for the court to consider it.”

Johnson accused Feldman of “playing dirty pool” by including the probation report in Olguin’s case file and bringing up the matter in court.

“This investigation has absolutely no evidence so far,” Johnson said.

He said that Martinez is a longtime friend of Olguin’s and that the elderly woman asked for assistance in handling a bank account after her husband’s death.