Soccer League Theft Case Sentencing Is Postponed

Sentencing of Paula Archie, who pleaded guilty in December to taking $29,191 from the North County Youth Soccer Assn. while she served as its treasurer, was delayed six weeks on Tuesday amid allegations by league directors that the amount embezzled actually totals about $50,000.

Archie, meanwhile, may face additional, unrelated criminal charges that she failed to pay state taxes that she withheld from the employees of her Escondido tax and accounting business, authorities said Tuesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Sullivan said the state has asked his office to file three felony charges against Archie, 34, for having failed to pass on to the state about $5,000 in employee taxes, mostly in disability insurance deductions, that she withheld from several employees who worked for her company.

With penalties, the amount due the state is between $9,000 and $10,000, Sullivan said, adding that the complaint involves a period of time from 1986 to 1989 and is unrelated to the local investigation of the embezzlement.

But it was to bail out her failing business, Archie had previously said, that she embezzled the funds from the soccer organization--of which her own 10-year-old son was a member.

Archie was in Vista Superior Court Tuesday to be sentenced on the embezzlement charges to which she pleaded guilty in December. But that sentencing was delayed until March 19 because the county Probation Department completed its report on Archie only Monday. Such reports are required to be given to attorneys at least five days prior to sentencing. It was on that flaw that Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Prager delayed sentencing.

Outside the courtroom, however, league directors said their own audit of their financial books is nearly completed and suggests that Archie embezzled about $50,000 in league funds, versus the $29,000 to which she already pleaded guilty.

Bruce Lorber, the attorney for the Escondido-based soccer league which has 1,800 youth members, said a bank is still trying to trace nine checks but that the total amount of embezzled funds is about $50,000, taken from the league’s two banks from last January through October when the funds were discovered missing and league checks started bouncing. Lorber said Archie wrote between 35 and 45 checks to herself or to “cash” during the nine-month period, the largest for $5,000.

The league’s checks require two signatures; the district attorney’s office charged that Archie forged the second signature in order to cash the checks.

When the losses were discovered in October, the league was left with only about $3,000 in its account. It was only through community donations at the 11th hour that enabled the league to buy year-end championship trophies, officials said.

When Escondido police first investigated the case, detectives said nearly $50,000 could not be accounted, although the district attorney’s office listed only the $29,191 amount when it filed its charges.

Archie already has paid $10,000 restitution to the league. But she said Tuesday she can’t account for the additional allegations by the league.

“I argue with that (figure). I’m not sure where they’re coming up with that amount,” Archie said. “But I know that it didn’t happen. I’m shocked.” She declined further comment until she conferred with her attorney, Michael Berg, who was not in court Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

The probation report that was before the judge on Tuesday recommended full restitution, work furlough and follow-up probation. It was unclear what impact the additional allegations of embezzlement would have on the sentencing. But when Municipal Judge Suzanne Knauf accepted Archie’s guilty plea in December, it was with Archie’s promise that she’d pay restitution on whatever amount the ultimate audit would show was embezzled.

At the time of the plea, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard McCue said his office would not oppose Archie being sentenced to a year or less in a local jail even though the offense carries a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. McCue said the lesser sentence would be appropriate because Archie admitted her culpability early on in the investigation and because no matter the sentence, she would be branded a felon.

But Lorber, the league’s attorney, said that while league officials are not directly seeking a stiffer sentence, “clearly when you look at the time period involved and the method she used, there’s not a whole lot of defense for her. We were a most vulnerable, volunteer organization. The league doesn’t view this as an error in judgment. Once, maybe; twice, possibly. But 35 to 45 times? It was definitely a planned taking of money.”

Sullivan said on Tuesday that if audit figures show the embezzled amount to be greater than that already acknowledged by Archie, he would argue for a stiffer sentence.

“The bottom line is, the judge will determine how much of the loss (to the soccer league) can be substantiated,” Sullivan said. “But I don’t think this is an appropriate case for work furlough.”

He said his office received notice of the state charges within the past two weeks and that he expected to formally file charges within days.