SIMI VALLEY : Ex-Treasurer Pleads Guilty in Theft Case

A Simi Valley woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling more than $10,000 from the music booster club at Simi Valley High School.

Jolane Goldberg, 50, pleaded guilty in Ventura County Municipal Court to one count of grand theft by embezzlement.

Simi Valley police investigators said Goldberg, the club’s former treasurer, wrote checks to herself on the club’s account. The thefts, amounting to $10,060, occurred between November, 1988, and March, 1990, investigators said.

The discrepancies were uncovered when a new treasurer ordered an audit, investigators said. The club is a private organization that raises funds for band uniforms and activities.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Terence M. Kilbride said Goldberg, an employee of a credit union in the San Fernando Valley, apparently used the embezzled money for personal expenses.

Municipal Judge John R. Smiley accepted the guilty plea and sent the case to Superior Court for sentencing by Judge Lawrence Storch.

Goldberg could be sentenced to as much as three years in prison and fined up to $23,500, Kilbride said, but she is also eligible for probation. Kilbride said Goldberg’s attorney told him that she has put her house up for sale in the hope of making restitution before she is sentenced Oct. 11. In any case, the prosecutor said, he believes that she deserves some time in custody.

“I know how hard band boosters work,” said Kilbride, who is also a Ventura Unified School District trustee. He said he was a band booster himself when his two children were members of the Buena High School band.

Goldberg and her attorney, Douglas A. Demaret, declined to comment. Goldberg remains free on a promise to appear in court.