MISSION VIEJO : Man Pleads Guilty to Little League Theft

A former Little League treasurer pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of grand theft during a hearing in Orange County Superior Court.

Robert Michael Norman, 47, faces up to four years in prison for stealing $26,000 from the Mission Hills Little League more than a year ago, during his stint as the league’s treasurer.

Judge Dennis S. Choate scheduled sentencing for Dec. 11, indicating that he will probably cap the punishment at a year in Orange County Jail if Norman repays the money in full before the hearing.

To date, Norman has repaid $1,500. His attorney, Julian W. Bailey, said the former stockbroker is delivering newspapers to come up with the balance and “put food on the table” until he finds a permanent job.

Bailey said Wednesday’s hearing brought no surprises, merely pushing the case one step closer to its final resolution.

“The most important date is yet to come, and that’s when the judge pronounces judgment,” Bailey said.

Norman, the father of two young boys, was arrested in April after league officials found that money was missing from the treasury. Bailey said Norman, who had lost his job when his employer went out of business, was having serious financial and marital problems.

In a letter to the league’s 867 children and to local newspapers in May, Norman expressed “profound sorrow” and promised to make both moral and financial restitution to the group, now called the Laguna Hills Little League.

Michael Werner, the league’s attorney, said the theft has stalled the group’s plans to develop new playing fields. Those now used will be lost to redistricting and the opening of new cities, he said.

The league includes members from Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Aliso Viejo.

Werner hailed Norman’s guilty plea as a victory for the group’s tenacious efforts and a signal to other volunteer groups that find themselves victims of theft.

“We were prepared to go to trial on Oct. 7,” Werner said. “. . . The children were looking to us, they were watching us and listening to us to see how we would protect them.”