California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : 7 Are Charged in Embezzlement

Seven high-ranking federal health administrators in San Francisco have been charged with participating in an alleged scheme to embezzle more than $25,000 through phony travel vouchers, according to a published report. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday that four executives in the U.S. Public Health Service’s Pacific regional headquarters were charged in a criminal complaint Thursday with embezzlement and related felonies. Three others were charged with conspiring to defraud the government and aiding the alleged scheme. Also named as a co-conspirator, but not charged in the case, is Assistant Surgeon General Sheridan Lloyd Weinstein, who oversees the service’s operations in California, Hawaii and other Western states.