Ex-Newport Beach Official Gets 4-Year Prison Term

A Superior Court judge Friday sentenced a former Newport Beach utilities director to four years in prison for embezzling more than $1.8 million to help finance what his attorney called an opulent fantasy life.

Speaking out for the first time since he was arrested in January, Robert J. Dixon, 48, claimed full responsibility for the theft and said he was ashamed of his deeds.

“Every day the knowledge of what I’ve done . . . has grown overwhelmingly,” the 17-year city employee said in a trembling voice. “Nothing in my life was finer than working for (the people of Newport Beach). They gave me so much. I took all that and I destroyed it.”

After listening to Dixon, Judge John J. Ryan ordered the 48-year-old defendant to pay restitution and sentenced him to four years in prison for one count of embezzlement by a public official.

Ryan also ordered Dixon to serve a two-year concurrent sentence, which stemmed from a second embezzlement count. With the time he has served in jail, along with expected credit for good behavior, Dixon could be eligible for parole in two years.

In denying Dixon probation, Ryan said he had serious doubts that Dixon can reform himself soon. “If you put him around money, there’s no saying what will happen,” the judge said.

In his 45-minute plea to Ryan for a lenient sentence, Dixon’s attorney, Stephan A. DeSales, noted that Dixon showed remorse from the start by admitting the theft and pleading guilty.

DeSales also painted a portrait of an anguished, troubled man who suffers from a compulsive disorder that caused him to crave living lavishly. Dixon used the money, DeSales said, to “create a fantasy life.”

Dixon has confessed to stealing the city’s money over 10 years and using it to finance an extensive art collection, jewelry, stock, a 1990 BMW, a trilevel condominium and extensive trips abroad.

In 1972, Dixon pleaded guilty to two counts of embezzlement after he stole more than $10,000 from Georgetown University, where he served as student activities director. He received five years probation and was ordered to continue psychiatric treatment, which ended a year later when he moved to Orange County.