Deputy Charged With Embezzling

The district attorney’s office charged a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy Wednesday with embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and three misdemeanor counts of petty theft.

The investigation began after two North County residents complained that Samuel Gene Priest, 28, a deputy since 1987, had taken money from them last October on routine patrol stops.

“The allegations are that he made a traffic stop and asked for ID or whatever, then he took the funds” out of the person’s wallet,” said Mitch Himaka of the district attorney’s office. The charges were filed in San Diego Municipal Court.

If convicted, Priest could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in state prison. Priest, who is not in custody, is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 13.

Priest, who has been fired, was arrested June 11, 1992, along with Deputy James Patrick Beaty, 38, who was hired in 1980. Beaty’s case is still under investigation.

Sheriff Jim Roache said he supported the district attorney’s decision.

“The public must know that our deputies are honest and above reproach,” he said. “They have entrusted us with the power to enforce the law, and we cannot tolerate those in our ranks who break it.”