SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Ex-Legal Aid Official Admits Theft of Funds

The former director of a Pacoima legal aid center that represents poor people pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he embezzled more than $260,000, admitting he used the money to feed his gambling habit.

James Steven Carroll, 41, who resigned last July as head of San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money and two counts of theft from a program receiving federal funds.

Carroll, who is free on a $10,000 bond, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine when he is sentenced Oct. 18 in U.S. District Court. But Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven M. Arkow said that in return for Carroll’s guilty plea he agreed to recommend that Carroll receive less than the maximum sentence. A specific sentence was not agreed upon, Arkow said.

He also said that even though Carroll pleaded guilty to only three charges involving about $263,000, Carrol may be required to make restitution of nearly $500,000 that he is believed to have embezzled. During the brief court hearing, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson asked Carrol what he did that made him guilty of the crime. “Well, I took funds . . . and gambled them away,” Carroll said.