Ex-Bradbury City Manager Charged With Fraud : Crime: D.A. accuses Dolly Vollaire of stealing $53,000 in public funds. The action follows probe that began in spring.

The district attorney’s office filed charges Wednesday against former Bradbury City Manager Aurora (Dolly) Vollaire, alleging that she stole more than $53,000 in public funds and falsified documents to conceal her actions.

The six-count criminal complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Municipal Court, climaxed an investigation that began last spring when Vollaire was fired aft er two decades in her job in the wealthy San Gabriel Valley enclave.

An earlier Times investigation revealed that Vollaire spent tens of thousands of city dollars on personal luxury items, ranging from china to designer sunglasses. City books contained a host of cut and altered receipts for the purchases, but some bore the insignia of fine department stores and boutiques. No Bradbury city officials checked the receipts in the course of their duties.

Vollaire, 54, was charged with grand theft in the amount of $53,462.11, embezzlement of public funds by a public officer, presenting fraudulent claims to a city, keeping false accounts of public money, falsifying public records and misuse of public funds, according to the complaint.

Because the amount exceeds $50,000, she could face a one-year addition to her prison sentence if convicted. If found guilty on the embezzlement count, a judge would have to deny her probation unless he found unusual circumstances, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol J. Straughn added.

Vollaire has agreed to turn herself in for arraignment Friday. Recommended bail has been set at $5,000, according to the complaint. If convicted on all counts, Vollaire would face a maximum state prison sentence of five years, according to a district attorney’s spokeswoman.

An independent audit and a civil complaint filed against Vollaire by the city indicate she misused more than $80,000 in funds over a decade. But the complaint filed Wednesday examines only a four-year period, from 1989 on.

“We went after the more blatant, egregious purchases,” Straughn said.

The bulk of those purchases were concentrated in the four years between January, 1989, and December, 1992, she added.

“I would not even begin to represent that we are going after every single item that we think is fraudulent. I just went after the most obvious ones,” Straughn said.

“I also concentrated on cut receipts. There is a jury instruction on evidence that’s been tampered with.”

Vollaire served simultaneously as city manager, planning director, city clerk and finance director during her tenure.

Although the City Council approved her monthly expenses and the mayor and city treasurer signed all city checks, her spending habits did not come to light until a gadfly dug through city trash last year and found city credit card statements betraying her personal expenses.

Vollaire’s attorney, Rayford Fountain, said he could not comment on the complaint because he had not yet seen it. However, he said his client will enter a not guilty plea on Friday.

In Bradbury, interim City Manager Keene Wilson said the filing of charges marks another step in the slow normalization of a city that was rocked by political upheaval. Two council members were recalled in the wake of the Vollaire scandal. Their seats were filled Monday.