Employee Accused of Embezzling From Evidence Vault

A longtime Ventura County employee has been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement, accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a court evidence vault over a three-year period.

Authorities on Monday arrested Fernando Tirado, 32, a Ventura County court services assistant, after court officials noticed errors in the amount and bill denominations of money being presented as evidence during a drug trial last week.

The Oxnard man was being held Tuesday evening in Ventura County Jail on $50,000 bail. Arraignment is set for today.

Authorities became suspicious Thursday during a court session when a court employee pulled out an envelope that was supposed to contain $420 connected with a felony drug trial.

In front of the judge, the jury and spectators, the court employee counted the money and discovered that the amount was short $20, court officials said.

“All the money wasn’t in the evidence envelope,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes, who supervises the district attorney office’s major crimes unit. “We were alerted to a problem.”

Holmes said prosecutors have not finished calculating the sum missing over the three-year period, but estimated it was in the thousands. Holmes refused to say whether Tirado is being investigated in connection with other incidents of embezzlement, saying only that the investigation is continuing.

Tirado had been in charge of the court clerk’s evidence vault for about three years. A nine-year county employee, Tirado became an assistant in the evidence exhibit area when he filled in for an employee on leave in November, 1992.

According to Sheila Gonzalez, executive officer and clerk for Ventura County Superior and Municipal courts, Tirado moved into a permanent position in August, 1993.

The court clerk’s evidence vault contains items that can be entered as evidence in court cases, including photographs, weapons, documents and cash.

Gonzalez refused to comment on Tirado’s arrest, but said the clerk’s office is “working closely with the district attorney’s office on this case.”

Tirado’s arrest follows the sentencing last week of another county employee arrested in January for soliciting bribes in return for wiping out taxpayer debts.

Jacque Sue Martinez, 29, of Oxnard, a former worker in the Ventura County assessor’s office, was sentenced Friday to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to two felony charges of taking bribes.

According to court records, in one transaction, Martinez made $1,000 when a boat owner she solicited told her he might have difficulty paying a $3,000 tax bill.

Holmes said while Tirado’s embezzlement arrest is unsettling, it is the kind of thing that happens occasionally.

“Periodically, this happens in other counties,” Holmes said. “It happens when people handle money. Some people appropriate it to themselves.”

Times correspondent Paul Elias contributed to this report.