Ex-Director of Crime Lab Sentenced : Courts: Former sheriff’s official gets 30 days in jail as felony conviction for stealing a handgun is upheld.

A former sheriff’s supervisor convicted of stealing a handgun from the property room was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail.

Norman A. Wade, 49, had asked Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. to grant him a new trial on the basis that errors were made during his jury trial.

But Campbell denied the motion and upheld Wade’s felony conviction of grand theft.

Wade had been supervisor of the county crime lab, which included the sheriff’s evidence room, in 1991. A civilian employee, he had requested a .357-magnum revolver to guard against an armed attack on the facilities.

But that May, he turned the weapon over to Get-Mor Loan & Jewelry in Oxnard for a $125 loan, according to trial testimony. Six weeks later, when a sheriff’s lieutenant inquired about the weapon, Wade paid off the loan and returned it to the property room, prosecutors said.

Jurors who voted to convict Wade said they did not believe his conduct amounted to a felony. They did, however, believe that the defendant had violated department policy.

After his conviction, Wade lost his job as a toxicologist in Phoenix, his lawyer, Bobby Schwartz, said after the sentencing. Judge Campbell gave Wade until the end of July to find a job before reporting to custody. If Wade finds work, he could then serve his sentence in the county’s work-furlough program instead of jail, authorities said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Meyers, who prosecuted the case, had asked the judge to sentence Wade to 90 days in jail.