Former Clerk Pleads No Contest in Theft
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A former Ventura County court clerk charged with stealing cash from a courthouse evidence vault pleaded no contest to a felony embezzlement charge Monday.
Fernando Tirado, 32, was convicted of stealing more than $10,000 over a three-year period. He was a nine-year employee of the municipal and superior courts.
Tirado faces a possible three-year prison term, though Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Hardy said a judge agreed--over the protests of prosecutors--to place the Oxnard resident on probation when he is sentenced next month. Tirado has no prior criminal record.
A visiting judge from San Bernadino County heard Tirado’s case because most of the criminal judges in Ventura County had worked with the former clerk.
Tirado was arrested in July when a sealed evidence envelope opened during a drug trial was $20 short of the $420 it was supposed to contain.
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