San Gabriel Valley : Mayor Pleads No Contest to Forging Signature on Check

The mayor of San Dimas pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he forged a co-worker’s signature on two bank withdrawal slips for a Meals-on-Wheels savings account, authorities said.

Mayor Terry Dipple, one of the founders of the San Gabriel branch of Meals-on-Wheels, was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, serving meals to the elderly, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Efrem Grail. Meals-on-Wheels is a nonprofit organization that delivers cooked meals to the elderly and disabled.

Glendora police began investigating the case in September, 1994, when Mary Louise Harbin, a Meals-on-Wheels organizer, discovered $1,500 was missing from the group’s Glendora bank account, Grail said.

As one of the branch’s founders, Dipple had authority to withdraw money from the account, but two signatures were required by the bank. Investigators said Dipple forged Harbin’s signature on two cashier’s slips, withdrew $1,500 and deposited the money into a Meals-on-Wheels checking account in San Dimas.

Dipple then withdrew the money from the checking account and deposited it into a private bank account, said Sgt. Tim Dech of the Glendora Police Department.

The mayor’s attorney, Harland W. Braun, said Dipple had borrowed the money from the account to cover an advance check he personally made to a Meals-on-Wheels vendor. The vendor never received that check, but Dipple returned the $1,500 and an additional $500 to the account five months after the withdrawal, Braun said. . . .