Deputy to Face Trial on Theft Charges
A Ventura County judge ruled Thursday that a veteran county sheriff’s deputy must stand trial on charges that he stole a laptop computer and swindled his department out of $5,000 in false overtime claims.
On May 16, a trial date is scheduled to be set for Darryl Dunn, a deputy for 15 years who was decorated in April 1995 for saving a suicidal man.
Thursday’s hearing before Judge John R. Smiley revealed additional evidence gathered by a Sheriff’s Department investigation since Dunn was arrested and suspended in December on suspicion of stealing one of the department’s Toshiba laptop computers, valued at $3,700.
Prosecutors now allege that Dunn also duped the department out of thousands of dollars in false overtime claims, which they maintain can be proven by department records such as computer logs, patrol reports and work schedules, along with interviews with Dunn’s co-workers.
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