Assembly Candidate’s Aide Is Found Dead

The campaign treasurer for a state Assembly candidate was found dead in a Bakersfield motel room, an open container of sleeping pills nearby, in what investigators said Thursday was being investigated as a suicide amid suspicions that he had embezzled about $4,000 in political funds.

He was identified as Marshall Decter, 59, of Valencia, treasurer of the Democratic Club of the Santa Clarita Valley and also for David Cochran, Democratic candidate for the 36th Assembly District seat representing the Antelope Valley and parts of the Santa Clarita area.

Cochran said $1,000--nearly all of his campaign funds--has been missing since Monday, when Decter was last heard from. The Democratic Club’s president, Roberta Gillis, said $3,000 is missing from its $4,000 treasury.

Cochran told Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Santa Clarita that he suspected Decter stole the funds, but deputies said they wanted more details before accepting a formal theft report.

Gillis said in an interview Thursday that Decter, who had a series of professional and personal setbacks, had told her at least twice: “Don’t be surprised if one day I commit suicide.”

Jim Malouf, chief investigator for the Kern County coroner, said there were no signs of a struggle when Decter’s body was discovered Wednesday, but an open packet of over-the-counter sleeping capsules and at least two nearly empty 10-milliliter containers of insulin were found nearby. Decter was a diabetic, friends said.

Malouf said an autopsy Wednesday did not reveal the cause of death and that a toxicology test will be performed.

Though only a few sleeping pills were found missing from the packet, Malouf said he suspected that Decter could have taken earlier doses and disposed of the packaging elsewhere. Shock from an overdose of insulin, commonly prescribed for diabetes, could have also caused the death, he said.

Decter checked into the motel Monday and paid for two nights. His body was discovered by an employee who checked to see why he had not left after his paid stay.

“Just yesterday, I was hoping this thing was a huge misunderstanding,” said Cochran, who described himself as a friend of Decter’s.

“I’m inclined to believe that any of the money removed was just out of need. I wish he had come to me for help.”

Gillis said the Democratic Club was forced to freeze its account last week when financial records showed that Decter wrote unauthorized checks to himself.

She said Decter had lost his $50,000-a-year executive post at a savings and loan in 1993 and had been forced to take a $5-an-hour job as a gift-shop manager at Magic Mountain amusement park.

The job was only part-time and offered Decter no health insurance coverage for his diabetes and glaucoma, she said. “I used to give him money for medication,” she said.

Gillis said Decter had been divorced from his second wife before losing the job and had lost contact with both his ex-wives and his adopted daughter from the second marriage.

She said out of sympathy for Decter she delayed contacting authorities about the lost funds and instead scheduled a meeting with him for Monday but he never showed up.

“Mr. Decter was not a thief,” she said. “He took the money because desperate people do desperate things. Once upon a time, a long time ago, he lived the American Dream.”