Ex-Court Official Gets 4 Years in Embezzlement of $240,000
A former Pomona Municipal Court official accused of stealing more than $240,000 in public funds from the courthouse to pay for such luxuries as a sports car and a Palm Springs condominium was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison.
Michael La Motte, 40, former assistant chief deputy clerk, pleaded no contest last month to embezzling public funds and evading taxes during his more than two-year tenure as the court’s head of finances.
Citing La Motte’s cooperation with authorities since his arrest in August after a yearlong district attorney’s investigation, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge gave him half the sentence prosecutors had requested.
“We wanted eight years,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Rosenthal. “But we are certainly pleased that he was given a state prison sentence that is appropriate and necessary under the circumstance.”
La Motte also was ordered to pay $43,000 restitution.
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