His Work Done, Citron Is No Longer in Service

It could have been just another office worker getting a lift to his car.

But the Ford Explorer that pulled up in the parking lot along Grand Avenue just before 3:30 p.m. Friday was dropping off a bit of history: Robert L. Citron, on his way home after his last day working in the Orange County Sheriff’s Commissary on Pomona Street.

After nearly three years of investigations and recriminations, trials and denials, the moment was anticlimactic. A brief exchange of small talk with a photographer as he unlocked his red 1994 Chrysler New Yorker--with its LOVUSC license plates--and Citron pulled out of the parking lot.

Citron, 72, was released four months early from the one-year sentence he received after pleading guilty to six felony charges that he had misused public funds and violated state securities laws. He faced a possible sentence of 14 years in prison but was rewarded with a shorter sentence after cooperating with investigations into the Orange County bankruptcy.

The Sheriff’s Department accepted Citron into its work-release program, assigning him to clerical duties at the inmate commissary. He still faces five years of probation and must perform 1,000 hours of community service.

Citron also was fined $100,000, which he is paying off in monthly installments of $1,725.

As Orange County’s longtime treasurer-tax collector, Citron was in charge of investing public money; a series of risky ventures led to $1.64 billion in losses. County residents will pay for that until the year 2027, when the county is scheduled to retire about $1 billion in bonds floated to cover the losses.

The legacy can be felt in everything from $6 parking fees at county parks to delayed renovations at public buildings.

But for the moment, under a cloudy October sky, all that was invisible as just another office worker pulled out of a parking lot and into the daily flow of commuters heading home.