Judge Firm on Bail for College Theft Suspect
A judge on Tuesday refused to lower bail for a former bookkeeper accused of embezzling more than $1 million from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, whose Los Angeles campus is located near USC.
Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta said Jean M. Thorbourn poses a flight risk if released because of her travel experience and the large amount of money she is alleged to have taken. Thorbourn is being held on $1.179-million bail, the same amount prosecutors say she stole from the college between 1989 and 1997 while serving as its bookkeeper and fiscal administrator.
Thorbourn, 61, forged checks using a dean’s signature stamp, and used the money to pay off debts and to finance several independent films, among other things, prosecutors say. She allegedly made hundreds of unauthorized payments to herself, her creditors, family members and Electronomics, a company owned by her son.
Thorbourn was arrested Thursday in Sherman Oaks and charged with 13 counts of forgery, one count of grand theft and four counts of filing false California tax returns.
Her arraignment was postponed to March 23.
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