Anaheim police union office manager accused of embezzlement

Anaheim police detectives didn’t have to go far to find the latest victims of an apparent embezzlement scam.

For five years, Cindy Ann Su’a sat in the Anaheim police union as officer manager, quietly stealing more than $360,000 from the organization’s accounts, prosecutors charged Wednesday.

She altered her paychecks, sometimes doubling her pay, and paid her bills from the Anaheim Police Assn.’s bank accounts, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Labreche said.

“She was stealing our money and hiding the mail so we’d never find out … it was a shock,” said Kerry Condon, the union president and a veteran homicide detective, who prosecutors credit with uncovering the alleged scheme.

Su’a, 46, of Whittier was arrested and charged Wednesday with 117 counts of forgery, 23 counts of computer access fraud and two counts of willful failure to file tax returns. She could face up to 99 years in prison.

Her husband, John Su’a, 46, is charged with two counts of willful failure to file tax returns.

Su’a first joined the union in 2004 and then two years later became the office manager for all check writing, company credit cards and bookkeeping, earning $65,000 a year as its sole employee.

Detectives uncovered a scheme in which she allegedly use a typewriter correction feature to change her bimonthly payment amount from $2,489 to $5,489 or $6,489, according to prosecutors.

In one year she is accused of fraudulently paying herself nearly $200,000.

Cindy Su’a was being held in lieu of $360,000 bail Wednesday. Prosecutors are requiring that she prove that any bail money comes from legal and legitimate sources. She is expected to be arraigned Thursday in Santa Ana.

richard.winton@latimes.com