WOODLAND — A former Yolo County Office of Education employee charged with workplace embezzlement resolved her case during her first day in court Thursday, pleading no contest to the charge and offering full restitution of the five-figure loss.
Lori Kathleen Perez, 32, is expected to be sentenced on March 30 to three years of probation and either 80 hours of community service or participation in a restorative justice program.
Perez also may petition to reduce the felony conviction to a misdemeanor after one year.
“Ms. Perez is looking forward to putting this unfortunate situation behind her,” Candice Fields, Perez’s attorney, said following the plea in Yolo Superior Court Judge Peter Williams’ courtroom. “Arrangements have been made to repay the YCOE in full today.”
Authorities said Perez embezzled more than $23,000 over a nearly four-year period from the YCOE, where she had been employed by the agency since 2005, most recently as the director of College and Career Readiness.
In a factual basis for the plea read aloud in court, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Melinda Aiello said that between Nov. 7, 2014, and Oct. 22, 2018, “while she was entrusted with property she did convert to her own personal gain funds including excessive mileage and misappropriation of computers,” the losses totaling $23,371.
The Yolo County DA’s Office had previously announced that Perez used a YCOE credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases, and that she had falsified the mileage claims.
Fields, the defense attorney, said it was Perez who “brought this matter to the YCOE’s attention.” Charges were filed in late December following an investigation that began in October 2018.
YCOE officials could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Yolo County Superintendent of Schools Garth Lewis previously told The Enterprise that the YCOE “is cooperating with law enforcement officials handling this ongoing matter.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene