Jorge Armando Contreras, 52, of Yorba Linda allegedly siphoned more than $14 million from the district over a seven-year period and used it to buy luxury items, a $1 million Yorba Linda residence and cosmetic treatments from a dermatologist.
“I was most surprised by the amount he is alleged to have stolen,” said Debbie Peterson, former mayor of Grover Beach in San Luis Obispo. “In the last few months of his tenure at the district, he was averaging almost $370,000 a month in addition to his substantial salary.”
Peterson is the author of The Happiest Corruption: Sleaze, Lies, & Suicide in a California Beach Town and CITY COUNCIL 101 – Insider’s Guide for New Councilmembers.
“The bad news is at the local government level, we simply do not have the checks and balances that we do at the federal level where the legislative, executive, and judicial branches balance power and accountability,” she said.
Hellbound and Down 