Breaking News: City staffer arrested for embezzlement
Heard the rumors for a day or two and they've proved true: A technician in the Human Resources Department named Diane Huston was arrested on the job at City Hall Oct. 15. The charge: Embezzlement.
Details are iffy right now but we know that Huston was arrested and booked into West Valley Detention Center for alleged embezzlement from the city.
Huston, 48, wasn't the only person arrested. According to police, 49-year-old Kevin Trunnell was arrested and booked on the same charge, but Trunnell is not a city employee.
Both Huston and Trunnell are Riverside residents, though it's not certain if they live together.
Embezzlement is listed under penal code 503 as: the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted (property can also mean money).
Huston's boss, Director Linn Livingston, has declined comment on the matter citing personnel issues. Expect the city to fasten the lid on this one, despite the presumed allegation that Huston was stealing from the city, ie. the taxpayers.
Tipsters are going to have to step up to the plate in order for the public to find out the truth ...
Read below for the story that appears in the Oct. 30 Sun ...
(Note: earlier we printed Oct. 22, but the arrest was indeed Oct. 15)
SAN BERNARDINO — A mid-level city employee was arrested at City Hall by police on Oct. 15 and booked into jail charges of embezzlement, police confirmed Monday.
Diane Huston, 48, was arrested by a detective at her job in the Human Resources Department on the 2nd Floor of City Hall during the middle of a workday. She was transported to West Valley Detention Center and booked for embezzlement, along with an alleged accomplice, 49-year-old Kevin Trunnell.
Huston and Trunnell are both residents of Riverside, although the nature of their relationship is not clear.
Huston has not been formally charged, as the District Attorney is reviewing the case.
Officials at City Hall were tight-lipped on the incident. Huston’s boss, Human Resources Director Linn Livingston, declined to comment, citing concerns over divulging personnel information.
City Manager Fred Wilson confirmed that Huston was on leave and had been arrested at City Hall, but cautioned that little should be inferred before the district attorney reviews the case. He did say, however, that he thinks the trouble stops with Huston, if there’s trouble at all.
“I’m reasonably confident that this is an isolated incident,” Wilson said.
Embezzlement is defined under the penal code as “the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom it has been intrusted.”
Huston has been employed by the city since September 1998, and her current job title is human resources technician, of which the city has two. Huston earns a salary of $3,282 per month. She has no prior criminal record, but did file for bankruptcy in 1996.
Part of Huston’s job description is explaining and enrolling other employees in city benefits programs.
A police press release states that the alleged embezzlement occurred between Jan. 3 and Aug. 31 of this year, and was reported on Oct. 15. Lt. Scott Paterson said a single plain-clothes detective arrested Huston at her 2nd floor workplace.
Huston could not be reached for comment, but her father, Harold Bacon, said his daughter is innocent.
“They are accusing her of something when six or so other people have access to the same stuff,” said Bacon, declining to elaborate on what Huston is alleged to have misused. “The police and the city might be getting sued if they can’t prove what they’re saying she did.”
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
It was a full week before your date.
Once before, I stated that the second funniest part of The Sun was reading some of the articles submitted in the Voice section. If you did not read the Wednesday, October 31, 2007, article submitted by Lynn Merrill, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
The Mayor’s political group who want to oust James Penman had to dig pretty deep to get this writer, if in fact S/he is real. The writer starts right off the bat by stating S/he never worked for Mr. Penman or had any contact with him. S/he continues to write like the children’s “Chicken Little” tale where “Chicken Little” runs around yelling “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”. It would be interesting to know where this one was dug up.
For reference, the writer uses a past Chief of Police. This guy went on “sick leave” during the time of the worse crime spree in the City. This was right at the time that Mainesha was murdered by a gang group. This Chief then turned around to sue the City later and never did return to work. There is more about this guy, but that was just an example of the writer’s hero(?).
The writer also states that this is the anniversary of the Old Fire and it is time to make a change. What logic is there in that statement? should everyone who works at or for City Hall be replaced by incompetent new people at the anniversary of the Old Fire?
Like I said, the Mayor has been reading and passing on too many fictional fairy tales. Give us a break, Mayor and Lynn Merrill, stick to the record and this will tell you that James Penman is the right person for City Attorney.
Dear Pen Name,
Who is anyone to call out what someone has to say about Penman or anyone else for that matter? You are not that person, so how do you know what he knows (Lynn Merrill is a gentleman)? Apparently, Mr. Merrill had enough experience with the goings on within city hall to make his comments. It is apparent that people in city hall are not willing to speak up, it's called job security. So those who have been there, done that, and no longer work with the city, they have the freedom to speak up, they have nothing to lose.
And I don't think you know much about how things work with management and their hiring/termination procedures, especially where law enforcement is concerned, that is unless you work for the PD, then you are really off base.
Okay, so maybe you don't quite get Mr. Merrill's message, it's the timing of the current events being used.
I don't think there were any fairy tales coming from Mr. Merrill, he's a pretty straight-up individual.
Does anyone remember what Gary Van Osdel had to say right before he retired? Oh, yeah, that was another fairy tale. I don't believe there's any digging around here.