Justice Shortchanged In Embezzler's Early Release

Judith Oakes is out of jail. The former Rialto Unified School District accountant, who was sentenced in January to five years for embezzlement, left the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore on Sunday after just six months.

Her truncated stay behind bars is disappointing, though not surprising. Thanks to Assembly Bill 109, the 2011 “reform” law that shifted many felons from state prisons to county lockups, so-called non-violent offenders have seen their sentences reduced dramatically.

Counting the incarceration leading up to her trial, Oakes spent a little less than two years in jail. That's too little time for what she did.

Oakes was convicted of stealing $1.8 million from Rialto Unified's nutrition services department, but she likely took a great deal more than that. Because of the statute of limitations, the San Bernardino County District Attorney could only prosecute her for the money she pilfered since 2005. According to district officials, however, more than $3 million went missing from her department during her 25 years on the job.

Her guilt is beyond dispute. The district had surveillance video that showed her stuffing wads of cash into her bra. When police executed a warrant on Oakes's home, they found bundles of bills with Rialto Unified wrappers still on them.

Oakes's arrest in 2013 nearly upended the school district. The ensuing scandal cost longtime District Superintendent Harold Cebrun and Deputy Superintendent James Wallace their six-figure jobs.

Subsequent audits and investigations revealed a deeply dysfunctional culture, widespread mismanagement, shady contracts with virtually no oversight, as well as $1 million in “questionable spending” on special-education programs marked by “a systematic lack of focus on instruction and lack of guidance from the highest level of leadership.”

No wonder Oakes's crimes could go undetected for so long.

Rialto Unified has yet to get back on track. The school board only appointed a new superintendent, Cuauhtémoc Avila, in April.

Oakes may be out of jail, but it's fair to say she isn't free. Under the terms of her three-year supervised probation, she has to file quarterly income and expense reports. She isn't allowed to have a checking account or possess any blank checks unless her probation officer approves. And she can only endorse checks made payable to her. Such is the life of a convicted embezzler.

Still, I wish she'd spent the full five years behind bars. Justice seems ill-served by this outcome.

What makes Oakes's crime particularly noxious? Oakes's attorney the other day said she's a nice lady with a good family who is unlikely to reoffend. And it's not as if she killed anyone, molested a child or trafficked drugs.

No, she merely violated the public's trust and stole millions of dollars from taxpayers in a city where the median household income is $49,593 and in a district where 22 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

The trouble with treating nonviolent felons as somehow less significant is that it diminishes their crimes' seriousness in the eyes of the public and those entrusted with enforcing the law.

I know from personal experience as well that police find themselves unable to investigate property crimes with gusto because district attorneys are unlikely to prosecute offenders. Not coincidentally, burglary, larceny and fraud are making a comeback.

A nonviolent crime shouldn't be confused with a victimless one. Whatever her rationale, Oakes's crime had thousands of victims. Rialto's schools are miserable, and she made them worse.

True, she has a hefty restitution bill to pay: $1,845,137.81. But if you believe the district will see more than a fraction of that, you likely do not have much experience with our justice system.

Oakes already returned $339,002.08 of her ill-gotten gains. She now has to maintain a payment plan of $150 a month. That would put her payoff date sometime in late 2851.

Justice is shortchanged when offenders are not compelled to repay their debts in full. In lieu of payment, society deserves more of Judith Oakes's freedom. A lot more.

This piece originally appeared in The Press Enterprise.

This piece originally appeared in The Press Enterprise