Arrest Made In Embezzlement Investigation in Redding, California

Police made an arrest Tuesday after a Redding woman admitted to embezzling from Shasta College in 2008.

The investigation was started after Shasta College Vice President Joe Wise reported that Roberta Jean West was possibly stealing money from the college's food services while she worked in the cafeteria.
West was charged with embezzlement and booked into the Shasta County Jail. She has already paid more than 30- thousand dollars back to the college.
in cash from the school’s cafeteria.




Roberta Jean West, 57, of Redding is charged with one felony count of embezzlement and is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on Dec. 30 to determine whether sufficient evidence exists to warrant a criminal trial.



She is free of custody without being required to post bail.



A seven-page Redding police report released Friday shows that West, who worked for the college for nearly 30 years, admitted that she stole the money, although she believed it was a lesser amount.



“I was bad,” she told a police investigator. “I was nuts.”



She also said she has repaid the $31,000, even though she believed she stole only about $17,000.



But, she told police, she was not contesting the amount of money stolen.



Police were sent to the college campus in September after its vice president of administrative services, Joe Wyse, reported the alleged thefts.



He told police West resigned from her job after being confronted about the thefts, saying she would pay back the missing money.



He also told police that he told West he would not pursue any civil action against her, but said he believed he needed to report the embezzlement to law enforcement in case she decided to seek a similar job.



The embezzlement reportedly occurred from September to November 2008, police said.



West, who told police she thought the case was over after she repaid the money to the college, said she has lost everything, noting that her husband was ill, she has lost her home and has filed for bankruptcy, the police report said.



She also said she “went crazy” and “beats herself up every day over what she had done and was trying to get on with her life,” the police report said.



“Roberta West told me she was sorry and just wanted it to go away,” the police report said, adding that she admitted to using the money to pay “stuff off” and spent it on “stupid things.”



The report did not elaborate on how the money was spent.



Since she resigned, the report said, West has gone to work in a Cottonwood cafeteria serving food to children.



But, she told police, she was not working around money.



According to the police report, West said she was able to pocket cash from the college cafeteria by simply reporting a lesser amount of money coming into the till. She told investigators she changed the numbers when balancing the daily receipts to make it appear as if the cafeteria had a slower day.

A former Shasta College employee who was arrested in October on suspicion of embezzling $31,000 in cash from the school’s cafeteria has pleaded guilty to a single count of felony embezzlement.




Roberta Jean West, 57, of Redding avoided a preliminary hearing earlier this week by pleading guilty in Shasta County Superior Court last week.



West, who has since repaid the money she stole, was sentenced on Dec. 21 to perform 90 days of community service, a prosecutor said Thursday.



She also was placed on probation for three years and is not allowed to go on campus or to contact college personnel.



West, who worked for the college for nearly 30 years, admitted to police that she stole the money, although she believed it was a lesser amount, an investigative report revealed.



“I was bad,” she told a police investigator. “I was nuts.”



Although she told police she thought she stole only about $17,000, she was not contesting the higher amount, the police report said.



According to the police report, police were sent to the college campus in September after its vice president of administrative services, Joe Wyse, reported the thefts.



He told police West resigned from her job after being confronted about the thefts and promised to pay back the missing money.



The embezzlement reportedly occurred from September to November 2008, police have said, adding that West admitted to using the money to pay “stuff off” and spent it on “stupid things.”



According to the police report, West said she was able to pocket cash from the college cafeteria by simply reporting a lesser amount of money coming into the till.



She told investigators she changed the numbers when balancing the daily receipts to make it appear as if the cafeteria had a slower day.