A former administrator at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills has pleaded no contest to embezzling money from the church. Farrukh Ahmed, 48, entered his plea Thursday in Chino Superior Court as part of an agreement with prosecutors that carries a nine-month jail sentence.
Ahmed's plea bargain also calls for him to be placed on probation for three years and to pay $25,000 in restitution to the church. The Ontario resident is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20.
Ahmed was arrested in December by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies who accused him of embezzling about $750,000 from the church between 2006 and 2009.
Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten said that Ahmed is required to repay only $25,000 because prosecutors felt they would have been unable to prove the embezzlement was as extensive as church officials believed.
"What they believed he had taken and what we could prove were two different things," Wooten said.
Ahmed, who has been free on bail since his arrest, must surrender to authorities Jan. 7 to begin serving his jail term, according to his plea agreement.
His attorney, Jackie-Lynn Adams, did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
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