Former Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman, charged with felony
grand theft May 27 for allegedly stealing more than $9,000 from
Gilroy’s Memorial Day Parade fund, couldn’t explain thousands of
dollars he paid to himself and asked investigators about ways he
could
”
make it right
”
by either paying the money back or donating to a local charity,
according to court documents. Full article
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Former Gilroy City Councilman Craig Gartman, charged with felony grand theft May 27 for allegedly stealing more than $9,000 from Gilroy’s Memorial Day Parade fund, couldn’t explain thousands of dollars he paid to himself and asked investigators about ways he could “make it right” by either paying the money back or donating to a local charity, according to court documents.
In one interview with the lead investigator, Deputy District Attorney Michael Sterner, Gartman said, “I wouldn’t buy it either,” in response to assertions that the district attorney’s office didn’t believe his explanation about how the parade funds were spent and the validity of reimbursement checks he wrote to himself and his wife.
Court documents spanning the two-year investigation also revealed that:
– Gartman fingered Mayor Al Pinheiro and Councilwoman Cat Tucker for sending an email to an official at a local Walmart store asking them to divert a $5,000 donation from the Memorial Day Parade fund to the city’s Fourth of July festivities. Gartman said it was to make him look bad.
–Â The former mayoral candidate received $6,500 in checks written by local developer James Suner of The James Group directly made out to Gartman. These checks included $5,500 to Gartman reportedly for designing closets for a model home and a handwritten $1,500 check Suner wasn’t able to explain.
– The district attorney’s office documented that Gartman spent money on meals ranging from a low annual total of $40.56 in 2002 to more than $1,000 in 2007. According to court records, the most expensive meals were for $567.96 at Happy Dog Pizza in November 2007 and a $446.86 check Gartman wrote to reimburse his wife following a June 2008 dinner at Westside Grill.
–Â That Gartman’s ex-wife, Kathy Farrell, said Gartman struggled to find employment at times. She told Sterner the allegations against her ex-husband didn’t surprise her and “sounded just like something” he would do, according to court documents.
–Â Councilman Perry Woodward, an attorney and partner in the San Jose firm Terra Law, accompanied Gartman to one of the interviews and asked investigators, “Would it help if Craig was to propose a civil compromise?”
According to summaries of interviews with investigators, Gartman could not remember why he wrote approximately $9,300 worth of checks to himself and his wife, Jacqueline Erwin Gartman, though he reiterated he did nothing wrong and had appropriate reasons for all reimbursements. After multiple interviews, Gartman agreed it was his responsibility to pay back whatever funds he couldn’t account for, and asked Sterner what would happen if he agreed to donate to a local charitable organization, according to court documents.
Sterner, in an interview summation, wrote he told Gartman that he was free to do that, but the District Attorney’s office wasn’t offering him a deal in exchange for any charitable donation.
Gartman self-surrendered to authorities Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was released after posting $10,000 bail and will be arraigned 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 21 in a courtroom yet to be decided, said Amy Cornell, District Attorney’s office spokeswoman.
Gartman co-chaired the parade with Councilman Bob Dillon from 2002-2008. Gartman was in charge of parade fundraising and had possession of the parade committee’s checkbook, Dillon said. Gartman was first elected to the Council in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005. He served until Nov. 2010.
Efforts to reach Gartman via phone and at his home – both last week and Monday – were unsuccessful.
The 110-page court file documents the District Attorney’s suspicions, including a question about Gartman’s last transaction as Memorial Day Parade chairman. Gartman withdrew a cashier’s check for more than $5,500 from the private parade fund at Heritage Bank and deposited it into his personal account on July 25, 2008. Just prior to that, Gartman wrote a $6,000 check from the parade fund to his wife for $6,000, but that check bounced on July 22, 2008.
Investigators also questioned Gartman for writing $3,000 worth of checks that did not appear to follow any reasonable pattern of reimbursement to his wife under her maiden name – Jackie Erwin – more than two years after they married.
Questions also arose over whether Gartman attempted to sabotage the 2009 parade after he canceled reservations at Christmas Hill Park – site of the Memorial Day event Family Fun Day – less than three months before that year’s parade. But Gartman told investigators that the Gilroy Exchange Club had told him that they were not going to take over the parade, so it appeared to be off entirely.
Gartman also denied claims that he also emailed an official at Walmart – a regular parade donor – asking them to divert their donation from Gilroy’s 2009 Memorial Day Parade fund to the city’s Fourth of July festivities in an attempt to stymie the parade. Gartman told investigators that those allegations were purely political and that Mayor Pinheiro or Councilwoman Tucker likely logged onto the parade committee’s email account and sent out the message as a way to discredit him, according to court documents.
Pinheiro and Gartman ran head-to-head for mayor in 2007, with Pinheiro winning 54 percent of the vote. According to court documents, Councilman and parade co-chair Bob Dillon told investigators Gartman and Pinheiro were “like oil and water” and were “bitter enemies.”
Mayor Al Pinheiro steered clear of commenting on the charges against Gartman on Friday afternoon.
“I thought it was all over,” Pinheiro said. “It was a surprise.”
The emails and reservation cancellations came as new committee members questioned Gartman and Dillon as to why detailed financial information regarding parade expenses wasn’t provided.
“There were a lot of things that weren’t clear,” said Charlotte Marrazzo, vice president of the committee, now named Gilroy Community Organization. “We just couldn’t get any records.”
New committee members told investigators Gartman’s lack of transparency was one reason they became suspicious, especially since Gartman had a reputation on the Council for being meticulous and very detail-oriented when it came to finances, according to court documents.
Deputy District Attorney John Chase said Thursday it was unlikely anyone else would face charges.
“We’re not charging anyone else. That’s all I can say, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to comment on who might have been aware if we’re not prepared to charge them,” Chase said.
Chase, who heads the District Attorney’s public integrity unit, said Thursday the length of time between the initial interviews and the decision to file charges was “pretty standard for this kind of investigation,” but added one reason the investigation took two years was because in January he replaced Deputy District Attorney Bud Frank, who had headed the case from its onset.
Chase said it was the Gilroy Police Department that referred the case to the District Attorney’s office.
“Who brought it to Gilroy police or how that happened, I’m not sure,” he said.
Under Dillon and Gartman’s leadership, and for years prior, the parade committee operated without an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 status.
When asked why he and Gartman never applied for a 501(c)3 number, Dillon said, “I never thought it was necessary.”
“I think after the first year people saw that if they donated money there’d be a parade,” Dillon said.
Garnering 501(c)3 status was the new parade committee’s first order of business in early 2009, Marrazzo said.
“We didn’t know we didn’t have one,” she said. “Once we realized we didn’t have one, we applied for one right away.”
Christy Bracco, wife of Councilman Dion Bracco and secretary for Gilroy Community Organization, said the new parade committee secured the status in 2009.
Kathy Farrell, who was married to Gartman from November 1989 through June 2005, told investigators the claims against her ex-husband “sounded just like something” he would do, according to court documents.
“She explained that Craig always operated like the rules did not apply to him,” Sterner wrote.
Farrell also told Sterner that Gartman, who was unemployed for “a significant length of time,” often put more time and effort into his Council position than anyone else. She told Sterner it wouldn’t alarm her if Gartman didn’t think his Council stipend was enough, and that if he felt entitled to more, “it would not surprise her if he took more.”
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