Principal Luis Carrillo of Rod Kelley Elementary School and parent club board member Christine West are determined to prevent convicted embezzler Lori McVicar from shortchanging the school when it comes to paying back the thousands she stole more than a decade ago.
“We feel if we don’t keep on top of it and (the court) terminates her probation, there will be no recourse,” said Carrillo, who, along with West, attended McVicar’s May 14 probation hearing at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. “I don’t even know how we can keep tabs on her (if her probation is terminated).”
That won’t be determined, however, until McVicar’s next court date at 9 a.m. June 19 in San Jose. Deputy District Attorney Kathy Storton was granted a request for a full formal hearing by Judge Rene Navarro. At that time, McVicar’s probation officer will give a full report to the court.
McVicar, who was convicted of grand theft and forgery in 2002, still owes $15,332 of the $54,533.39 tab she racked up by stealing money from Rod Kelley’s parent club fundraising account.
“That (money) can go a long way,” said West, listing school needs such as paper, textbooks and other classroom supplies the money was supposed to be used for.
West added that, at the time of McVicar’s embezzlement, fundraising was much more effective than it is in today’s tougher economic climate.
“And she took every penny,” West said.
A older and frailer McVicar, now 48 with short blond hair, stood quietly by her attorney’s side during the brief proceedings. Even when Storton called up Castillo and West to speak on behalf of the prosecution, McVicar had no visible reaction. Before Castillo and West could speak, however, the judge said their words will be better served during the formal hearing next month.
“I was a little surprised (at her appearance),” said Carrillo, who detailed that in previous court hearings McVicar dressed the part of someone down on her luck and unable to make monthly restitution payments. “She looked a little better this time.”
McVicar, who wore beige dress pants and a gray jacket over her dress shirt along with a shiny, gold-colored pocket book and glasses, was escorted out of the third floor courtroom by her deputy public defender, Mary Steel. When approached by the Dispatch and asked if she’d be willing to comment, her attorney spoke for her client, saying “no thank you” before quietly conversing with McVicar.
Carrillo and West, on the other hand, made it clear they won’t be satisfied until the money is back in the hands of Rod Kelley and being used for its original purpose of bettering students’ educational experience.
“I don’t know why she doesn’t just take care of it,” questioned Carrillo, the school principal at the time of the crime who remains in his post at the same northwest Gilroy elementary school. “She needs to take accountability and be responsible for what she did.”
Carrillo said McVicar hasn’t had to pay any interest on the money she stole by forging more than 16 checks intended for library books and playground equipment for Rod Kelley.
At Rod Kelley, precautionary measures – such as yearly audits from an external auditor – are in place “so something like this can’t happen again,” Carrillo said.
“There have been a lot of changes in protocol so it can’t happen again,” echoed West, who is concerned that if McVicar’s probation is terminated, she’ll leave the area and Rod Kelley will never see a dime more of what is owed. “We can’t just send her an invoice.”
California Penal Code 1203.3 states that a judge has the discretion to order the early termination of probation “in the interests of justice.” However, McVicar has not yet successfully completed the terms of her probation, since she has failed to pay the restitution. A judge can still grant early termination if it is deemed that being on probation is causing a hardship such as preventing them from obtaining gainful employment, according to the penal code.
“If her probation is terminated, she’s free to leave (the county),” Storton told the Dispatch.
In 2007, McVicar submitted her own payment plan to the court. She was in court Tuesday because she violated her probation a second time by failing to comply with that restitution payment plan. She is supposed to make monthly payments at increased increments until the total balance is paid off.
But that hasn’t happened, Storton said.
Since being deemed in violation by the Department of Probation, McVicar did make a $310 payment on April 2. The payments are supposed to be made to the Santa Clara County Department of Revenue, which in turn disperses the validated funds back to Rod Kelley.
McVicar was expected to pay a total of $2,485 in monthly payments beginning September 18, 2012 and has only made $1,125, falling behind by $1,360, according to the DA’s office.
When McVicar appeared in court back in July 2007, she made a $3,200 payment – her largest since giving back roughly $24,000 of the sum after being convicted. When she submitted her payment plan, she was expected to pay $100 per month through 2007, then $150 per month until mid-2008, then $200 per month until September 2008, where she would finish out paying the total sum with $280 payments until there was a zero balance.
“I’ve done everything I’ve been asked,” McVicar said in June 2007 to Superior Court Judge Edward Lee, who is no longer presiding over the case.
“Ultimately, you owe the $50,000 you stole,” concluded Judge Lee in 2007. “And you have to pay it back.”
