District attorneys are pressing for jail time for Lori McVicar, the Gilroy mother who bilked a school parents’ club of more than $50,000 and has yet to repay it, more than five years later.
Gilroy – District attorneys are pressing for jail time for Lori McVicar, the Gilroy mother who bilked a school parents’ club of more than $50,000 and has yet to repay it, more than five years later.
“Her payment history … is dismal,” said deputy district attorney Charlotte Chang, addressing Superior Court Judge Edward Lee at a Friday hearing in the Hall of Justice in San Jose. Lee heard the case in May 2002, when McVicar was convicted of grand theft and forgery, and ordered to repay the $54,533.39 she’d stolen from the Rod Kelley Parents Club. Back then, Chang reminded Lee, “You told her you would hold her feet to the fire.”
During her one-year term as club treasurer, the Gilroy mother forged at least 16 checks intended for library books, crayons and playground equipment, substituting payees’ names with her own. Other parents grew wary when bounced checks and phone calls from South Valley National Bank revealed the club’s funds had been drained. The scandal rocked Gilroy schools and seeded distrust in school clubs, temporarily damaging fund-raising efforts.
McVicar was supposed to repay the club by March 4 of this year, when her probation was scheduled to end. Years ago, at her first sentencing hearing, she paid roughly $24,000 of the sum. But since then, McVicar’s payments have fallen far short of her debt: In 2004, she made four payments totaling $245; in 2005, three payments totaling $95. Last year, she made only one payment of $25, district attorneys said. Today, McVicar still owes more than $28,000, said deputy DA Kathy Storton – more than half what she stole.
In February, a judge revoked McVicar’s probation, stopping the clock on her case. For the past four months, the Gilroy woman has made monthly $100 payments. But with thousands of dollars outstanding, district attorneys said it’s time that McVicar did time. Alternatively, McVicar could resell $4,500 of her own jewelry, said Chang.
Friday, McVicar balked at both suggestions.
“I’m not selling my wedding set … and if I go to prison, they’ll get no money. That makes no sense,” McVicar protested, adding that her children would suffer if she, a single mother, were sent to jail. Standing before Judge Lee, she listed several hardships: four hospital operations and a life-threatening illness in 2006, she said. “I’ve done everything I’ve been asked.”
Lee was unconvinced. “You are in violation of your probation for willfully failing to pay,” he said, later adding, “I suspect they [the district attorneys] think prison might motivate you to pay back the money you stole.”
McVicar faces up to six years and eight months in jail, district attorneys have calculated.
Because McVicar lacked an attorney Friday, Lee referred her case to the public defender, and deferred an ultimate decision on what penalties, if any, she might face. Lee hinted that an alternative to incarceration might be a work furlough center in Southern California, run by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where McVicar would work by day to repay the school. The Gilroy woman is currently working in the Bay Area, and complained that she can’t get a higher-paying job because of her felony conviction and news coverage of her crime.
And McVicar may owe still thousands more if Judge Lee rules that her sentence requires her to pay interest on the debt. Last week, district attorneys said an overlooked provision would bump her unpaid debt nearly $20,000, from $28,637.44 to $47,418.90. McVicar contended that her sentence never required her to pay interest on the stolen funds, and added that she had paid more than $3,000 that she hadn’t been credited for by the Department of Revenue.
“Ultimately, you owe the $50,000 you stole,” concluded Judge Lee. “And you have to pay it back.”
