Former SH deputy city clerk charged with embezzlement of public funds
BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer
Vivian Munson, former deputy city clerk of Signal Hill, has been charged with embezzlement of public funds. “If she is convicted, she could be sentenced to four years in prison” said Dave Demerjian, director of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Division. “She was charged with three felonies: misuse of public funds, embezzlement and grand theft.”
Munson will be arraigned on the charges in Superior Court in Long Beach on October 30. According to Gary Nielson, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case, Munson was not arrested but notified by mail to appear in court a few weeks ago. At that time, a Superior Court judge determined that there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial and Munson was released on her own recognizance in lieu of a $25,000 bail.
“We discovered the embezzlement about 30 days after Vivian resigned from her position with us,” said Signal Hill City Manager Ken Farfsing. “The discovery came in the form of a Visa credit card bill that came in the mail for purchases supposedly made by Councilman (now Mayor) Mike Noll.”
Farfsing explained that about 15 years ago- before he was appointed city manager- the city issued credit cards for each member of the city council. “They were used for their expenses when they were attending conferences as officials representing the City of Signal Hill,” Farfsing explained. “It was just a matter of convenience so that they wouldn’t have to pay for the airline tickets, hotel rooms and other expenses and then get reimbursed by the city later.”
Farfsing noted, however, that councilmembers Mike Noll and Larry Forester opted to never use their cards. “Mike Noll’s card was kept in a safe at City Hall, and because of the Paperwork Reduction Act, we do not get statements from cards never being used,” he explained. “We never saw Visa statements from Mike’s card, and that didn’t cause any concern, because we figured it was not being used.”
Farfsing explained, however, that Munson apparently had been using the card’s account number to make personal purchases from 2003 until she resigned in August 2007. “She would use the card to buy things, retrieve the statements from the city’s mail, and pay down the balance,” he said. “We never saw any of those statements until after she left and we got a bill for about $2,000.”
At that point, the city hired a private investigator to find out if any other purchases had been made using the card. Farfsing said the council members and other city officials decided not to use the Signal Hill Police Department in the investigation to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.
“The investigator found that Vivian had used the card to make about $8,000 in purchases and, even though she paid for all but $2,000, her use of the card was still illegal,” Farfsing explained. “We turned over the private investigator’s findings to the district attorney’s office and they conducted their own investigation before deciding to file criminal charges against Vivian.”
Munson had worked for the City of Signal Hill for 21 years prior to resigning a little over a year ago. She quit after being hired as Lake Elsinore City Clerk, a position she began filling on September 10, 2007. Originally hired by Signal Hill in 1986 as an administrative secretary in the planning department, she held various positions- including secretary to the deputy city manager- until being promoted to Deputy City Clerk and executive assistant to the city manager and city council in 1999. She had moved to San Bernardino with her husband Shawn about six years ago and was happy to find a job closer to her home.
A couple of weeks ago, Munson submitted her resignation as Lake Elsinore’s city clerk, and the Lake Elsinore City Council officially accepted it on October 14.
In Lake Elsinore, the city clerk is hired by the city council, unlike Signal Hill where the city clerk is elected.
In a public statement released by Munson, she said her recent resignation had nothing to do with her job performance at Lake Elsinore, and city officials declined to comment on the matter.
Munson’s phone number is unlisted and, thus far, attempts by the Signal Tribune to contact her have been unsuccessful.
Farfsing said that soon after the discovery of Munson’s alleged wrongdoing, all of the members of the city council turned in their city credit cards. “They decided to discontinue using them and go back to the old system of paying their own expenses when they represent the city or other times when they are acting in their official capacity,” he said. “They pay the expenses, fill out a form with their receipts and the city reimburses them afterwards.” He added that all department heads still have the use of city credit cards for legitimate city expenses, but he, City Finance Director Maida Alcantara and Munson’s replacement, Becky Burleson, carefully monitor use of those cards. “We use a system of checks and balances so that it’s not just one person doing the monitoring,” he added.
Farfsing noted that the charges against Munson have brought sorrow to the people that once worked with her. “Obviously, you feel sorry for the individual, but the most important thing in government service is your good name,” he explained. “We had to follow through on this because without accountability the whole system breaks down.”
