“When someone in a position of public trust is accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a church that serves this community, the consequence should match the harm,” said District Attorney Vern Pierson.
“Unfortunately, California law no longer reliably delivers that. In our view, policies adopted under Gov. Gavin Newsom have too often placed the interests of criminal defendants ahead of meaningful consequences and the rights of victims, a ‘criminals first’ approach that has made accountability increasingly difficult to achieve in state court,” he continued. “We are grateful to the United States Attorney’s Office and the FBI for taking this case, and we will continue to work closely with our federal partners so that cases that call for real accountability can be brought where real accountability is available.”
On Sept. 15, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California charged former South Lake Tahoe mayor Tamara Wallace with one count of wire fraud (18 U.S.C.