Four people who previously worked for the city of Beaumont pleaded guilty to numerous crimes on Tuesday including embezzlement, misappropriation of funds and conflict of interest. None of the four will set foot in jail.
Former Beaumont Planning Director Ernest A. Egger, ex-Economic Development Director David W. Dillon, former City Manager Alan Kapanicas, and onetime Finance Director William K. Aylward also agreed to pay a total of $8.1 million in restitution, reports the Press Enterprise.
Each will also spend about a year under house arrest, but none of them will go to prison.
Former Public Works Director Deepak Moorjani pleaded guilty two months ago to a single felony conflict-of-interest charge and agreed to pay $3 million in restitution. Former Beaumont City Attorney Joseph Aklufi faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 22.
“You nearly brought the city of Beaumont to its knees,” Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Carroll told the defendants (via Desert Sun). “This was your house of cards.”
After a yearlong investigation, The Riverside County DA’s office alleged that seven Beaumont used their positions to take in a huge sum of money. The total amount of money taken in this case, according to investigators was $42,967,421.90.
Dillon, Kapanicas, Egger, and Moorjani were found to have a combined $14.6 million deposited in 47 bank accounts in 2016.
