Embezzlement on Rise in Temecula, County

Organizations in Temecula and the surrounding regions were hit hard by embezzlement schemes in the last couple years, and one detective says the economy is to blame.

, a choir director at in Temecula, pleaded not guilty on Monday to stealing $20,000 from the church.

to stealing a laptop computer and tickets to New York from in Temecula.

pleaded guilty last year to stealing $11,000 from the PTA.

Temecula wasn't alone. Similar cases were alleged in Lake Elsinore, Corona and Moreno Valley.

Jose Carvajal pleaded guilty to stealing several thousand dollars from the Lake Elsinore Unified School District.

Debra Sutton pleaded not guilty to stealing $780,000 from the Box Springs Mutual Water Co. and Gigi Wellot was arrested on suspicion of stealing $220,000 from Corona United Methodist Church.

All the cases have a common element, a detective told the Press-Enterprise.

The organizations trusted a single person with too much financial power, and each organization felt they lacked the ability to provide proper oversight.

“If you entrust one person and you never check that one person, then it’s possible for a theft to happen because that person has complete control over everything,” said Riverside police Detective Jerilynn Czobakowski.

Other money crimes, such as check fraud and lottery scams, are also increasing in the county. In fact, the three investigators in her unit, which specializes in this type of crime, are each working 40-50 cases, she told the newspaper.

She suspects the economy is at fault. "Some people are desperate right now,” Czobakowski told the paper.