Rialto accused lunch money embezzler charged
Judith oakes timeline
Aug. 7, 2013: Rialto Unified Nutritional Services accountant Judith Oakes arrested by Rialto Police, charged with grand theft, embezzlement and burglary.
Aug. 8, 2013: Oakes freed on bail, resigns from Rialto Unified, where she’s worked since 1997. It’s her 49th birthday.
Aug. 14, 2013: Rialto Unified Superintendent Harold Cebrun denies any wrongdoing at a contentious school board meeting.
Sept. 11, 2013: Cebrun and deputy superintendent James Wallace placed on administrative leave.
Sept. 25, 2013: A private investigator tells Rialto Unified school board that Oakes may have embezzled $3.1 million over 14 years.
Oct. 2, 2013: School board president Joe Ayala defends Cebrun after a board meeting, saying Cebrun “fell into a web, (one) that many of us men fall into.”
Oct. 4, 2013: Cebrun, through his lawyer, denies any romantic relationship with Oakes.
Oct. 4, 2013: Police and this newspaper obtain a letter supposedly written by Oakes to the school board. The letter declares that she’s guilty of the crime and that she acted alone — and that Cebrun had nothing to do with her crime.
Oct. 4, 2013: Rialto Police announce that Cebrun is not a suspect in any crime involving Oakes at this time.
Oct. 8, 2013: Oakes is charged with eight counts of embezzlement by a public or private officer and eight counts of a public officer crime. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 11 years in state prison.
RIALTO >> A former Rialto Unified accountant has been charged with the suspected embezzling of $1.8 million in funds from the district over the past eight years.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office filed felony charges against Judith Oakes, 49, late Tuesday afternoon. Oakes is charged with eight counts of embezzlement by a public or private officer and eight counts of a public officer crime. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 11 years in state prison. She will be arraigned in Fontana Superior Court on Thursday, according to district attorney’s spokesman Christopher Lee.
Oakes was arrested Aug. 7 after twice being caught on camera putting money into her bra, according to a Rialto Police Department search warrant. At the time of her Aug. 7 arrest, she had two packets of $2,000 in $20 bills on her person, and more was found at her San Bernardino home later. She resigned from the district the next day.
Oakes could not be reached for comment on the charges. At her San Bernardino home Tuesday afternoon, a man who said he was her son declined to comment on the case.
“It’s unfortunate when people make poor choices,” school board president Joe Ayala said Tuesday afternoon. “I feel bad for her family and all those who were hurt by her actions.”
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s investigation is one of at least five: The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and California Department of Education are both conducting investigations into Oakes’ alleged crimes. The Rialto Unified school board also hired a private investigation firm, Rancho Cucamonga-based Stewart Investigations Services, to do an independent audit of the Nutrition Services department. The Rialto Police Department turned their case over to the District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
On Sept. 25, investigator Jeff Stewart told the board that Oakes may have embezzled $1.8 million over the last eight years and more than $3.1 million over 14 years. Oakes is only charged with embezzling $1.8 million, because the statute of limitations had run out on the other funds.
If true, that works out to Oakes stealing an average of $221,438 a year — or $4,258 a week — almost triple her $77,086 annual salary at Rialto Unified.
According to Stewart, there were 913 cash deposits with discrepancies over a period of 1,277 school days. The most common discrepancy between the bank deposit slips and actual cash deposits was $2,000, which occurred 540 times.
Oakes is the widow of former San Bernardino City Unified School District elementary school principal Jack Oakes. She owns two homes in San Bernardino, a variety of personal recreational vehicles and the couple regularly vacationed in Glamis, in Imperial County.
The Nutrition Services department has an annual budget of $16 million. Oakes had worked for the district since 1997.
Rialto Unified has begun the process of updating its accounting and security procedures, according to the district.
District Superintendent Harold Cebrun and Deputy Superintendent James Wallace were placed on leave Sept. 11, and the school board reaffirmed their decision to do so by a 4-1 vote on Oct. 2. (Cebrun has been out on bereavement leave since Aug. 21.)
According to Cebrun, the board made the decision to head off any accusations that the investigation could be tainted. District gossip has long linked Cebrun and Oakes romantically.
A letter, allegedly authored by Oakes, surfaced Friday, confessing to the crime and clearing Cebrun and other district officials of any involvement.
Associate Superintendent of Business Services Mohammad Z. Islam has been appointed acting superintendent for the district.
Staff writers Michel Nolan and Joe Nelson contributed to this report.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beau Yarbrough covers education for The Sun and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Reach the author atBeau.Yarbrough@inlandnewspapers.com or follow Beau on Twitter: @inlandEd.
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