Maximum Penalty Asked for School Embezzler

SANTA ANA — Orange County prosecutors, arguing that convicted embezzler Stephen A. Wagner has failed to help authorities recover more than $3.5 million he siphoned from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, are demanding that he receive the maximum sentence of eight years and eight months in prison.

The prosecutors suggested that instead of helping authorities find and liquidate his assets, Wagner might be hiding some of his ill-gotten gains.

The district’s former top financial officer pleaded guilty in December to diverting school district funds to his own personal accounts between 1986 and 1992. Wagner, 41, used the money to pay for his lavish lifestyle that included a fur-lined bathrobe, doorknob-sized gems and luxury cars.

Despite his promise to cooperate, Wagner’s actions “have been to provide little help, to admit nothing that could not already be proved, and his actions and demeanor show no true remorse,” according to a sentencing brief filed by prosecutors.

Additionally, Wagner’s total assets do not appear to match the stolen sums, “raising the question of whether Wagner spent the entire $3.5 million to $4 million, or is some of it secreted?” asked the brief filed by Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlton P. Biggs.

In what is believed to be the largest school embezzlement in state history, Wagner is scheduled to be sentenced Friday by Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, but that hearing may be postponed, officials said.

Defense attorney Paul S. Meyer was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

Even if Wagner serves every day of the maximum sentence, it will amount to one month in prison for every $33,000 stolen, “not bad considering his salary at the district . . . was $75,000,” the brief notes.