LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Clearlake woman arrested last year for grand theft and conspiracy for submitting a fraudulent claim to the Rotary Fire Fund has been sentenced to probation and jail time for that case as well as for another in which she was ordered to pay nearly $40,000 in restitution to Lake County Social Services.
Sabrina Deann Rich, 30, appeared before Lake County Superior Court Judge Michael Lunas for sentencing on Wednesday morning.
Rich and her boyfriend, Ralph Gordon Darting, were arrested by District Attorney’s Office investigators during a sting operation in January 2018 for grand theft and conspiracy to defraud the local Rotary’s 5130 Fire Relief Fund, as Lake County News has reported.
Investigators said that in December 2017 Darting and Rich submitted an online application to Rotary claiming they had lost $2,900 in roofing materials and $900 in roofing tools in the Sulphur fire.
Rotary officials were suspicious of the claim and contacted the District Attorney’s Office, resulting in the investigation, which found that no construction was going on at the location where Darting and Rich said the lost materials had been located.
In December 2017, District Attorney’s Office investigators who were posing as Rotary officials met with Darting and Rich, who gave additional false information.
The following month, the couple met with Rotary officials and district attorney investigators at Austin Park in Clearlake where Chief Investigator Bruce Smith presented them with a check from Rotary for $5,000. After accepting the check, the pair was arrested.
Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson said both Darting, a roofer, and Rich, a stay-at-home mom, were charged with committing fraud and grand theft in the Rotary case.
In addition, Rich was charged with a county of perjury in an unrelated welfare fraud case. Abelson said that case involved Cal Fresh – formerly known as food stamps – and cash aid, or Cal Works. Rich was prosecuted for welfare fraud because she did not report that Darting was living in the same home and that she had income.
In April, Darting pleaded to the count and was sentenced to a two-year local county jail prison sentence on April 16. Abelson said he has since served his jail time and been released, and was in court on Wednesday for Rich’s sentencing.
Abelson said Rich pleaded to the same charges as Darting did in the Rotary case as well as the perjury charge in her separate welfare fraud case.
Rich entered a plea last year at about the same time as Darting, but there was a dispute about the total restitution amount that Abelson said was finally resolved this week.
“We decided to put off sentencing so we could deal with restitution at the same time,” Abelson said.
On Wednesday, Judge Lunas sentenced Rich to formal felony probation and 180 days jail in each case to be run concurrent. She was also ordered to pay the Lake County Department of Social Services restitution in the amount of $39,690, Abelson said.
Rich’s attorney, Dana Liberatore, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
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Clearlake woman sentenced for Rotary Fire Fund and Social Services fraud cases
- Elizabeth Larson
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