Ray Wood, the former Hollister police sergeant and 2010 sheriff candidate convicted of embezzling more than $100,000 from the city officers union, was sentenced Friday to six months in the county jail.
Wood, 54, earlier this year accepted a plea deal for embezzling more than $102,000 from the city police union where he had been president of the organization. Wood in February pleaded no contest to the lone count against him, a felony grand theft charge.
Judge Steven Sanders Friday denied probation and handed down the expected sentence – six months in jail – while he also ordered Wood to pay back the entire stolen amount. Wood submitted a $15,000 check to the Hollister Police Officers Association on Friday and is scheduled back in court Sept. 28 for a restitution hearing to consider the status of the rest of the payback.
The actual sentence for the convictions – on a grand theft charge and a special allegation – came to three years, but Sanders suspended much of the sentence, leaving 180 days remaining minus one day of time served previously.
Wood was set to begin his sentence immediately at the San Benito County Jail.
As part of the ruling, Sanders ordered that Wood can have no contact with current or past members of the Hollister police union.
Wood’s attorney Michael Rains has said in court that the defendant planned to pay back the entire amount, while the two sides still had disagreed on a pre-judgment interest payment that will be under consideration at the September hearing.
The judge in April agreed to hold off on sentencing as Wood attempts to return with either a “substantial” amount toward the restitution or “satisfactory proof” the process is in place to pay back the whole amount.
The conviction, spurred by the no-contest plea, called for a three-year prison term but 30 months of the sentence will be suspended, meaning he could serve six months behind bars, according to court records.
Wood previously pleaded not guilty to allegations he embezzled around $102,445 from the Hollister Police Officers Association during a period of more than six years starting in March 2004 when he had been union president.
Wood retired from the Hollister Police Department at the end of 2010 after more than 25 years there. That year, he finished with the third-highest vote count in the sheriff’s race won by Darren Thompson.
The state attorney general’s office in August filed the grand theft charge to coincide with an arrest warrant. It followed a five-month probe conducted by an appointed investigator from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Outside investigator Terrence Simpson reported the suspected embezzlement occurred between the start of March 2004 and the end of December 2010, when Wood retired and handed over union duties he had held the prior 14 years.
The criminal complaint alleged that Wood withdrew portions of deposits in cash and used the police-union checking account to fund activities unrelated to the organization.
