Former county sheriff’s deputy Jason Lei, accused of embezzling from the deputies union, faces a court hearing Thursday in San Benito County.
Lei in June returned to the U.S. from the Philippines and faced charges that he embezzled an undisclosed amount of money from the sheriff’s association as a deputy and union treasurer.
Lei is set for an arraignment hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday in room 101 of the San Benito County Courthouse before Judge Steven Sanders. In July, he had a preliminary setting waived.
At his warrant return hearing in June, Lei pleaded not guilty but his attorney indicated the defense was favorable toward a settlement of some kind. It was more than three years after the Hollister Police Department filed charges against Lei, now age 40, alleging embezzlement and unauthorized use of an access card.
As for the initial investigation, the Hollister Police Department handled the case in 2010 to prevent a conflict of interest in the sheriff’s office.
The HPD handled the Ray Wood embezzlement case itself a couple of years ago. Also a former cop, the ex-sergeant accepted a plea deal for embezzling about $100,000 from the police union while he had been president of the group. Wood was sentenced to six months in jail and served a standard half-time penalty of three months.
