Ray Wood, the retired Hollister police sergeant accused of
embezzling more than $100,000 from the officers’ union, has pleaded
not guilty to the charge.
Ray Wood, the retired Hollister police sergeant accused of embezzling more than $100,000 from the officers’ union, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Wood appeared at the San Benito County Courthouse on Tuesday for his first hearing, an arraignment where he pleaded not guilty.
Judge Steven Sanders also set Wood’s next appearance, a preliminary setting scheduled for 4 p.m. Oct. 20 in room 101.
Wood, 53, is the retired Hollister police sergeant and 2010 candidate for sheriff charged with a felony on suspicion of embezzling about $102,000 – during a period of more than six years starting in March 2004 – from the department’s union of which he was president during that time.
In August, Wood was charged, booked into the county jail and released on $60,000 bail.
The state attorney general’s office 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 from the Hollister Police Department after more than 25 years 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.
The investigator alleged that during those six and a half years, Wood cashed out $46,147 from check deposits he had made as president of the union. The investigator alleged that the former sergeant wrote police union checks to “Ray Wood” – or for cash – which totaled $45,891. The complaint goes on to accuse Wood of writing “numerous” police union checks totaling $10,407 to individuals unrelated to the group. Authorities alleged the amounts totaled about $102,000.
