A man who ran a tax accounting service in Long Beach admitted Tuesday that he misappropriated public funds from the operator of two group homes for teenage boys in and another organization that ran two homes for disadvantaged youths.
Gary Batchelor, 64, pleaded guilty to two counts of misappropriating public funds and one count of filing a false tax return — all felonies, according to Deputy District Attorney Dana Aratani.
Batchelor is expected to be sentenced Jan. 13 to three years in state prison and to be ordered to pay more than $356,000 in restitution, the prosecutor said.
The largest sum — nearly $194,000 — is set to go to You Are the Difference Foundation, which runs group homes for teenage boys in Los Angeles and Compton. More than $122,000 is earmarked for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and about $40,000 to the state’s Franchise Tax Board.
Steven Smith — who was the executive director of Moore’s Cottage and was charged along with Batchelor in one of the cases — pleaded guilty to one felony count each of embezzlement and failure to file an income tax return, according to the prosecutor.
Moore’s Cottage operated group homes for disadvantaged youths in Altadena and Pomona. Batchelor served as a board member for that organization.
Smith, 56, was immediately sentenced to 30 days in county jail, five years formal probation and ordered to pay nearly $24,000 in restitution to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and more than $6,200 to the FTB, Aratani said.
He is set to surrender Nov. 18 to begin serving his jail term.
–City News Service