A parole agent accused of trading bus passes and gift cards with a parolee to get prescription painkillers was charged with felony embezzlement by a public employee and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, authorities said Thursday.
Scott Patric Keblis, 49, of Chino, allegedly used his work status to get two bus passes and two Target gift cards, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Keblis allegedly used those items — and $30 — to obtain 26 hydrocodone pills, according to prosecutors. The alleged transaction occurred in Huntington Beach.
Keblis allegedly claimed in records that he needed the bus passes and gift cards for another parolee, according to prosecutors. He obtained the bus passes gift cards on Nov. 23, prosecutors said.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which employs Keblis, received an anonymous tip Nov. 5 that Keblis was trading bus passes and gift cards for drugs, prosecutors said.
Keblis, who was arrested yesterday but was freed today when he posted $20,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 25. He faces up to four years behind bars if convicted at trial.
–City News Service