Man Allegedly Embezzled $200K From Marine Scholarship

A Pomona man was behind bars today on suspicion of embezzling about $200,000 from a Palm Desert-based Marine scholarship group of which he was president.

Riverside County sheriff's detectives arrested former Marine Jason Patrick Hitt, 35, while he was working at a Chino Hills' Best Buy store at about 6 p.m. Thursday, Sgt. Dave Florez said.

Hitt was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where he is being held in lieu of $135,000 bail.

Hitt was charged by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office on Aug. 29 with embezzling more than $133,000 and forging a $6,000 check, and a warrant was issued for his arrest a few days later, according to court records.

Florez said investigators believe Hitt, a former Coachella Valley resident, stole about $200,000 in all from the group. As of this afternoon, no other charges had been filed.

Sheriff's Investigator Jon Gaw said it took a while to locate Hitt, and that detectives had to go through a number of internal procedures before they could arrest him.

"It's a long process,'' Gaw said.

Hitt was expected to be arraigned Wednesday at Indio's Larson Justice Center.

His arrest capped a year-long investigation by Palm Desert sheriff's detectives into embezzlement of funds from U.S. Marine Scholarships of the Desert Cities, Inc., a nonprofit organization that gives academic scholarships to current and former Marines in the desert area, Florez said.

Hitt was appointed president, a volunteer position, of the scholarship fund in September 2009. The organization has given out more than 80 scholarships to current and former Marines, Florez said.

According to a declaration in support of the arrest warrant filed by Gaw, Hitt opened a checking account for the fund at Citibank in Palm Desert in December 2009. He opened it with his girlfriend, whose name was withheld by the district attorney's office, and began writing checks to her from the account.

"He would often co-mingle the funds of the USMS with (her) business accounts,'' the declaration stated. He used the account's debit card "for purchases which were not for the use of the USMS.''

He began dating other women and used scholarship fund money to pay for jewelry, rent, hairstyling, school fees and court fines for them, the document said.

"The founders of the organization brought the incident to the police when the funds were discovered missing or misappropriated,'' Florez said.

On Thursday, investigators also served a search warrant at Hitt's Pomona residence and recovered some unspecified property belonging to the group, Florez said.

Gaw said the scholarship fund did not have a physical location but did have a Palm Desert mailing address. Online charity listings turned up an address in the 200 block of Camino Arroyo North in Palm Desert.

Anyone with information on the alleged embezzlements was asked to contact Florez at (760) 836-1600 or Coachella Valley Crime Stoppers at (760) 341-7867.