Cathedral City Councilman Accused of Stealing City Funds

A nearby city's councilman is in the hot seat, accused of stealing public funds to make personal purchases worth thousands of dollars.

According to an announcement by the Riverside County District Attorney's office on Tuesday, Cathedral City's Charles Fredrick Vasquez– who also serves as mayor pro tem– allegedly abused a reimbursement program offered through the city to make unauthorized personal purchases over a 16-month time span.

Vasquez was arrested Monday night at his home and booked into the Indio jail on felony charges of embezzlement by a public officer, according to jail records.

Tuesday, three felony counts of Penal Code section 424 (a), the misappropriation of public funds, were made offical by the DA's office.

"The crimes charged involve the councilmember’s misuse of city funds through a program the city of Cathedral City has in which the city will loan money to city employees and council members so they can purchase desktop computers, laptop computers or tablets," DA Spokesman John Hall said.  "The program provides the loan at 6 percent interest and allows employees to make payroll deductions to repay the loans. Participants obtain an invoice or price quote from a vendor and are then given a city check to use for the equipment purchase."

Hall says that DA investigators found Vasquez "misappropriated" city funds for personal purchases, from August 2011 through December 2012.

"The investigation showed that Vasquez would use part of the funds for computer purchases and part for unauthorized personal items," Hall said.

What's more, DA investigators allege, Vasquez was given a city credit card in December 2012 and used it to buy $2,028 in prepaid MasterCard gift cards.

"On previous occasions, Vasquez submitted fraudulent invoices under the loan program and then used the loan proceeds to purchase unapproved personal items in addition to some computer equipment," Hall said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the councilman's bio was missing from Cathedral City's website, but the city has made no official statements about the incident.

“I’m saddened by this turn of events, but I have no comments,” Mayor Kathy DeRosa told the Desert Sun.