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SANTA ANA (CNS) - A former Yorba Linda Junior Basketball Club treasurer pleaded guilty today to embezzling from the organization and was immediately sentenced to one month in jail.
Julio Cesar Galvan Arauz, 42, of Brea, pleaded guilty to one felony count of embezzlement by fiduciary of trust. He is scheduled to begin his jail sentence by July 22 and will apply for home confinement, his attorney Calvin Schneider said.
Arauz was originally charged with 19 felony counts of embezzlement, but the defendant produced receipts for much of the disputed funds. He was originally accused of embezzling $86,767.46 from Dec. 22, 2016, through mid- June 2018.
Ultimately, the amount of disputed funds was cut in half, Schneider said. Arauz has paid about $36,000 in restitution, Schneider said. ``He made a mistake and paid thousands of dollars in restitution and he had a fair plea deal today,'' Schneider said.
At some point, Arauz stopped looking for receipts for the expenditures because the restitution was going back to the players, his attorney said. ``He doesn't really care how much he was giving back because it all goes to the kids,'' Schneider said.
Arauz got in over his head running the league and was doing most of the work himself, Schneider said. At one point he took his own team out to the movies, using the league's funds, when he should have invited all of the players, the attorney said.
``He didn't have a treasurer and he was running the league by himself and didn't keep the books well,'' Schneider said.