A trusted employee of the Lompoc Valley Festival Association is under police investigation, accused of embezzling an estimated $62,000 in less than a year and putting the organization in financial trouble.

Lacey Porter, who was hired in October as the association's office manager, is accused of making ATM withdrawals during an eight-month period using a debit card typically reserved for emergency use.

Association President Sue Beltran and Treasurer Tina Mercer said Friday they were present in the association office at 414 W. Ocean Ave. Aug. 6 when Porter admitted to police that she took the money. Festival chairman Bob Ferrell was also present, they said.

Porter could not be reached for comment.

Detective Sgt. Milt Baldwin confirmed that the department is conducting an embezzlement investigation, but did not identify Porter as the subject of the investigation.

The organization is planning to conduct a forensic audit to collect financial evidence for possible use in prosecution, Beltran said.

The association, which organizes the annual Flower Festival and Spring Arts festivals, has $45,000 in current bills that it cannot pay, including a $500 award to the winning float in this year's Flower Festival and reimbursements to community organizations for deposits on food booths, Mercer said.

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“We're all volunteers. To take that money from the community, and put Flower Festival in jeopardy for next year - it's unfathomable to me,” she said.

The city and Mayor Dick DeWees were among the recipients of checks that later bounced, Mercer said. DeWees said he is still owed for media services provided to the festival office.

To help meet the shortfall, association volunteers said they are considering taking out a loan on the office property, or organizing an emergency fundraiser.

Porter had been the association's only paid employee, earning $10 an hour as office manager. She was hired in October 2007, and allegedly found in a desk drawer a spare debit card for the association's bank account with Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.

Beginning in late December 2007, she began using the debit card to make unauthorized purchases, and withdrawing as much as $2,000 a day from ATM's - the maximum allowed from business accounts, according to Beltran.

“I was really close to her. I talked to her almost every day,” Beltran said, expressing disbelief at the deception.

Mercer and Beltran said Porter was able to conceal her activities for months because of her isolation in the office where the board members, all volunteers and many with other jobs, could not monitor her.

”Checks were bouncing, but all the calls, she was taking them. The bank was calling, but she was the one answering the phone. Mail statements were coming in, but she got the mail,” Mercer said.

Beltran said it appears Porter went so far as to forge payment checks to businesses and organizations, had board members sign them, and then disposed of the checks instead of sending them out. She said the association was still sorting out which debts might still be outstanding.

Adding to the association's financial woes will be the added cost of the forensic audit, which must be handled by an outside accountant and paid for by the embezzled organization, and will cost upwards of $2,500, according to Beltran.

“That's a pretty common procedure in cases where there's a large amount of money stolen,” police investigator Baldwin said.

Bank employees eventually contacted the board members directly, and Mercer said her own audit soon revealed the extent of the loss. Police were called the next day and when Porter arrived at work on Aug. 6 she made a confession to festival officials and the police officer, and relinquished the debit card, according to Beltran and Mercer.

They said Porter apologized to them and said she didn't mean to hurt anyone. The board members said Porter also indicated she would try to repay the money.

Baldwin said he could not comment on an ongoing investigation, but that embezzlement cases in the city were not uncommon.

In 2005, Former Lompoc Elks Lodge bookkeeper Pollyanna Luis was convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for embezzling as much as $250,000 from her former employers.

In 2006, Beltran's business, Valley Auto Specialists, was also the victim of embezzlement, with $92,000 stolen by a longtime employee, she said.

“I loved that girl that worked for me, too,” Beltran said.

Beltran said she is confident the association will survive and learn from the embezzlement to be more vigilant with its finances. She dismissed the possibility that the 2009 Flower Festival might not take place.

“Nobody would let that happen.”

August 17, 2008