Calif. Symphony’s Ex-Director Charged With Embezzlement
March 10, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
The former executive director of the Peninsula Symphony has been arrested on suspicion of siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Los Altos, Calif., ensemble’s coffers, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
Stephen Jay Carlton, 45, of Novato, Calif., was taken into custody in late February on charges of embezzlement, grand theft, forgery, identity theft, and tax evasion. He abruptly resigned from the organization in September after board members discovered that all its accounts had been drained, including a $500,000 endowment.
Prosecutors said Mr. Carlton had written numerous checks to himself, sometimes forging the signature of board members, since taking the Peninsula post in mid-2010. As of last week he remained jailed with bail set at $350,000. His attorney declined to comment.
