Former SLO County employee sentenced to prison for stealing $500,000 in taxpayer money
The former San Luis Obispo County employee convicted of using more than $500,000 of county funds to buy himself DJ equipment, camera gear and other items was sentenced to six years in state prison on Wednesday.
Norman Hibble, 54, was arrested and charged with 12 counts of embezzlement on Feb. 20 for allegedly misusing a county-issued credit card while he worked in the county’s technology department from April 2017 and January 2023.
He was fired from his county job on Jan. 5.
“We can’t express enough to this court that Mr. Hibble’s actions were the utmost breach of trust to county residents and its employees,” County Counsel Rita Neal said in her statement to the judge on Wednesday. “He does not deserve sympathy, empathy or leniency in his sentencing today.”
He pleaded no contest to seven embezzlement counts on July 17 and also admitted to the sentencing enhancement of the amount stolen being more than $100,000.
A no contest plea functions the same as a guilty plea without admitting direct fault.
He agreed to a total of six years in state prison, court records show. He received three years for the first embezzlement count, two years for a second embezzlement count and an additional one year for the sentencing enhancement.
The five other embezzlement counts carry three-year concurrent sentences, meaning they will be served at the same time as the sentence for the first count.
The maximum punishment he faced for his crimes was 16 years in prison.
At Hibble’s sentencing on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Crystal Tindell Seiler also ruled that he must pay restitution to the county for his theft in an amount to be determined at a future court hearing.
“You betrayed the trust invested in you,” Neal said, speaking directly to Hibble during her statement. “Not only were you stealing from every person who pays taxes, you bloodied the spirit of public service of those around you.”
Hibble will likely serve around 3 years if he maintains good behavior in prison because his crimes were not violent, according to California sentencing laws.
County Employee stole more than $500,000, DA says
According to a Wednesday news release from the District Attorney’s Office, the amount of taxpayer money Hibble stole is estimated to be above $500,000.
“No one is above the law, and those who steal from the public that they serve deserve strict accountability for their betrayal of the trust given to them,” San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said in the news release.
Hibble was given the county credit card in 2016 while he worked as a supervisor in the Information Technology Department, the agency said. The card was to be used for official county business.
Hibble used the card for personal and “often exorbitant purchases,” the agency said, then concealed the crimes by falsifying records and modifying invoices.
In a court hearing on Feb. 23, Deputy District Attorney Ben Blumenthal said Hibble bought high-end DJ equipment, photo gear, a $2,000 crossbow, a telescope and several other items using a county-issued credit card.
“I wish it was hyperbole to say he needed C-trains to store all of the items,” Blumenthal said during the hearing, adding that Hibble did in fact buy the large storage container to store his purchases.
Hibble is also alleged to have used the county card to buy an electric scooter that he then sued a driver for damaging, the District Attorney’s Office told The Tribune.
On Feb. 2, 2021, Blumenthal said in a Feb. 28 court hearing, Hibble’s colleagues in the county health agency were responding to the peak of the COVID-19 crisis while Hibble allegedly used the county credit card to order a Blackmagic Design Davinci mini panel, a video editing system that cost more than $3,300.
On the invoice he turned into the county, Hibble said he bought a printer from Blackmagic Design, Blumenthal said.
“When a public employee steals public funds, they victimize the entire community,” Blumenthal said during the sentencing. “They can cause people to question the integrity of government, they can essentially tarnish intuitions that are comprised of countless public servants that do their best to wake up every day and do their best to faithfully serve their community.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 11:32 AM.
