Attorney: San Mateo County Office so Chaotic That Workers Had to Cover Dead Clients' Estate Costs

The San Mateo County Public Administrator's office was so disorganized that employees frequently paid for work-related expenses out of their own pockets and reimbursed themselves from clients' accounts, according to a legal motion. The attorney for one of two former county employees arrested in June on suspicion of stealing from the estates of deceased residents filed the motion in an attempt to obtain grand jury transcripts on the case.

Although federal Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins denied release of the transcripts, Dean Johnson, the lawyer for defendant Peter Wong, said he is confident his client and fellow defendant Mandy Natchi Yagi will be vindicated if the case goes to trial as scheduled May 6.

"They worked for the county under some very difficult circumstances," Johnson said. "They tried very hard to do a very good job."

Wong, of Daly City, and Yagi, of San Mateo, were arrested by FBI agents in June and charged with conspiracy to commit theft from a federally funded program and theft concerning a federally funded program. An indictment filed in U.S. District Court and unsealed after their arrest states that the two took money, jewelry and other valuables from estates they administered.

In his motion, Johnson claimed the FBI's evidence showed that the Public Administrator's office "was best described as chaotic."

Full Article and Source:
Attorney: San Mateo County Office so Chaotic That Workers Had to Cover Dead Clients' Estate Costs