City Employee Held in Embezzlement

The senior account clerk for the city was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of forgery and theft of public funds.

Cathy Gagliano, 42, of Ventura allegedly purchased about $6,000 in personal items such as groceries and appliances with city money, said Ventura Police Sgt. George Morris.

Gagliano allegedly used city funds to pay a utility bill at least once and signed her name on city charge accounts, Morris said.

Gagliano was unavailable for comment, but Morris said she was remorseful. “She knows what she did was wrong, she just let greed get the better of her,” he said. “Everyone would like more money, but for someone to throw away a good job is really foolish.”

Marilyn Leuck, administration services director for the city, said Gagliano, who was hired in 1996, was fired Tuesday after her arrest.

The city discovered the alleged embezzlement through a normal review of operations, Leuck said. “We detected irregularities so we began to track where those events were coming from, and it led us to her,” she said.

None of the other 650 city employees was involved in the scandal, Leuck said. “The employees here are very honest and dedicated; this is definitely an anomaly,” Leuck said.