■ Former theater group treasurer, accused of embezzlement, begins restitution payments

Kimble Goodman, the former treasurer of the Benicia Old Town Theatre Group who is accused of embezzling the organization’s bank accounts, gave the community performance company a check for $6,000 Friday morning.

Goodman’s attorney, public defender Jeannette Garcia, told Solano Superior Court Judge Tim Kam that her client needed 60 days to secure the balance of the documented lost funds, another $4,973.50 — the amount he’ll hand over at a readiness conference at 8:30 a.m. June 26.

That also is when Goodman is expected to enter a plea on the single charge of embezzlement.

The total, $10,973.50, is what Deputy District Attorney Leo Mangoba told Judge Tim Kam on Jan. 30 could be documented of the theater group’s missing money.

Mangoba said he has offered Goodman 120 days in jail and the chance to repay the $10,973.50 in restitution.

BOTTG President Dan Clark has contended the theater company’s bank accounts had held about $20,000. He said he has spoken with Solano County district attorney representatives, and added, “We want a restitution hearing to prove further losses.”

In addition to the money missing from its bank accounts, the theater company has been charged $3,000 in bounced-check fees by Bank of the West, where BOTTG had several accounts. Those charges gradually are being repaid, theater publicist Dyanne Vojvoda said.

Meanwhile, BOTTG members said they were happy to get the check the same day of the opening of their latest production, “Don’t Dress for Dinner,” which started its run that night and wraps up May 9.

“It’s taken us two years to get to this point,” Vojvoda said.

Goodman made no public statement Friday and left the Vallejo courthouse as soon as Kam announced the date of the readiness conference.

Clark said the theater company learned its bank accounts had been emptied or overdrawn March 15, 2013, “the Shakespearean Ides of March.”

Members of the BOTTG board discovered the loss when they attempted to secure the rights to a play and were told they were declined because their checks had bounced and they owed for previous productions.

They notified Benicia police, which began an investigation that led detectives to suspect Goodman, the company’s treasurer since about 2010. They secured a warrant, and Goodman was arrested April 16, 2013, accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from the company’s three accounts.

The incident shocked and surprised many in the Benicia and Solano County communities because of Goodman’s standing and public activities.

He had had a banking career at Wells Fargo Bank, had been the chairperson of the Benicia Economic Development Board, was an honored and award-winning member of the South Solano County Democrats and had been heavily involved in bringing Criterium bicycle races to Benicia.

Through his first lawyer, criminal attorney Amy Morton, Goodman said Dec. 20, 2013, that he would plead no contest to the charge and begin paying back the losses. But he changed attorneys several times, starting with Dan Russo, who later cited a conflict of interest.

Russo was succeeded first by public defender Damian Spieckerman and then by Garcia. With each change, his representative asked for additional time to secure and examine evidence.

During one of the many times Kam agreed to a continuance, he said, “We need to get this case moving.”

Meanwhile, community members and performing arts enthusiasts reiterated their support of the 50-year-old theater group.

Since the discovery of the emptied bank accounts, the company’s board has instituted multiple changes, though Vojvoda said the original bookkeeping wasn’t to blame since no such incidents had occurred under previous treasurers.

“Now everything is triple checked,” she said.