Lisa Serna-Mayorga ap- pears to be the only criminal tar- get of the credit card probe.

0 comments | Print

Second ex-aide in Sacramento City Hall credit card scandal won't face charges

Published: Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Last Modified: Thursday, Apr. 18, 2013 - 7:45 pm

A day after filing criminal charges against a former aide to Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday it will not charge a second former aide caught up in an investigation of city credit card use.

Credit card charges by Keith Hart, who was the chief service officer in the mayor's office, drew the attention of police investigators earlier this year when they were examining the credit charges of Lisa Serna-Mayorga, who was arrested Tuesday.

The police forwarded the results of their investigation to the District Attorney's Office, which made the decision Tuesday not to file charges against Hart, Assistant District Attorney Albert Locher said.

That would appear to leave Serna-Mayorga as the only criminal target of the probe. According to city Auditor Jorge Oseguera, police reviewed five years of credit card charges by city employees, and Serna-Mayorga and Hart were the only ones to have made charges that were potentially criminal.

Hart made three charges that raised questions. Each instance "appeared to be an accidental or mistaken use of the city card for a personal expense," according to a case disposition notice signed by Michael Blazina, supervising deputy district attorney. "For each (charge), immediately upon realizing he had made an inappropriate purchase, Hart acknowledged his conduct and timely reimbursed the city for the amount."

The charges in question were $80 to Geico Insurance, $142 to the Grand Ballroom on J Street and $92 for a tuxedo rental from Men's Wearhouse.

Hart told investigators he mistakenly used his city credit card for the insurance and ballroom charges because it looked like one of his personal cards, according to the disposition notice.

He knowingly rented the tuxedo with the city card because he needed it for an event representing the mayor, according to the notice. But he paid the city back when he was told it wasn't appropriate to charge the city.

The indictment against Serna-Mayorga alleges that from July 2009 to June 2012, she used a city credit card for personal items totaling more than $19,000, including trips to Disneyland, hotel charges in Bodega Bay and Monterey, makeup, grocery bills and numerous iTunes items.

She was freed from jail late Tuesday and is scheduled for arraignment in Sacramento Superior Court on Dec. 26.

Serna-Mayorga is the daughter of the late Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr. and the sister of Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna.

She is being represented by Linda Parisi, one of the region's highest-profile criminal defense attorneys. Parisi did not return messages Wednesday seeking comment on the charges against Serna-Mayorga.

Oseguera, the city auditor, said attention on Serna-Mayorga's case has likely had at least one benefit.

"One thing that's guaranteed is that this level of exposure provides some insurance that people won't do this sort of thing in the future," he said.

Oseguera completed an audit of city credit card use earlier this year and made a number of recommendations, including improving the process for approval of charges.

He said the city appears to have followed through on his recommendation for approvals but he won't be sure until he completes a report next month.

Oseguera said the city manager's office also has cut back the number of city-issued cards from 300 to somewhere in the low 200s following his finding that too many employees had cards.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Read more articles by Brad Branan



About Comments

Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com

Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)

Here are some rules of the road:

• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.

• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.

• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.

• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.

• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.

• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.

• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.

• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.

You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.

hide comments
Sacramento Bee Job listing powered by Careerbuilder.com
Quick Job Search
Buy
Used Cars
Dealer and private-party ads
Make:

Model:

Price Range:
to
Search within:
miles of ZIP

Advanced Search | 1982 & Older



Find 'n' Save Daily DealGet the Deal!

Local Deals