Roseville official’s scheme to use taxpayer money on an employee’s tuition lands him in jail

A former Roseville water official was sentenced Wednesday to nearly a year in prison and two years of probation over what prosecutors say was a scheme to hire a young woman and use city money to pay for her law school tuition and other expenses.

Kenneth James Glotzbach, 55, was sentenced to 360 days in prison by Placer Superior Court Judge Eugune Gini Jr. despite arguments by Glotzbach’s defense attorney that the defendant’s 23-year career is in tatters and he has already faced public humiliation.

Defense attorney Barry Zimmerman argued that there was nothing wrong with the hiring of the woman, and that Glotzbach’s mistake was in trying to get the city to pay for her law school tuition.

“It’s not a case where a government employee siphoned off money into his pockets,” Zimmerman said. “That’s not this case.”

But Deputy District Attorney Tracy Pecoraro argued that the scheme resulted in an erosion of trust by the public and that Glotzback tried to downplay his actions even as probation officers evaluated his case.

“This goes beyond being a budgetary mistake or a clerical error,” Pecoraro said.

Glotzbach’s sentencing came after he pleaded no contest to a single count of grand theft by a public employee, Pecoraro said.

Glotzbach initially was charged in November 2021 with five felony counts of diverting public funds to personal use by paying for moving expenses and law school tuition for a woman he arranged to have hired while he was executive director of the South Placer Wastewater Authority.

He was accused in court filings of arranging to hire Marisa Tricas, a 32-year-old employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency he met at a conference, court records say. He also was accused of using his city credit card to pay her moving expenses from Washington, D.C., and had the city pay for her tuition at Lincoln Law School.

He was accused of using $173,000 in funding to pay for her position as a “principal scientist” at a consulting firm after he and two others convinced the Roseville City Council that the money was needed for a federal program at the Dry Creek Wastewater Treatment plant. Court records say that plant did not participate in the federal program.

Glotzbach eventually was tripped up when a Roseville official saw the invoices for Tricas’ law school tuition “and thought they looked odd,” court records say.

That led to a police investigation during which Glotzbach’s cellphone was seized and police discovered text messages between Tricas and Glotzbach.

“From examining the text message string in the phone there appears to be a theme that both Tricas and Glotzbach are concerned about HR starting an administrative investigation,” court records say.

“Both Tricas and Glotzbach also appear to be figuring out who is behind the HR investigation and are looking for legal advice in the matter as well.”

In one text, Tricas tells Glotzbach “he cannot trust anyone,” court records say. In another, she advises him that “you have to play a full on victim,” court records say.

The two also discussed “a public relations nightmare for the City of Roseville and the City Manager,” court records say, and Tricas suggested a possible defense.

“I may pull the discrimination card and the women (sic) card too,” she wrote, according to court records. “I’m not super sure yet.”

Zimmerman conceded that Glotzbach’s hiring of Tricas sparked rumors about their relationship, but he said Glotzbach “absolutely, categorically denied” them and said Tricas was very qualified for the job.

“This isn’t some fly-by-night person,” Zimmerman said. “She has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in environmental science.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 3:16 PM.