A 28-year veteran officer of the Santa Rosa Junior College police was arrested early Nov. 28 on suspicion of grand theft and embezzlement, according to several news sources.
Jeff Holzworth, 51, was arrested after his shift early Wednesday, after a three-week investigation by Santa Rosa police. SRPD served a search warrant for Holzworth’s home, workspace, personal and work vehicles and found several thousand dollars. It is unknown how much Holzworth is suspected of embezzling from the department.
An employee tipped SRJC District Police Chief Matthew McCaffrey about ongoing embezzlement by a junior college officer Nov. 1. McCaffrey then called Santa Rosa police and asked them to handle the case.
According to the SRJC Insider Newsletter, Holzworth was the May 2005 employee of the month and a committed member of the college community and Sonoma County law enforcement. Holzworth had identified in the newsletter that his greatest accomplishment at SRJC was keeping all the permit machines and parking meters working at all times.
“I collect the money and maintain them to keep them up and running so we don’t lose revenue,” Holzworth said in the newsletter.
Holzworth has been in charge of maintaining the parking permit machines and meters for at least a decade. He collected all of the money from the pay stations and deposited it with the accounting department.
Ventek International supplies the SRJC campus with the System VI model parking machines. Based in Petaluma, Ventek International also offers VenVue, software designed to track revenues from each installed machine in real-time.
It is unknown whether Holzworth printed out revenue logs from the pay stations, managed the machines from a central location or tampered with them.
A representative from Ventek declined to comment on the case, saying, “We neither confirm nor refute the possibility of a system flaw in our machines.”
The news of Holzworth’s arrest broke Thursday and several details about the case are still undisclosed. SRJC President Dr. Frank Chong commented briefly on the situation.
“We are all saddened and disappointed with the news of officer Holzworth. He was a trusted, well-liked and long-time employee. It’s too early to determine the financial damage behind the accusations though,” Chong said.
Chong said the SRJC police are in charge of the parking meter money and responsible for delivering it to the accounting office. “However, it seems officer Holzworth was not following protocol,” Chong said.
Holzworth was booked under a $150,000 bail and will be arraigned Monday, Dec. 3 in a Sonoma County Superior Court. SRJC has since placed Holzworth on administrative leave.
