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Identity theft charge against county retirement association employee

Some 37,000 members of the Kern County Employees Retirement Association are getting letters warning of a possible fraud alert in the wake of a former employee pleading no contest to a felony identity theft charge, officials said Monday.
Catherine MIchelle Contreras, 41, admitted the theft of more than $4,500 and faces up to a year in jail as a condition of felony probation, according to reports in Kern County Superior Court.
A Bakersfield police report says Contreras assumed the identity of an association member and opened up an on-line debit card.
She was arrested in February, pleaded no contest to identity theft in March and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29, court records say. The sentencing was delayed to give her more time to pay restitution and to take care of a medical problem, the records say.
Association Executive Director Anne Holdren told news reporters she believed what Contreras did was an isolated incident, but the warning letter was sent as a precaution to association members.
 

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