Ex-jail lieutenant once charged with embezzlement back behind bars
recordonline.com | 10/7/08 | Staff Writer
A former Orange County Jail lieutenant who 10 years ago siphoned $130,000 from jail accounts and served time in prison is again behind bars.
William J. Stenson Jr. surrendered himself to authorities Tuesday morning after learning there was an outstanding warrant
for failing to pay $90,000 in restitution.
Stenson, who lives in Mexico, appeared before Orange County Judge Jeffrey Berry, who set bail at $90,000 cash or
$350,000 bond.
As he was being handcuffed and led out of the courtroom, Stenson turned to his lawyer, Brandon Ozman, and asked: “Will
you call my wife?”
In 1998, Stenson was a lieutenant at the Orange County Jail in charge of bail and inmate accounts.
The 15-year Sheriff’s Office veteran vanished Feb. 25, 1998, as questions swirled about his handling of a bail account.
Investigators patched together a paper trail of deceptive bookkeeping practices and Stenson was indicted on grand larceny
charges for stealing $130,000.
Stenson hid out in Mexico and remained on the lam for two years before turning himself into the FBI in Laredo, Texas. His
disappearance and indictment was one of a series of embarrassing incidents and scandals to rock the administration of
then-Sheriff H. Frank Bigger.
Stenson, now 66, was sentenced to two to 10 years in state prison. He was paroled in January 2004.
Ozman told Berry that his client had been stopped by the Department of Homeland Security twice, once in Houston and
once in Newark, and was never told that there was an outstanding warrant.
He still has friends in the courthouse and got a call that there was a warrant for his arrest, Ozman said.