Pasadena Will Pay $276,341 to Two Department Directors Fired Shortly After Embezzlement Scheme Revealed

The City of Pasadena owes $276,341.18 to two city department directors who were terminated by City Manager Michael Beck “without cause” within weeks of the discovery of a $6.4 million embezzlement fraud that rocked City Hall.

Andrew Green, former Director of Finance, is owed $105,840.93 gross severance and Siobhan Foster, former Director of Public Works, is owed $109,425.39, city spokesperson William Boyer said in an email Wednesday morning.

Severance included six months of salary and six months of COBRA medical premiums, Boyer noted.  Medical was based on the plan the individual was enrolled in at time of separation. Gross severance payments (before taxes) were:

In addition, there was a final paycheck for the pay cycle during which the pair were terminateds that included hours worked, auto/phone allowance and cash-outs for vacation, management time off and floating holiday hours.

The gross payments for final paychecks were an additional $27,876.65 for Andrew Green and $33,198.21 for Siobhan Foster.

The terminations of Green and Foster seemed related to the fact that the embezzlement scheme raided a Public Works Department fund which both that department and the Finance Department should have closely monitored for irregularities. However in both verbal remarks and in a letter to city employees describing the firings from City Manager Michael J. Beck no reference was made to the scandal.

Three were arrested for the embezzlement scheme, which went undetected for over a decade. Danny Ray Wooten, 51, and Melody Jenkins, 46,  face 60 felony counts of fraud, embezzlement and other charges. Also arrested in the case was Tyrone Collins, 55.