Sacramento State assistant professor Jose LorenzoChavez pleaded guilty last month to embezzlement ofproperty when he worked at Riverside CommunityCollege, according to Riverside, Calif., courtrecords.

Chavez took a plea bargain on one of the two felonycounts for which he was accused, said David L. Wagner,vice president for Human Resources at Sac State.

“A plea bargain to a felony is the same as aconviction in the eyes of the law,” Wagner said.

The consequence Chavez may face range from a letter topossible suspension to termination, said FrankWhitlatch, associate vice president of Public Affairs.

“What we have so far is newspaper articles. We need toget all the documents,” Whitlatch said in a phoneinterview.

Chavez was arrested in 2001 and was hired by Sac Statein 2002. He is employed in the EducationalAdministration and Policy Studies Department.

“We knew fairly early on in his employment that he hadbeen accused of a couple of different felonies, but atthat time there was no conviction,” Wagner said.

Because Chavez had not been convicted, Sac State couldnot use his being arrested as basis fordisqualification, Wagner said.

Whitlatch said the university does not conductbackground checks on current or potential faculty, butthat people are asked to indicate whether or notthey’ve been convicted of a felony during theapplication process.

Wagner explained that provisions in the stateeducation code talk about suspension, demotion orterminating employment on the basis of “moralturpitude.” He added that the university will examinethe information and weigh it against the standards setin the code.

He said he anticipates that this will cause alarm within theSacramento community.

Chavez declined to comment on the incident anddirected State Hornet staff to his attorney, JeffreyVan Wagenen, who was unavailable for comment as ofTuesday morning.

The embezzled property included camera and computerequipment and furniture, which he used and gave awayto family members, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The Bee reported that Chavez was sentenced to 270 daysof house arrest and anger management classes.

Riverside court records showed that Chavez was alsoaccused of criminal threats and stalking in 2002.

According to the Bee, those charges were dropped.

Lauren King can be reached at [email protected]