Former Yolo County Tourism Official Accused Of Embezzlement
YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) — He's paid to attract tourists, only his work is getting the attention of criminal investigators.
Former Visit Yolo Executive Director Alan Humason has had detectives descending on his personal finances, with their case leading to a felony embezzlement charge.
Court documents show allegations of stealing spanned six years, from 2011 to 2017.
In that time police say they followed the money and discovered evidence Humason stole $50,000 from the small tourism nonprofit Visit Yolo, which is run out of a downtown Davis office.
The investigation only started when Humason left Visit Yolo last year.
"A lot of times the person that perpetrates these is entrusted with a lot of discretion," Davis Police Lt. Paul Doroshov said. "I think it's the trust. I think that makes it tough to catch on to it."
According to The Davis Enterprise, Humason used the missing Visit Yolo money for personal expenses including his own mortgage payments.
A woman who said she was his ex-wife told CBS13 Humason moved out of their Davis home a year ago when they divorced. She said Humason now lives in Fort Bragg, where he is on leave from his new job with Visit Mendocino.
Visit Yolo uses hotel tax dollars to fund its $700,000 a year budget. This year the tourism governing board voted to cancel the Taste of Yolo festival.
Board President Reed Youmans issued a statement last month reading: "recently, several financial irregularities were identified. Visit Yolo promptly reported these irregularities to authorities. Visit Yolo also immediately took proactive steps to identify the scope of these irregularities..."
Humason did not respond to requests for a comment. He is set to appear before a judge on Feb. 21.