Cindy Greatrex pleaded guilty on Dec. 17 to grand theft and will be required to pay restitution of $68,272 to the La Jolla Park & Recreation Board where she once served as president.
Greatrex, 52, appeared before San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh, who set sentencing for Jan. 29. The March 12 trial date was canceled.
Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said Greatrex is expected to receive up to 180 days home detention with a Global Positioning Systems monitoring device.
Darvas said Greatrex must pay restitution in full by Jan. 29. She is expected to be placed on four years probation, she added.
“If she pays restitution, she will not go to jail,” said Darvas. “She will be permitted to serve her custody in home detention with GPS.”
Greatrex currently remains free on $70,000 bond.
The prosecutor said she will ask Walsh at sentencing to bar Greatrex from serving on any type of committee that would include fiduciary responsibility on terms of probation.
Darvas tried on Oct. 29 to prohibit Greatrex from serving on any community planning boards as a condition of bond, but the judge turned down the motion.
Because Greatrex has now pleaded guilty, she can be ordered not to serve on any planning boards with financial responsibilities as a condition of probation. Greatrex testified for over five hours over two days in her preliminary hearing in November 2017.
Greatrex testified she spent her own money to pay various vendors and made checks out to herself for reimbursement. She says she paid many vendors in cash and did not have some of the receipts.
She testified she paid $40,000 of her own money to a Chicago firm for grant writing services and denied committing any theft.
She sent out an email in February 2017 in which she said her intentions were good because she was trying to get a new playground for the recreation center.
The board suspended her on March 9, 2017, and she later resigned as president.