People v. Mercado CA4/1

Filed 2/28/23 P. v. Mercado CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D080238

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. JCF004227)

JOSUE GUADALUPE MERCADO,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Imperial County, Poli Flores, Jr., Judge. Affirmed. Ava R. Stralla, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. Swenson and Heather M. Clark, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Josue Guadalupe Mercado, the former Auditor-Controller of Imperial County, appeals the judgment convicting him of misappropriating public

moneys for stopping the garnishment of his salary to pay spousal support. He contends the moneys were never “public” because he prevented them from going into a trust account in which moneys deducted from County employee paychecks are temporarily held until paid to third parties. We disagree and affirm. I. BACKGROUND A. The Misappropriation Mercado was elected Auditor-Controller of Imperial County in 2018 and

took office in January 2019.1 The Auditor-Controller is the chief accounting officer of the County and manages its fiscal affairs, including payroll, payment of other bills, adjustment of taxes, preparation of budgets, and conduct of audits. (See Gov. Code, §§ 26881-26883.) The Auditor-Controller is paid a salary established by the County Board of Supervisors. (Gov. Code, § 26886; Imperial County Mun. Code, § 2.28.030.) In March 2019, Annette Hughes, the payroll coordinator for the County, received a court order directing garnishment of a portion of Mercado’s salary for payment of spousal support. When Hughes notified Mercado of the order, he told her he wanted to delay its implementation and the Auditor-Controller’s office had the authority to do so. Hughes responded she could not delay garnishment “[b]ecause it’s against the law” and “we have a court order.” Hughes began deducting spousal support from Mercado’s biweekly paychecks on April 2, 2019.