Ex-Downey city employee, another man plead no contest to $60K theft from city

A former employee of the city of Downey and another man pleaded no contest Wednesday to a felony grand theft charge stemming from a scheme that prosecutors say cost the city more than $60,000.

Former city employee Alejandro “Alex” Silva, 48, was immediately sentenced to 96 hours of community service and three years probation, along with being ordered to undergo financial counseling, according to Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins.

Co-defendant Mike Shafer, 59, was ordered to perform 96 hours of community labor and serve three years on probation, the prosecutor said.

Shafer — who worked as a manager for an auto parts store — recently paid $36,740 in restitution to the city, according to Higgins, who noted that the remainder of the restitution had already been paid by the city’s insurance company and an auto parts store chain that employed him.

Silva, who was a lead worker for the city’s maintenance and facilities department, assisted Shafer in the scheme in which personal items were ordered online with a business credit card and invoices were sent to city officials by disguising the items as car parts, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The theft occurred between April 2017 and February 2018, according to the criminal complaint in which the two were charged in May.

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