Humboldt is hardly an outlier. A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that one-third of the state\u2019s 77 fairs<\/a> \u2014 hallowed celebrations of the state\u2019s agrarian tradition \u2014 have been plagued by an array of problems. Workers from at least four fairs have been prosecuted in the last few years for theft, bribery or embezzlement, with more than $1 million stolen, according to a Times review of criminal court filings. State auditors have accused officials at dozens of other fairs of misspending millions more, according to a Times review. Ventura suffered a cash heist, Santa Clara a kickback scheme, and across much of California, public funds have been spent in violation of state rules<\/a>, including on prime rib steaks and fancy wines while once-proud fairgrounds crumble into disrepair. <\/p>\n A great horned owl performs for visitors during the raptor show at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Drawing on thousands of pages of court filings, audits and public records from more than three dozen counties, along with scores of interviews, The Times identified at least 25 fairs where prosecutors, state auditors or government officials have accused employees in the last decade of misusing taxpayer money, pressuring businesses for bribes or treating public resources as their own. At still more fairs, officials have been called out in government reports or lawsuits for glaring failures of good governance. <\/p>\n Collectively, the fairs bring in more than $400 million a year in revenue, and many fairgoers see them as priceless cultural events honoring California\u2018s agricultural heritage and their local communities. <\/p>\n But despite their crucial role, The Times found that the state and county leaders overseeing these fairs have often failed to step in \u2014 even when problems are glaring or have been denounced by auditors or judges. The state department of Food and Agriculture oversees 52 of the local fairs through district agricultural associations. An additional 22, plus the state fair and two citrus fairs, are in the state\u2019s \u201cnetwork of fairs,\u201d meaning they receive some state funding but are overseen by local governments and nonprofits. <\/p>\n Problems at 26 county fairs<\/p>\n At least 26 fairs around the state have been accused () of abusing public funds, management failures, theft or embezzlement, according to a Times review. In some cases fair employees have been prosecuted and convicted (). Tap or click on a location for more details.<\/p>\n Federal and state court documents, audits from the California State Auditor and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and grand jury reports<\/p>\n Graphics reporting by Jessica Garrison. Map by Lorena I\u00f1iguez Elebee and Sean Greene LOS ANGELES TIMES<\/p>\n \u201cThere needs to be more accountability,\u201d said John Moot, a San Diego lawyer who represented a carnival company that has sued both the San Diego and Orange County fairs \u2014 both of which are overseen by the state. <\/p>\n Last year that carnival company, Talley Amusements, was paid $500,000 by the San Diego County Fair to settle a lawsuit <\/a>that alleged fair officials had engaged in bid-rigging when they went to hand out a multimillion-dollar contract to run rides and games on the midway. A San Diego County judge wrote that the evidence he reviewed \u201csupports an inference of \u2018favoritism,\u2019 fraud<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018corruption\u2019 as to the award of public contracts, although no such definitive findings are made herein.\u201d <\/p>\n Local newspapers called on the state to do something<\/a>. When asked about the case, California officials said only that they continue \u201cto review the circumstances of this case to determine whether further guidance or compliance measures are warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n State officials also took a tolerant stance toward problems that the California state auditor uncovered. In 2019, an audit found<\/a> that top officials at the Kern County Fair and in the state had allowed \u201cgross mismanagement to continue unchecked for years.\u201d The audit revealed as well that the Kern district agricultural association\u2019s board of directors, appointed by the governor, had feasted on lobster dinners and fine wines paid by fair funds but failed to provide effective oversight. Kern fair officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment. <\/p>\n County leaders and local nonprofits have not always been better stewards. Some have failed to notice or take action as fair officials stole money or allowed fairgrounds to fall into debt or disrepair \u2014 even when grand juries warned there were problems. <\/p>\n \u201cNot surprised,\u201d said David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University who is well-versed in local fairs. \u201cThere are generations of farmers and generations of networks of neighbors, friends and family members [who run these fairs]. They help each other. How business is done is insular. It\u2019s not open or transparent.\u201d At the same time, he said, \u201cfairs are big money.\u201d Put all those things together, he said, and the conditions are ripe for mismanagement and corruption.<\/p>\n Although many county fairs operate without incident, scandals sometimes erupt from the most mundane of matters. <\/p>\n Last year, Shasta County agreed to pay $300,000<\/a> to settle a lawsuit brought by a 9-year-old girl and her family after sheriff\u2019s deputies seized her goat. The girl had raised the goat, a floppy eared brown and white guy known as Cedar, as part of the fair\u2019s agricultural program, then changed her mind about watching a beloved animal turn into meat. But fair officials refused to allow her to back out; instead the county dispatched deputies across Northern California in pursuit of the animal, which was eventually butchered. <\/p>\n In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom said \u201cthe state recognizes the challenges facing some of California\u2019s fairgrounds and takes concerns about governance and accountability very seriously.\u201d <\/p>\n In a separate statement, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said that \u201cthe difficulties uncovered at some fairs\u201d should not overshadow their larger contributions. \u201cThese institutions serve as vital community hubs that play a key role in emergency response, as they support local economies.\u201d<\/p>\n Fairgrounds are becoming increasingly important in the state\u2019s disaster planning. During many of California\u2019s recent wildfires, local fairgrounds have served as staging areas for firefighters and other emergency responders. Displaced animals find refuge there. They\u2019ve also served as crucial evacuation centers \u2014 about 600 people<\/a>, for example, lived at the Butte County fairgrounds in Chico for months after the 2018 Camp fire. Fairgrounds have become so essential to disaster response that the state has recently awarded tens of millions of dollars<\/a> to upgrade facilities such as showers and kitchens that could be used for evacuees. <\/p>\n Yet in many counties, fairgrounds are in a state of disrepair. The Times identified more than a dozen that are plagued by leaky roofs, corroded and unsafe electrical systems, faulty plumbing, dangerously dilapidated grandstands and other unsafe conditions. This is partly because of mismanagement, but also because state funding for fairs has declined in recent years. Fair finances have also been hard hit by the declining popularity of horse racing.<\/p>\n \u201cI think back to how full the fair used to be,\u201d said Jeannie Fulton, gesturing to Humboldt\u2019s half-empty fairgrounds during the August celebration. <\/p>\n \u201cCounty fairs are still really valuable, but they are mismanaged in a lot of ways. We all see the grounds just deteriorating,\u201d added Fulton, who runs the Humboldt County Farm Bureau. \u201cThey need to be run better.\u201d<\/p>\n Mindy Romero, director of USC\u2019s Center for Inclusive Democracy, said fair management may not be the most pressing issue facing state leaders but \u201cthere should be some accountability \u2026 these people are in charge of large amounts of money, and public trust and public resources.\u201d<\/p>\n A judge, left, tries to decide which Boer goat has the best qualities and features during the Boer goat competition with 4-H club members, right, at the Humboldt County Fair.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n County fairs are \u201csupposed to be a place where everybody can come together, family and friends and you bring the kids \u2026 it\u2019s these rituals and communities that we really need to take care of. If a community hears that their local fair is stealing it can make [people] even more distrustful of government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u2018Capricious abuse of power\u2019<\/p>\n California\u2019s first fair was held in 1854<\/a>, in what is now downtown San Francisco. It was so popular that the idea quickly spread, to Humboldt County in 1861, to San Diego in 1880 and to Orange County in 1890. (Los Angeles didn\u2019t get in on the tradition until 1922.)<\/p>\n In 1887, the state Legislature, anxious to harness and regulate the explosion of fairs, created district agricultural associations, mini state agencies that manage the fairgrounds in each county and are run by boards appointed by the governor.<\/p>\n California is a dramatically different place than it was in 1887, but the governance structure of fairs largely remains. The 52 district agricultural associations each put on a fair, guided by boards appointed by the governor. <\/p>\n The 25 other fairs in the state\u2019s network of fairs follow a similar program. The goal is for fairs to pay for themselves through admission prices, contracts with vendors and other sources of revenue, but they also receive state funding. District agricultural associations get about $2.6 million a year from the state\u2019s general fund; an additional $5 million from sales tax revenue at the fairs is handed out each year to all 77 fairs in the network. <\/p>\n Each of the fairs strives to reflect its particular community. In Nevada County, the rides and food vendors set up beneath towering pine trees, and a central attraction this year was a model-train exhibit showcasing the historic derailment of circus cars. The Los Angeles County Fair, one of the state\u2019s biggest, is known for its preposterous combination of junk food: deep-fried Oreos and pickles; corn wrapped in Cheetos; chicken sandwiches with funnel cake buns. The Calaveras County Fair features a frog-jumping contest, a nod to Mark Twain\u2019s famous short story.<\/p>\n In small rural counties, said Jeff Griffiths, an Inyo County supervisor who is president of the California State Assn. of Counties, the fairgrounds serve as a \u201csocial and cultural hub\u201d for the community all year. <\/p>\n \u201cThey are our event space,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have SoFi Stadium. Concerts, car shows, dances, on and on, they all happen at the fairgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n Lavish expenditures have for decades been part of the mix. A 1986 state audit <\/a>blasted the entire fair system, detailing state funds spent on parties, meals and expensive custom belt buckles, along with other misuses of state funds. These include improper contracting \u2014 a problem that continues to plague many fairs. <\/p>\n Five years ago, Ventura Flores was pleased when the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds hired his firm \u2014 4 Diamond Security \u2014 to provide security as public health officials ramped up a massive COVID-19 testing and eventually vaccination operation at the fairgrounds. It was the middle of the pandemic, and 4 Diamond had little other work.<\/p>\n A performer with Animal Cracker Conspiracy high-fives Ryder Lang, 7, next to his friend Abigail Fielding, 6, both from San Jos\u00e9, after entering the Santa Clara County Fair in San Jos\u00e9.<\/p>\n (Nhat V. Meyer \/ Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n When he got the job, however, the fair\u2019s event\u2019s director, Obdulia Banuelos-Esparza, informed Flores that he would have to slip her cash in secret if he wanted to keep his contract, according to a statement of probable cause<\/a> produced by the Santa Clara County District Attorney\u2019s office. <\/p>\n After he refused, Flores said, Banuelos-Esparza began to complain about the work his guards were doing, accusing them of shirking their duties and sleeping on the job. Flores said he doubted the accusations but also feared he would lose the job if he didn\u2019t pay, according to the statement of probable cause. <\/p>\n Flores, who did not respond to emails and calls from The Times, told investigators that he began giving Banuelos-Esparza between $2,500 and $4,000 a month, continuing for more than a year until sometime in the fall of 2021, when he said he stopped paying her. Then fair officials, who had told him they would be renewing 4 Diamond\u2019s contract for another six months, instead terminated it, according to the statement of probable cause.<\/p>\n The Santa Clara County district attorney began investigating the scheme in 2023, following a whistleblower complaint. In 2024, after reviewing Banuelos\u2019 bank records, the district attorney charged her with extortion and bribery, issuing a statement that the fairgrounds should be \u201cwhere our community goes for fairs, festivals, and fun. Not felonies.\u201d <\/p>\n Banuelos pleaded no contest to commercial bribery this summer, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County district attorney<\/a>, and will pay restitution<\/a> and serve felony probation, but avoided jail time. Reached by phone, she declined to comment.<\/p>\n There had long been warning signs: A 2019 Santa Clara County grand jury report <\/a>uncovered \u201cfinancial reports lacking in accuracy and transparency, violations of local bingo regulations, questionable tax reporting practices\u201d and other problems. The grand jury also called out \u201ca relaxed level of scrutiny and oversight\u201d by the county. <\/p>\n After Banuelos\u2019 conviction, the district attorney released another statement, declaring the midway now \u201cfree of corruption.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cRide the Ferris wheel, see the farm animals, eat the food and have fun knowing our fair is safe,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Santa Clara\u2019s fair is not the only one that has strayed from accepted contracting rules. State audits in recent years have called out more than a dozen fairs, including those in Santa Barbara<\/a> and Turlock, <\/a>for violating state policies by handing out money without signed agreements or competitive bidding. <\/p>\n In Fresno, officials required some vendors doing business with the Big Fresno Fair to also make donations to a foundation associated with the fair, according to a 2022 state audit. The foundation then purchased more than $21,000 in gift cards that it gifted to fair employees, along with more than $68,000, according to the audit<\/a>. <\/p>\n In a statement, fair officials said that the fair and its board of directors \u201ctook the findings of the audit very seriously\u201d and made corrective actions that satisfied the state. The statement added that the fair plays a vital role in the community: in addition to the fair itself, the fairgrounds host 250 events each year and are used during fires and other emergencies. <\/p>\n In San Diego, after Talley Amusements filed its 2022 lawsuit alleging bid-rigging, several fair officials testified in sworn depositions that Talley had actually won the bid, but that a top fair official had pressured them to change the scores to award the contract to a different company. One fair official also testified that she had shredded the original scoring documents. <\/p>\n Fair officials, however, admitted no wrongdoing, with a spokesperson in 2023 calling the allegations of bid-rigging \u201chogwash.\u201d In a counterclaim filed in San Diego Superior Court, the fair accused Talley of submitting \u201ca sham bid\u201d that might have compromised public safety. In a statement, fair officials said that they agreed to settle the suit only because it was cheaper to do so than litigating it in court.<\/p>\n An \u2018inside job\u2019 safe heist<\/p>\n Every year, local fairs in California handle millions of dollars in cash \u2014 sometimes without the most basic of safeguards.<\/p>\n In the summer of 2022, a man working at the Ventura County Fair gave some accomplices a hot tip: A safe in the fair\u2019s office was packed with more than half a million dollars in cash. <\/p>\n Alexander Piceno, who worked at the Ventura County Fair, was arrested and charged and pleaded guilty \u2014 along with three burglars \u2014 to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n (Ventura County District Attorney\u2019s office)<\/p>\n On the night of Aug. 10, Alexander Piceno, 30, who worked for a company processing cash for the fair, left the front door to the state\u2019s 31st District Agricultural Assn. unlocked. He also left instructions on how to open the office safe, according to prosecutors. Two burglars walked in, loaded up $572,000 in paper bills (which weighed upward of 50 pounds), and jumped in a car headed back to Los Angeles. <\/p>\n Police quickly realized they were dealing with an inside job, and four conspirators including Piceno were later arrested and charged, and pleaded guilty to felonies, according to the district attorney<\/a>. Most of the money, however, was never recovered; prosecutors said they seized $6,100 and a used pickup truck purchased with proceeds from the crime. <\/p>\n The Times, reviewing state audits, grand jury reports, lawsuits and criminal filings, found allegations of theft or inappropriate use of public resources at more than a dozen fairs, including those in San Joaquin<\/a>, Monterey,<\/a> Yolo<\/a>, Inyo, Fresno and Tulare counties. <\/p>\n In Orange County, according to a 2018 state audit, officials at the 32nd District Agricultural Assn. caught an employee embezzling more than $9,000 <\/a>in ticket sales but failed to report the crime to the state as required. The audit also noted that fair officials had spent more than $220,000<\/a> on catering without explaining a clear business purpose. In a statement, fair officials said that \u201cissues cited\u201d in the audit \u201chave been addressed\u201d and \u201cnew policies are in place regarding meals.\u201d The statement added that all audits since have been \u201cfree of any issues.\u201d <\/p>\n September 2022 photo of fairgoers on the opening day of the Tulare County Fair.<\/p>\n (Ari Plachta \/ Sacramento Bee)<\/p>\n In several cases, including in Stanislaus County, public money went for fancy meals<\/a> for the board members who are supposed to be watching over the fair\u2019s operations. State audits sometime read like restaurant menus, with references to prime rib, salmon, ribeye steak and fine wine. It is one of many perks board members enjoy, which also often include free tickets for themselves and friends to concerts, dinners and the fair itself. <\/p>\n State auditors also found plenty of gifts to staff, including bowling nights<\/a> and credit card charges (with and without required receipts) for flowers, gift cards and even clothes. <\/p>\n One employee at the Stanislaus fair spent thousands of dollars on clothes, which he told state auditors he bought for himself and members of the maintenance staff to wear during fair events. But the audit also found that other members of the maintenance staff members \u201cdo not recall receiving these items.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n \u2018The fair got off scot-free\u2019 September 2017 photo of turkeys competing in a race during the annual Kern County Fair in Bakersfield.<\/p>\n (Mark Ralston \/ AFP \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n In Kern County, the state\u2019s 15th Agricultural Assn. has put on a fair every year since 1916, except for two years during the Great Depression and in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Held in Bakersfield, in the heart of California\u2019s farm belt, the fair has an operating budget of about $10 million and welcomes around 350,000 people each year, according to officials.<\/p>\n To pull it off, the fair has a permanent staff of about 20, and hires about 500 temporary employees during the season. But investigators from the state auditor\u2019s office found that some of these workers appeared far from wholly committed to their fair duties.<\/p>\n In a 2019 audit,<\/a> investigators found that several employees maintained second jobs \u2014 which they performed not in their spare time, but while clocked into their posts at the fair. \u201cSeveral witnesses told us that Employee A and the other employees left work for almost the entire day nearly every day for weeks or even months at a time,\u201d the audit said. <\/p>\n The fair\u2019s board of directors and chief executive had their own issues, auditors found, among them a taste for expensive dinners and bottles of fine Cabernet, paid for with fair credit cards despite rules against it. In addition, auditors found that at least one of the dinners, which included six board members gabbing together across a table, may have violated the state\u2019s open meeting law that forbids a quorum of a governing body without public notice. Over a three-year period, the audit found, the Kern County fair \u201cspent $132,584 on credit card purchases for which [it] had no supporting receipts.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n Auditors reserved some of their harshest criticisms for the lack of oversight by state officials that they said had allowed all of these \u201cimproper governmental activities.\u201d<\/p>\n The audit reported that the department\u2019s Fairs and Expositions branch did not conduct a single compliance audit of the more than 50 fairs under its purview from 2011 to 2017.<\/p>\n The audit generated a series of outraged headlines<\/a> in newspapers around the state, many of them focused on the fine food and wine that board members and the CEO, Michael Olcott, had feasted upon. Olcott did not respond to repeated requests for comment. <\/p>\n The audit\u2019s release did not bring about many substantive changes in the leadership at the Kern County Fair. Six years later, the CEO remains in his post, as do most of the board members who oversaw the fair back then. In a statement, state officials said they \u201cworked with the fair\u2019s leadership to implement corrective measures, including stronger financial controls, enhanced segregation of duties, and updated board and staff training on state contracting and accounting policies.\u201d Officials also said they continue to \u201cmonitor the fair\u2019s progress through periodic reviews and ongoing technical assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n After the audit, the Kern County district attorney opened a case <\/a>against the fair\u2019s maintenance supervisor, accusing him of recycling scrap metal from the fair and pocketing the proceeds. The case is set to go to trial next year. The maintenance supervisor, Joe Hebert, maintains his innocence. He said that he is being scapegoated.<\/p>\n \u201cRecycling scrap metal was part of my job and I had permission to do it,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cI could walk away and plead to a misdemeanor and I\u2019m not going to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mark Salvaggio, a former Bakersfield City Council member who served on the Kern County fair board for several years ending in 2014, said he was outraged at the outcome of the audit. \u201cThe fair got off scot-free,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n After the state auditor released its Kern County report, the California Department of Food and Agriculture threw its own auditing team into high gear. The division has released more than 15 audits since 2020 \u2014 after years of doing few or none.<\/p>\n A series of blistering reports have been issued, followed in some cases by radical changes in personnel. <\/p>\n In a statement, officials said they are \u201ccommitted to ensuring transparency and accountability at California\u2019s fairs.\u201d Officials noted that audits check for compliance with state policies, and that the oversight program has been reestablished after being \u201cdrastically reduced\u201d because of funding cuts during the Great Recession. <\/p>\n But some local officials say the audits, although they may be exposing examples of misspending, sometimes unfairly tarnish fair officials who often struggle to run vital community events with little training in government accounting and contracting rules. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very unique business that isn\u2019t found anywhere else in state government,\u201d said Corey Oakley, the CEO of the Napa Valley Expo. \u201cWe have live animals, corn dogs, flowers, drag queens, horse racing, tractors, destruction Derby …\u201d <\/p>\n Griffiths of the California Assn. of Counties said he thinks the state should either fully fund fairs and \u201cmake them viable, or they should turn them over to local communities so we can run them.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey have to follow state requirements, but there is none of the benefit of state funding that comes with that,\u201d he said. Meanwhile, he added, \u201cthe deferred maintenance on these things is outrageous. They\u2019re falling apart.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2018I pray we can keep this alive\u2019 Bella Gantt uses her feet as she performs her blindfolded archery show for visitors at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale. Gantt is the only person in the world who performs a blindfolded archery show using her feet. <\/p>\n (Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n In Humboldt, where the fair is in the state\u2019s network of fairs but not directly overseen by the state, Fair Board President Andy Titus said he is desperate to make sure his local fair survives. His is the oldest continuously operating festival in the state but is reeling from the double blow of embezzlement and the loss of horse racing. The fairgrounds are also in tough shape; in 2023 the fair had to perform emergency repairs to make its grandstands safe enough for people to sit in them. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve loved this fair since I was a little kid,\u201d said Titus, a local dairy farmer who said he grew up showing animals at the fair and now helps his children do the same. \u201cI pray we can keep this alive.\u201d <\/p>\n The fairgrounds sprawl across a flat coastal plain near the Victorian-era town of Ferndale. A few miles away, the cliffs of California\u2019s Lost Coast rise up and white-capped waves pound into miles of empty beach. In a county with more trees than people, many residents say their yearly visits to the fair help them gather as a community in a part of California known for its isolation. <\/p>\n Nina Tafarella stole more than $430,000 from the Humboldt County Fair, according to a federal criminal complaint, and has pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges.<\/p>\n (Humboldt County Sheriff )<\/p>\n But the beloved fair has not been well-run for some time, according to federal district court records in San Francisco. At the beginning of 2021, it was in \u201ctotal chaos,\u201d<\/a> as one manager would describe to an FBI agent.<\/p>\n The organization was 15 years behind on auditing its books, and the state was threatening to cut off its funding<\/a>. The fair also lacked a bookkeeper, a secretary and other assistance. Even the office itself was in disarray, with \u201capproximately a year worth of backlogged mail and files on the floor,\u201d an interim manager would later tell the FBI, according to an agent\u2019s report of his interview with her<\/a> filed in federal court.<\/p>\n The manager turned to Craigslist for a bookkeeper who could help make sense of the disorder, and found Nina Tafarella.<\/p>\n At this point in her life, Tafarella was recovering from an addiction to prescription painkillers, was drinking heavily and was in a state of stress and occasional seeming mania, according to a sentencing memo her attorney<\/a> filed in federal court. She was also deep in the grips of a compulsive gambling problem<\/a>, which got so bad that she started lying to her friends about how much time she was spending at casinos.<\/p>\n But she was cheerful and helpful and she was charging only about $35 to $40 an hour for her time, far less than a certified public accountant might have cost the fair. She was hired. <\/p>\n Fair officials did not check her references<\/a>. If they had done a thorough background check, they might have learned that Tafarella had been accused of embezzling money from two previous businesses in Southern California where she worked as a bookkeeper. She had been fired, according to an account her own attorney filed in federal court, but the police and local district attorney had declined to file charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tafarella was a friendly face in the office, bringing in coffee some days. But she also had some quirks: Her co-workers noticed that she did not reliably show up for work and she was \u201cfrequently observed at the casino\u201d up the road from the fair office, according to an account her lawyer filed in federal court.<\/a> <\/p>\n She was also using the fair\u2019s financial software for her own gain. She created fake employee names \u2014 very similar to actual employees but often with the addition of the middle initial \u201cJ\u201d<\/a> \u2014 and began cutting huge checks to these fictional people, with the funds going right into accounts she controlled.<\/p>\n It all came crashing down at a nearby dance studio. Tafarella had also worked there and had stolen a little more than $20,000. But unlike the fair, the owner of the studio noticed and filed a police report.<\/p>\n After learning of that on Nov. 8, 2022, the fair called in an outside financial expert, who took a quick look at the books and discovered the ghost payroll scheme. Fair officials shut down Tafarella\u2019s access to their bank accounts and by Nov. 15, when Tafarella was next due at work, an FBI agent was at the fair offices. <\/p>\n She did not show up. A short time later, a fair board member went up to the local Bear River Casino and found Tafarella at the gaming tables, according to a report from an FBI agent filed in federal court<\/a>. <\/p>\n She was arrested and later pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody was shocked,\u201d Titus said. \u201cShe was always very friendly when you saw her.\u201d<\/p>\n In filings to the judge overseeing her sentencing, Tafarella said she has now stopped drinking and gambling and that it \u201cmakes me sick\u201d to think about what she has done. Still, in asking for a reduced sentence, her lawyer also argued that if the fair had been better run, it might have been able to protect itself from Tafarella\u2019s schemes. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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