Judge says no to plea without jail for thief.

Byline: BILL BISHOP The Register-Guard

The former CEO for the Eugene Water & Electric Board Employees Federal Credit Union pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree theft for embezzling $39,000 over an 11-month period beginning in August 2000.

Jeffrey Lynn Saks, 50, also was scheduled to be sentenced on the felony charge, but his hearing ended abruptly when Lane County Circuit Judge Gregory Foote said he wouldn't accept Saks' plea deal because it didn't include a jail sentence.

Saks will be sentenced by a different judge on Oct. 1.

After hearing Deputy District Attorney Debra Vogt's account of the crime and comments from Roberta Nelson, vice president for operations, on how the crime affected the credit union, Foote told Saks and lawyers for both sides that he wouldn't go along with their plea deal.

Foote said he routinely sends thieves to jail and couldn't make an exception for Saks.

The law allows judges some discretion in deciding whether to follow a plea bargain agreement. In cases where no judge has promised to follow a plea bargain, the judge hearing the case can impose a different sentence or - as Foote did - allow either side to ask for another judge to handle the case.

Under the deal arranged by Vogt and Saks' lawyer, William Ray, Saks will get two years on probation, 120 hours of community service and be ordered to repay $8,471 that was not covered by his bonding agency.

"He worked for them. They trusted him. He betrayed that trust," Vogt said.

In addition to the embezzlement, Nelson said, Saks also arranged for loans to a roommate that went bad and produced a financial loss after real estate and vehicles were repossessed and sold.

While Saks "did some good things" for the 2,600-member credit union in the 17 years he worked there, the embezzlement was devastating to the organization's morale and the auditing work needed to set the books straight was costly, Nelson said.

"He also hurt the credit union movement," she said, noting that Saks served as president of the Credit Union Association of Oregon at the time he was stealing money from the EWEB credit union.

A routine audit detected irregularities that led to a more detailed examination, which turned up the embezzlement, Nelson said.

Saks made no statement in court Monday.

After the hearing, Vogt said that if Saks were sentenced to jail, he likely would be released almost immediately because of jail overcrowding.

The release system would take into account the fact that Saks has no prior criminal record and that the crime, although a felony, did not involve the use of violence or the threat of violence.

Saks remains free under a release agreement pending the outcome of the case.