Ex-Merced detective resigns after being accused of embezzlement, DA's office says

The veteran investigator for the Merced Police Department who has been accused of embezzling money from the police union resigned Friday, according to the Merced County District Attorney's Office.

Former Merced Detective Joe Deliman is under investigation by the state Attorney General's Office for allegedly embezzling "thousands" of dollars from the Merced Police Officers Union, according to an investigator's affidavit for a search warrant.

He resigned as of 5 p.m. Friday, according to Rob Carroll, deputy chief district attorney with the Merced County District Attorney's Office.

"He's no longer employed by the District Attorney's Office or with the county," Carroll told the Sun-Star.

Deliman has not returned requests for comment..

He is accused of using Merced Police Officers Association money on trips to Niagara Falls, Las Vegas and other places, and renting a limousine, among other personal expenses, the affidavit said.

Primarily responsible for the union's financial accounts from about 2007 to 2016, the 56-year-old Deliman had a union credit card in his name that existed without the knowledge of the union's governing board, union officials told the Attorney General's Office.

Deliman left the Merced Police Department in August to work as an investigator for the Merced County District Attorney's Office. He worked for the Merced department for more than 20 years.

Sometime in August, Chief Norm Andrade reported the suspected embezzlement to the state Attorney General's Office after the new union president, Officer Emily Foster, reported discrepancies in the union's financial records, the affidavit said.

Deliman met with Foster and another union representative to talk about the transition of leadership about a week before he left the union, according to the affidavit. The records were incomplete for financial paperwork and tax-related items in 2016, but Deliman promised to turn over records he had at home, according to the affidavit.

As the new leaders began to review records, they found "questionable transactions," including cash withdrawals "not consistent with MPOA practices," the affidavit said.

"According to Officer Foster, the bank records showed several trips to Las Vegas, Costco receipts for the items purchased on the MPOA's credit card for what appeared to be personal items, as well as, cash back," the affidavit says.

Investigators with the Attorney General's Office questioned Deliman on Nov. 7. He was pulled over on his way to work while driving a Merced County car and placed in handcuffs, but was not arrested or booked into jail. He has not formally been charged with any wrongdoing.

Investigators seized two cellphones and searched his home where several more items, mostly finance-related records and documents, were seized as possible evidence, the affidavit says.

State investigators have not returned requests for comment.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 6:34 PM with the headline "Ex-Merced detective resigns after being accused of embezzlement, DA's office says."