Trial delayed for longtime Merced detective accused stealing police union funds
After numerous delays, the jury trial of a former Merced Police detective and Merced County District Attorney’s Office investigator accused of embezzling police union funds has again been postponed, this time until start of the New Year.
Veteran detective Joseph Deliman was arrested in 2018 for allegedly misappropriating over $80,000 of Merced Police Officers’ Association (MPOA) funds over the course of several years while he served as the union’s president.
Deliman pleaded not guilty to felony grand theft charges in November 2018, one month after his arrest.
Originally slated to stand trial for those accusations on Sept. 28, Deliman is now scheduled to face a jury on Jan. 11 — over three years after his arrest. Other previous delays have prolonged the case’s preliminary examination and trial setting conference.
The trial is scheduled to be heard by Judge Carol Ash, according to Merced Superior Court records.
The trial was postponed at the request of the defense, records say. Lead defense attorney Douglas Foster declined to elaborate on the nature of the delay.
Allegedly spent funds for travel to vacation destinations
A year-long investigation by the California Department of Justice led up to Deliman’s arrest.
The investigation identified an alleged pattern of Deliman putting union funds toward personal expenses like groceries, fast food and trips to destinations including Carmel, Las Vegas and Niagara Falls.
The alleged crimes occurred over a three-year period from 2014 to 2017. As MPOA’s president, Deliman had been responsible for the financial accounts from about 2007 to 2016 and had a union credit card in his name, the allegations say.
Deliman reportedly lied to union members in telling them that a union account had been closed, when in fact it had been secretly kept open. Deliman allegedly used the funds to pay charges on his credit card, according to the criminal complaint.
The MPOA’s governing board told the Attorney General’s Office that the credit card existed without its knowledge.
After more than 20 years with the Merced Police Department, Deliman left that career to work as an investigator for the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. Within just a few months, the embezzlement accusations surfaced and he resigned from that role.
Deliman’s alleged crime was initially reported to the state Attorney General’s Office shortly after he vacated his position as MPOA president and the new union president noticed discrepancies in the union’s financial records.
Deliman played a prominent role in many violent crime investigations and served as lead investigator for several high-profile cases during his tenure with the Merced Police Department. One such case was the slaying of Bill and Lena Chapman, who were killed in their home on East South Bear Creek by burglars who set the house ablaze.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
