Haven ex-CEO sentenced

On Sept. 29, Norman Ray Ryan was sentenced to six months in jail and six months of Community Service Work Days following his conviction for Identity Theft and Grand Theft.

Judge Monica Marlow sentenced Ryan, 47, after denying his request for a new trial. Ryan was convicted in May of five felonies related to the use of Haven Humane's Visa credit card to pay for a personal airline trip, as well as for being paid for another airline trip he never took.

Ryan had been the CEO of Haven Humane from June of 2007 through April of 2008. He was terminated from the job for other reasons. After Ryan left, shelter directors found evidence that led them to believe funds may have been misappropriated by Ryan. The Redding Police Department began an investigation.

In October of 2007, while employed at Haven Humane, Ryan told co-workers and board members that he would be attending a Humane Society Conference in Chicago, Ill.. He said he would then be taking a personal trip to the Philippines. When he returned, Ryan submitted a Southwest Airlines confirmation document to Haven's controller and claimed it was a receipt for his flight to Chicago. Ryan said he had paid for the flight on his personal credit card. He was reimbursed for the cost of the flight. Redding Police determined that the conference Ryan claimed to have attended never took place.

Southwest Airlines confirmed that the document Ryan submitted for reimbursement was a forgery. It contained identifying information on it that belonged to a flight Ryan took on the airline in February of 2007, well before his employment at Haven. Ryan manipulated the document, changed the dates, flight numbers and prices, but left the unique airline codes assigned to the February 2007 flight. During the trial, Ryan took the witness stand in his own defense, denied any wrongdoing and accused others of creating the fake document.

The aggregate total loss to Haven Humane was $1,386.94. Ryan was ordered to pay Haven back for the loss.

As an aggravating factor, the prosecutor filed a memorandum regarding newly discovered evidence related to the case. Ryan is currently a defendant in a civil lawsuit in Southern California. Attorneys for the plaintiff received copies of e-mails that Ryan sent to the Water Replenishment District in Long Beach in 2006.

In one of those e-mails, Ryan forwarded a copy of a Southwest Airlines confirmation document and claimed it was an expense he incurred as a Director of the Water Replenishment District. Southwest Airlines confirmed that the document in the 2006 e-mail was also a forgery and that Ryan never took that flight either.