Former Marine Pleads Guilty To Embezzling From Scholarship Fund

An ex-Marine pleaded guilty today to embezzling more than $133,000 from a Palm Desert-based Marine scholarship fund.

Jason Patrick Hitt, 35, of Pomona, embezzled from U.S. Marine Scholarships of the Desert Cities Inc., a nonprofit that awards scholarships to current and former Marines in the area, while he served as the group’s president. He also forged a $6,000 check.

Hitt entered his plea as his preliminary hearing was scheduled to get under way at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 20 and could get up to four years and eight months in prison, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Harold W. Hopp said.

Hitt, who volunteered to be president of the group in 2009, initially was suspected of stealing about $200,000 from the fund, Riverside sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Florez said.

He was arrested in Chino Hills on Oct. 6 at the Best Buy store where he worked.

Hitt wrote checks drawn on the scholarship fund’s Citibank account to his girlfriend and co-mingled the funds with her business accounts, according to a declaration in support of arrest warrant.

Eventually, Hitt started dating other women and spending the scholarship money on them, the document stated.

At a meeting of the group’s board, Hitt “stole one of the original USMS checks from the back of the USMS checkbook when (the board member) left the room for a moment,” according to the document. “Hitt then forged (the board member’s) signature on the check and deposited it to the Citibank account which he controlled.”

When the check did not clear, the bank began monitoring the account, then closed it. But Hitt “continued to drain (it) … to a negative status,” the document stated.

A private investigator hired by Hitt’s first girlfriend told the scholarship board something fishy was going on, according to deputies.

He was being held in lieu of $135,000 bail.