A former California mayor pleaded guilty to embezzling about $390,000 from a church she worked for as a part-time bookkeeper, according to federal prosecutors.
The development comes around a year after Tamara Le Ann Wallace resigned as the mayor of South Lake Tahoe, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.
Wallace, 56, pleaded guilty on Thursday, October 29, to a federal wire fraud charge in connection with the theft of church funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Last year, Wallace openly acknowledged she stole from the Lake Tahoe Presbyterian Church in a letter written to South Tahoe Now.
“This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am publicly admitting that I took funds from the Presbyterian Church over an extended period,” Wallace wrote in the letter published October 5, 2025. “Because of this, on September 11, 2025, my birthday, I tried to end my life. I was so filled with guilt, shame, and grief that I experienced a mental health crisis that made suicide seem to be the best solution. It was only by the grace of God that I failed.”
Prosecutors said Wallace’s alleged embezzlement scheme began after she became the church’s bookkeeper in 2018, according to prosecutors. The theft spanned between April 2019 and September 2025.
Wallace was in charge of managing church finances, bills, monitoring the church’s budget, as well as overseeing online financial records, according to prosecutors.
While she had access to the church’s bank account as bookkeeper, she embezzled the church’s money “for her own benefit by issuing reimbursement checks to herself, falsely claiming they were repayments for expenses she never incurred” and “made unauthorized electronic transfers into accounts she controlled,” prosecutors said.
Wallace allegedly faked financial entries in the church’s records to hide the ongoing embezzlement, according to prosecutors.
She was accused of spending the church’s money for personal expenses, such as rent and travel.
“Her actions nearly caused the church to shut down, forcing it to reduce programming, take out multiple loans, and pay late fees and interest on overdue bills,” prosecutors said.
Wallace had initially pleaded not guilty until she changed her plea Thursday, per South Tahoe Now.
“I plead guilty,” Wallace told U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in the Sacramento federal court, the outlet reported.
The FBI and the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office investigated Wallace.
Wallace is facing up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, according to prosecutors. Her sentencing is set for January 14, 2027.
