Now that two women have pleaded guilty to federal charges of defrauding the California Office of AIDS to the tune of approximately $2.7 million — as we've been reporting — the agency is due for necessary improvements to its operation.
It's appalling that the financial misappropriations went undetected for so long — the cases date from December 2017 to November 2018 — and included season tickets to sports games, trips to Disneyland, and a boat cruise.
The Disney expenses alone totaled over $184,000, according to the Sacramento Bee, which also reported on the cases. It goes without saying that the millions of dollars that are now long gone could have helped countless people living with HIV/AIDS in the Golden State — and that's the real crime.