Ex-Santa Cruz County treasurer who stole nearly $40M given 10 years in prison

Former Santa Cruz County Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for stealing nearly $39 million from the county over the course of 10 years.

Gutfahr, 63, stood quietly in all black as US District Judge Rosemary Marquez issued the sentence in Tucson’s federal court. Marquez also ordered Gutfahr to pay restitution for all the stolen money.

“I sentence people every day who come into this country fighting for their lives, fighting to put food on tables,” Marquez told Gutfahr at sentencing.

“You don’t have that. You’re a US citizen, you had employment. There’s nothing here.”

Gutfahr was taken into custody immediately after the sentencing.

Rudy Molera, a Santa Cruz County supervisor, said that while he wasn’t disappointed with the length of the sentence, Gutfahr deserved the maximum, about 35 years.

“I’ve known Liz for 50 years,” Molera said during at the sentencing. “I can tell you ... she had the mental capacity to manipulate those around her.”

Gutfahr served as treasurer from 2013 through 2024. She pleaded guilty in November to one count of embezzlement by a public official, one count of money laundering and one count of tax evasion.

Gutfahr stole $38.7 million and wired funds from county accounts directly to bank accounts of fake companies she had created to avoid paying income tax. She used the money to renovate her home, purchase more than 20 vehicles and multiple properties.

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“She has turned over essentially everything of value in her and her family’s collective possession to the court-appointed receiver to begin repaying some of her misappropriated funds,” her defense attorney wrote in a sentencing memo.

“It is anticipated that between $10.73 million and $13.53 million (or more) of stolen funds will be recovered through that process, which remains ongoing.”

The defense sought no more than six years in prison.

Gutfahr’s attorney, Joshua Hamilton, said while he thought Monday’s sentence was long, what Gutfahr did was a crime to be taken seriously.

“It calls for a sentence that takes into account everything that the judge said,” Hamilton said.

Gutfahr resigned from her position in April 2024, shortly after county, state and federal agencies started investigating missing funds after the county’s bank flagged suspicious activity.

Santa Cruz County originally sued Gutfahr in August on charges of fraud, conversion, civil conspiracy, racketeering and breach of fiduciary duty.