Ex-Officer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Police Group Funds : Courts: Former member of the Fountain Valley force is given six-month sentence for $36,000 embezzlement.

SANTA ANA — A former Fountain Valley police officer, who once won the Medal of Valor, pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling more than $36,000 from a local police group he headed, prosecutors announced.

Under the plea arrangement, Kevin D. Arnold, 34, of Mission Viejo was given a six-month sentence and five years’ probation by Municipal Judge Donna L. Crandall. He also must repay the Fountain Valley Police Officers Assn., said Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Anderson.

Arnold repaid the group $10,000 in October, before the embezzlement charges were filed, Anderson said. He now owes $26,229.

Anderson said investigators do not know how Arnold used the $36,229 he withdrew from association accounts between March, 1993, and May, 1994. At the time, Arnold was president of the group and the only person authorized to withdraw money, Anderson said.

Arnold was fired from the Fountain Valley force Aug. 31 after an internal administrative investigation.

He will be given a choice between serving the full six-month sentence in his home wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet or going to jail, where he would likely serve half that time, Anderson said.

“I think it’s an appropriate sentence. I’m satisfied,” Anderson said after the court session. “This, in essence, ends his tour of duty as a police officer.”

Attempts to reach Arnold and his attorney, John D. Barnett, were unsuccessful.

Arnold, an 11-year veteran, received the Medal of Valor in 1990 for his actions in a controversial shootout in 1983 while he was a reserve officer.

In that incident, Arnold shot a burglary suspect six times after a brief foot chase. Arnold was shot once in the ear with his own gun.

Suspect Michael Wayde Mohon, charged with burglary and the attempted murder of Arnold, twice escaped from jail and was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” and “Unsolved Mysteries.” Mohon was captured in Alabama in 1989 and returned to Orange County.

The attempted murder charge was later dropped for lack of evidence. Mohon unsuccessfully sued Arnold for using excessive force, citing other shootings the officer had been involved in since 1983.