Tamara Le Ann Wallace, 56, of South Lake Tahoe, California, pleaded guilty on Thursday, October 29, 2026, to one count of federal wire fraud, admitting that she embezzled about $390,000 from Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church, where she worked as a part-time bookkeeper while also serving in city politics. U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced the plea for the Eastern District of California.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of California
The plea was entered in U.S. District Court in Sacramento before Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley. It was a sharp turn in the same courtroom process that began only weeks earlier: at her arraignment on October 13, 2026, Wallace had pleaded not guilty. On Thursday she changed that plea. According to South Tahoe Now's courtroom report, the judge asked whether she was entering the guilty plea because she was guilty, and Wallace answered, “I am.” She also told the court, “I plead guilty.”
Source: Placerville NewsWire (INEDC), reporting South Tahoe Now courtroom coverage
How the money was taken
Wallace began working for the church in 2018, according to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney's Office. She was entrusted with managing the church's finances, paying its bills, monitoring its budget and maintaining its digital financial records. She had access to the church's bank account and, for most of her tenure, she was the only person with access to its digital accounting system. She was not authorised to spend church funds for personal use.
Between April 2019 and September 2025 — a span of more than six years — Wallace embezzled church funds in two main ways, prosecutors said. She issued reimbursement cheques to herself, falsely claiming they repaid expenses she had never incurred, and she made unauthorised electronic transfers into bank accounts she controlled. To conceal the theft, she falsified financial entries in the church's records. Charging documents reported earlier in the case put the cheques at approximately $360,000 and the electronic transfers at another roughly $31,000. The stolen money went on personal expenses, including rent and travel.
A church pushed to the edge
The damage went well beyond the missing money. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Wallace's actions nearly caused the church to shut down. The congregation was forced to reduce programming, take out multiple loans to keep operating, and pay late fees and interest on overdue bills — costs that fell on a small congregation that had trusted its bookkeeper with effectively sole control of its books.
A public confession, then a resignation
The federal case grew out of a public scandal that broke in October 2025. Wallace sent a written confession to local media acknowledging that she had taken money from the Presbyterian church over an extended period, accepted responsibility and said she intended to repay it. On October 13, 2025, she resigned as mayor of South Lake Tahoe, ending her tenure on the city council. She had served as the city's mayor in 2021 and again in 2025. City officials have stressed in the city's official guidance on her resignation that the case concerns her private employment at the church and did not involve municipal money.
Why the case went federal
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Fogg is prosecuting the case. El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson's office has explained why it took the unusual step of asking federal authorities to prosecute: it assessed that under California sentencing law a state conviction would likely have resulted in no more than about one year of actual custody, which it did not regard as reflecting the harm. The county opened its investigation immediately after Wallace's public admission and resignation in 2025 and contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI that year.
Source: El Dorado County District Attorney's Office
South Lake Tahoe city officials have emphasised that the embezzlement involved Wallace's private job as the church's bookkeeper — not city funds, city accounts or her work as mayor and councillor.
What happens next
Wallace remains out of custody pending sentencing. She is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Nunley on January 14, 2027, in Sacramento. Wire fraud carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, but the actual sentence will be set by the court after considering the federal Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors — the maximum is a ceiling, not a forecast. South Tahoe Now has reported that restitution is expected to fall between $380,000 and $500,000, subject to the court's determination at sentencing; prosecutors are reported to be recommending a sentence below the statutory maximum. Thursday's plea closes the question of guilt in the case. What remains — punishment and repayment — will be decided in January.