Study to Help Decide Raabe’s Sentence

A judge will decide next week when Matthew R. Raabe, the former assistant Orange County treasurer convicted last week of five felonies stemming from the county bankruptcy, should check into state prison for a pre-sentencing study.

Prosecutors and Raabe’s defense attorneys said Thursday they are writing summaries of the criminal case for prison officials who will prepare the study, which will take up to 90 days and help a judge decide Raabe’s sentence.

Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey will review the summaries and set May 16 as the date to make arrangements for Raabe to enter the diagnostic unit of Chino State Prison in San Bernardino County, where the pre-sentencing evaluation will be conducted. Raabe, 41, remains free on $25,000 bail.

His conviction on Friday for misappropriating public funds and securities fraud could make him the first Orange County official to face prison for crimes arising from the county’s 1994 bankruptcy.

The county Probation Department would normally conduct the pre-sentencing study, but Raabe’s attorneys objected, saying the department suffered severe cutbacks from the county’s financial collapse and should not be evaluating the potential sentence of a man convicted of bankruptcy-related crimes.

Dickey, who will ultimately sentence Raabe, suggested the Department of Corrections prepare the report. If Raabe does receive a prison sentence, the time he spends in Chino for the study will count toward the term.