Well thank goodness he didn't do anything that damaged society, like selling some fully cognizant adult a gram of coke. This guy gets a free $400,000 and we get one less school, but at least Real Criminals get their lives ruined with ludicrously long prison stays.

How could this man only get one year for this embezzlement....unbelievable. White collar crime, you have the money, you don't have to do the time.

"The Chronicle reported Howatt earned $149,294 in salary and had a total compensation package including benefits of $233,375. It said he was an art collector, ballet aficionado and owner of multiple properties."

Check out his new house purchased with embezzled CASH Web Link

..."according to public records, the Pacific City (OR) home was purchased in August for $1.53 million in cash...The Multiple Listing Service named the owner as Marshall and Taylor Holdings LLC. The California address listed by the LLC in Tillamook County tax records, however, corresponds with an Oakland address listed for Howatt in public records."

Disgusting.

This guy is a piece of work, but he probably did less damage with his theft than the ABAG people are doing to the communities in the Bay Area with their "requirements and recommendations". The end result of their work is the paving over of open land and the decline of the quality of life to the current residents. That's worth more than the $4 million this guy stole.

The white collar criminal ALWAYS has an excuse for bad behavior, and this creep got away with a massive crime because of his incorrectly treated bi-polar disorder? Well, his $400,000 profit he made after NOT being required to completely return what he embezzled - should ease his pain quite a bit.
This man carefully and deliberately planned and stole $3.8M from the public, and he gets a year and a day in prison? Good thing he wasn't a young kid who stole athletic shoes from a store - or he'd be spending a lot more time in confinement. The inconsistency in punishment in this country is sickening.
This judge should be disbarred, and this THIEF should do hard time for MANY DECADES in prison. What is wrong with our sense of justice here??

Ditto all of the above. Stealing $3.9 million gets you a year in prison, while drug users are in prison for who knows how long! And he gets to keep $400,000 of it? What's with that?!