The mayor of South Lake Tahoe confessed to stealing funds from a church and trying to commit suicide due to her overwhelming guilt over the crime, in accordance with a self-exposé she despatched to a neighborhood newspaper.
In a tell-all letter addressed to the South Lake Tahoe neighborhood, Mayor Tamara Wallace confessed on Monday that she “took funds” from the town’s Presbyterian church after a protracted “psychological well being disaster,” in accordance with the letter revealed by the Tahoe Each day Tribune. Whereas Wallace claimed that the theft was not found by church or authorized authorities, she mentioned the guilt prompted her to try suicide and ultimately come clear.
“I’m publicly admitting that I took funds from the Presbyterian Church over an prolonged interval,” Wallace wrote. “I used to be so full of guilt, disgrace, and grief that I skilled a psychological well being disaster that made suicide appear to be the most effective answer.”
It’s unclear whether or not costs have already been filed towards Wallace for her admitted crime.
Wallace mentioned that since her suicide try, she spent 18 days in a psychological well being facility and has adopted a strict therapeutic routine with drugs and “intense, all-day every-day” counseling, in accordance with the letter.
She recounted a number of occasions all through her life that she claimed led her to try to take her personal life, together with childhood familial abuse, difficulties along with her particular wants son, her son Christopher’s loss of life and her proximity to the 9/11 assaults in 2001, in accordance with the letter. All the funds, Wallace mentioned, have been meant to care for her deceased son’s three youngsters.
“My guilt got here from my taking funds from a church that, individually and as a gaggle, embraced me, confirmed me love, and trusted me as their church administrator,” Wallace mentioned within the letter. “The load of what I had accomplished was so unbearably nice that my thoughts deceived me into the assumption that my suicide try would defend my husband … and my grownup youngsters, who’ve all devoted their lives to the kids of this neighborhood.”
She mentioned she believed the theft might have been part of a coping mechanism and likened herself to a foster baby who might hoard gadgets or meals as a method of soothing themselves.
“I acquired straight A’s and have develop into the hard-working mom and spouse who invested herself into serving to others, serving the residents, and making an attempt my best possible to supply issues like police, fireplace security, higher highway repairs, and housing,” Wallace mentioned. “That’s the particular person everybody is aware of”
The South Lake Tahoe Presbyterian Church and representatives for the town couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Wallace apologized for her actions and pledged to pay again the cash that she had stolen, however mentioned that she heard by means of a “second-hand” supply that the church might search costs towards her.
She mentioned she sought the unconventional route of publishing her personal crime within the paper and determined to confess to wrongdoing as an alternative of “attempt to lie, conceal and delay the implications of one thing they’ve accomplished.”
Wallace’s time period for mayor is about to finish subsequent month. It’s unclear whether or not the town will search any disciplinary motion for committing theft throughout her tenure.
“I really feel fully weak,” Wallace wrote. “Sorry is just not a robust sufficient phrase to elucidate the depths of my remorse and disgrace. I don’t assume anybody could be as offended at me as I’m at myself.”
Suicide prevention and disaster counseling assets
In case you or somebody you recognize is battling suicidal ideas, search assist from an expert and name 9-8-8. The US’ first nationwide three-digit psychological well being disaster hotline 988 will join callers with skilled psychological well being counselors. Textual content “HOME” to 741741 within the U.S. and Canada to achieve the Disaster Textual content Line.
