Former office manager Beatriz Margarita Putnam has been accused of stealing more than $80,000 from the Riverside Police Office’s Association (RPOA), the biggest police union in Riverside.
According to The Press-Enterprise, a sworn affidavit was filed to a judge by Detective Brian Money of the Riverside Police Department’s economic crime unit to request a search warrant. The affidavit states that Putnam allegedly transferred $59,070 from the union bank account to pay off her credit card between Feb. 2021 to Aug. 26, 2024, when her alleged theft was discovered and subsequently reported to the police. Additionally, $24,351 in checks were transferred to her personal bank account through mobile deposit with no description.
Even after being reported to the police, Putnam retained her position as office manager until Mar. 2025. President of the RPOA Dave Rideman explained that the reasoning behind this decision was that he “needed her to help train a replacement.”
No public money or police department funds were involved. The RPOA, while operating with the aim of representing the officers, exists independently from the Riverside Police Department. Putnam was an employee of the union, not the department.
This was not the first time the RPOA was taken advantage of by its own office manager as former office manager Alis Archibeque was arrested for grand theft back in Feb. 7, 2015 after stealing $346,000 from the Union for personal matters including overseas travel, a sports car and child support from Apr. 2006 to Mar. 2012.
Money noted during the Archibeque case that police are “not businessmen” and that they are very susceptible to such embezzlement as they lack resources and protocols to stop it, especially when the embezzlers are highly trusted.
Putnam is to be arraigned Oct. 27. According to The Press-Enterprise, Rideman has “full faith in the judicial process and will utilize any means necessary to recover any money owed to the RPOA.”
