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 keeping 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 town’s Presbyterian church after a chronic “psychological well being disaster,” in keeping with the letter printed by the Tahoe Day by day Tribune. Whereas Wallace claimed that the theft was not found by church or authorized authorities, she mentioned the guilt brought on her to try suicide and finally 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 crammed with guilt, disgrace, and grief that I skilled a psychological well being disaster that made suicide appear to be one of the best answer.”
It’s unclear whether or not prices 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 keeping 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 demise and her proximity to the 9/11 assaults in 2001, in keeping with the letter. The entire funds, Wallace mentioned, had been meant to handle her deceased son’s three kids.
“My guilt got here from my taking funds from a church that, individually and as a bunch, embraced me, confirmed me love, and trusted me as their church administrator,” Wallace mentioned within the letter. “The burden of what I had performed was so unbearably nice that my thoughts deceived me into the idea that my suicide try would shield my husband … and my grownup kids, 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 youngster who might hoard gadgets or meals as a way of soothing themselves.
“I obtained 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 very best to supply issues like police, hearth security, higher highway repairs, and housing,” Wallace mentioned. “That’s the individual everybody is aware of”
The South Lake Tahoe Presbyterian Church and representatives for 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 via a “second-hand” supply that the church might search prices towards her.
She mentioned she sought the unconventional route of publishing her personal crime within the paper and determined to confess to wrongdoing as a substitute of “attempt to lie, cover and delay the implications of one thing they’ve performed.”
Wallace’s time period for mayor is about to finish subsequent month. It’s unclear whether or not town will search any disciplinary motion for committing theft throughout her tenure.
“I really feel fully weak,” Wallace wrote. “Sorry is just not a powerful sufficient phrase to elucidate the depths of my remorse and disgrace. I don’t assume anybody may be as offended at me as I’m at myself.”
Suicide prevention and disaster counseling assets
If you happen to or somebody you understand is battling suicidal ideas, search assist from an expert and name 9-8-8. America’ first nationwide three-digit psychological well being disaster hotline 988 will join callers with educated psychological well being counselors. Textual content “HOME” to 741741 within the U.S. and Canada to succeed in the Disaster Textual content Line.
