GARDEN GROVE : Ex-Worker Sentenced for Library Thefts

A former library employee has been sentenced to six months in custody after pleading guilty to taking more than $40,000 worth of books, videos, compact discs and cassettes from a Garden Grove branch over a four-year period, the district attorney’s office said Monday.

Martin F. Meza, 28, also was ordered to pay full restitution and more than $3,400 in administrative fees to the Orange County Library in connection with the felony grand-theft case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Fell said.

The defendant, who entered his plea and was sentenced Friday, may possibly serve his jail sentence through a home-confinement program, Fell said.

Meza was working at an Orange County Library branch, 11200 Stanford Ave., at the time of the thefts, Fell said. Sheriff’s deputies investigating the case recovered almost all the stolen materials, many of which were stored a rented locker in Kansas, he said.