COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

 

County Manager’s Office

 

DATE:

November 21, 2005

BOARD MEETING DATE:

December 6, 2005

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

John Maltbie, County Manager

SUBJECT:

Employee of the Month for December 2005

 

RECOMMENDATION

Honor Kathryn Alberti as Employee of the Month for December 2005 and authorize the President of the Board to sign the commendation.

 

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government

Goal 21: County employees understand, support and integrate the County vision and goals into their delivery of services.

 

BACKGROUND

The Employee of the Month program was established in December 1984 to recognize and honor County employees who consistently demonstrate an outstanding level of performance.

Our Employee of the Month for December 2005 is Kathryn Alberti, a Deputy District Attorney, in the District Attorney’s Office.

 

DISCUSSION

Kathryn has been a Deputy District Attorney since April 1995, and during those ten years has successfully served in many of the different assignments in the District Attorney's Office.

For the past 3 years, Kathryn has served as the prosecuting attorney in the District Attorney’s Insurance Fraud Unit, handling numerous cases involving Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud and Automobile Insurance Fraud, both of which are crimes which cost the law-abiding citizens of this county hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased insurance premium rates, as well as significant direct fiscal loss to the victim(s) and the local economy.

In the past two years, Kathryn has successfully prosecuted over 20 individuals who committed fraud involving workers’ compensation insurance, including applicants, employers and treatment providers, fraud which involved potential restitution to the victims in excess of $900,000. In the past year alone, Kathryn has successfully presented three such cases to San Mateo County juries, all of which have returned guilty verdicts despite the challenges involved in proving such cases, which are often complex. These three cases alone should result in over $300,000 in restitution to the victims of the crimes.

During the same time period, Kathryn has successfully prosecuted over 25 individuals who committed automobile insurance fraud, including a large ring of auto body shop owners, with the fraud involving in excess of $130,000 in total loss to the victims. Two recent auto insurance fraud cases were brought to jury trial by Kathryn, and both cases resulted in convictions.

Kathryn Alberti's efforts have also included numerous outreach and education presentations, seeking to educate the San Mateo County community in the legal aspects and harmful impact of insurance fraud. Kathryn has become a locally recognized expert in this significant area of the criminal justice system.

Our County is fortunate to have Kathryn Alberti as one of its outstanding employees.