After admonishing her for her romance with a felon, a Ramsey County judge Monday sentenced former St. Paul police officer Ruby Diaz to jail time and probation for identity theft.
Diaz, who had been a St. Paul officer for more than a decade, was found guilty by a jury in December of the felony for using her best friend’s name to set up accounts with the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Western Union to wire money to her boyfriend — a known gang member — in prison. She was acquitted of two felony counts of aggravated forgery.
Before sentencing, Diaz, 38, of Lauderdale asked District Judge Leonardo Castro to “be fair in sentencing,” considering it was her first criminal offense and because she made a mistake on personal time, not as a police officer. She said she’d been publicly embarrassed and had lost her career, her livelihood and her best friend.
“I understand I made a poor decision,” Diaz told the judge. “I’m asking that that one poor decision doesn’t define me for the rest of my life.”
Castro acknowledged Diaz’s work in the community and the respect she’d earned, but said he felt Diaz has continued to minimize her conduct.
“I struggle with your lack of understanding with, number one, what your employer’s concerns were,” Castro told Diaz. “And I don’t think you fully understand the public’s concern. Your job — something no one forced you to take — is to serve and protect. With that comes more responsibility. … You also have a public persona, and the public expects a certain level of behavior from you.”
Castro sentenced Diaz to 30 days in jail, with credit for one day served, to be served under any other program for which she’s eligible, including home monitoring or community service. She’ll also be on probation for up to five years.
Castro issued a stay of imposition, meaning the felony conviction will be converted to a misdemeanor after Diaz completes probation.
After the hearing, Diaz’s attorney, William Bulmer II, called the sentence appropriate — he had argued for a stay of imposition — and said Diaz didn’t receive special treatment from the court. If she hadn’t been a law enforcement officer at the time of the crime, Diaz may have been eligible for a diversion program and could have avoided jail time, but that wasn’t possible, Bulmer said.
Diaz was accused of using her best friend’s name and personal information to set up payment accounts with Western Union and the Minnesota Department of Corrections to make wire transfers to Ramone D. Smaller, 22, with whom she had a romantic relationship.
Diaz met Smaller about 10 years ago when he was a seventh-grader at Humboldt Secondary School, where she was a school resource officer, she testified at trial.
Their relationship changed during 2013, she said, when she became romantically involved with the young man she once mentored.
She said she used the name of her best friend, Mao Lee, to set up accounts to send money to Smaller in prison. The charges centered on five payments of $300 each, totaling $1,500.
Lee testified at trial that she did not give Diaz permission to set up the account and send money to Smaller.
Diaz testified during her trial that she did not intend to defraud the corrections department, which runs the state prisons and processes money coming into inmates’ accounts, or Western Union, which Diaz used to wire the money to the department.
Diaz admitted she used her friend’s name to wire the money to Smaller but testified that she did so only to avoid scrutiny and harassment from police colleagues. She said she’d been harassed by colleagues in the past, during a previous romantic relationship with a convicted felon with gang ties.
Smaller is in state prison in Rush City on an attempted murder sentence; he was convicted a year ago. He was at the St. Cloud prison when Diaz was sending him money between February and April 2014.
Smaller is a member of the Gotta Havit gang, a faction of the Selby Siders, according to court documents. He’s been charged in other shootings, which stemmed from gang feuds, investigators said. He has pleaded not guilty to 10 felonies related to the shootings; the case is set to go to trial next week.
Diaz has since lost her job as a St. Paul police officer.
Police Chief Thomas Smith terminated Diaz on Dec. 29, according to the department.
Under Minnesota law, a police officer convicted of a felony automatically has his or her peace officer license revoked, but it wasn’t clear Monday what happens if a felony case ends up as a misdemeanor on someone’s record.
State law also says people convicted of particular crimes, including theft, can’t be hired as peace officers.
Paul Monteen, standards coordinator for the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards, said he couldn’t comment on the Diaz case until he sees the judge’s order.
Diaz started working for St. Paul police as a paid intern in 1999, became a community-liaison officer, and then a police officer in 2000.
“Miss Diaz was happy to leave the department,” Bulmer said. “But the job itself she loved.”
He said Diaz felt she had been treated with hostility in the past, but wasn’t sure if she’d pursue any civil action.
She will not challenge her termination, Bulmer said.
“I don’t know that she’ll want to pursue (a) law enforcement (career),” Bulmer said. “But I don’t know what she’ll want to do in five years. She really felt passionate about her line of work.”
Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162. Follow her at twitter.com/LizMohr.
