Former insurance agent John Ford was sentenced on September 24, 2020. after he pleaded guilty to one count of PC 503, embezzlement.
Originally he was charged with 14 counts. As a part of his plea, he agreed to full restitution for all victims. Ford agreed not to practice insurance sales in California for the period of probation. He forfeited his license. I covered his case in 2019 from start to conclusion.
On 11/14/25, Humboldt Superior Court Judge Kaleb Cockrum denied defense's PC 1203.3 motion which was a formal legal request to terminate probation early but stated that due to change in California law, probation would be terminated. Ford still owes $313, 115.23 in restitution. The only victim who attends every hearing is Thomas Mulder.
I had some California lawyers reach out to me about Judge Cockrum's ruling. "The Judge messed up on Ford on AB 1950," said one lawyer. Those lawyers said that most felony convictions now have a maximum probation term of two years but with high-value embezzlement; specifically cases involving more than 25k, there is a an exception and still have a longer probation period, potentially up to three years." I did my own research and the link below supports what I was told by these lawyers but goes further that AB 1950 does not apply in an embezzlement case.
"AB 1950 does not apply to theft, embezzlement, fraud, and other similar offenses if they resulted in losses of over $25,000."
https://cjmdefense.com/blog/california-assembly-bill-1950-limits-probation-terms/
Humboldt Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm appeared on the case for the People. Deputy Public Defender Ben McLaughlin is Ford's attorney. I have included court minutes.
The link to this September 23, 2025 post has more details as well as links to prior coverage.
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2025/09/former-insurance-agent-john-ford.html?m=1
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