Reporting the Truth.
Restoring the Church
By Liz Lykins
South Lake Tahoe Mayor Tamara-Wallace (Photo: cityofslt.gov)
A California mayor who has confessed to stealing funds from a church, then attempting suicide over guilt for her crime, finally turned herself in. Tamara Wallace, mayor of South Lake Tahoe, sent the tell-all letter about her embezzlement from Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church to multiple Northern California media outlets on Sunday.
“This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I am publicly admitting that I took funds from the Presbyterian Church,” Wallace wrote. “Because of this, on September 11, 2025, my birthday, I tried to end my life. I was so filled with guilt, shame, and grief that I experienced a mental health crisis that made suicide seem to be the best solution.”
She didn’t specify which birthday she was observing but the YouTube channel TrueCrime Updates said she is 57. She said she stole an unidentified amount of money over an extended period while working as the church’s administrator.
“I feel completely vulnerable,” Wallace wrote. “Sorry is not a strong enough word to explain the depths of my regret and shame. I do not think anyone can be as angry at me as I am at myself.”
Wallace said that the church or authorities did not discover her theft, but that her guilt caused her to attempt suicide and eventually come clean. She said she has turned over a list of account numbers and passwords to church officials so her “actions could be more easily discovered.”Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church in South Lake Tahoe, California. (Photo: Facebook)
In a statement on Facebook, the church’s board of directors said that Wallace was fired on Sept. 26 and then informed authorities of what occurred. The church noted that she was neither an attendee nor a member there.
“Our congregation has suffered extensive loss, and as we address this loss and its impact,” the board wrote. “We remain committed to prayer, compassion, transparency, and justice.”
Philip Dunn, the church’s attorney, told the San Francisco Tribune that the amount Wallace took “will be substantial for a local church.”
When ABC10 Sacramento asked Wallace if she has plans to step down as mayor, she said that her letter is her only comment at this time. Wallace’s term as mayor is set to end next month, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Rather than being like many public servants and individuals who try to lie, hide, and delay the consequences of something they have done, I am taking a different path,” Wallace said in the letter. “I am telling the truth and admitting what I have done.”
The El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office told The Roys Report (TRR) that it is looking into the potential embezzlement but could not provide further information at this time.
Wallace plans to pay back ‘every cent’
Wallace said she previously justified her crime by using most of the money to help others, including her deceased son’s three boys.
Wallace noted that she wrote her self-expose while in a residential mental health facility where she checked herself in following her suicide attempt.
“It was only by the grace of God that I failed,” she said. “Since then, for my safety, I have spent 18 days in a mental health facility and am now taking medicine as well as being in intense, all-day, every-day group and individual counseling sessions.”
Through counseling sessions, she said she has unearthed a number of reasons that led her to her actions. She listed the reasons over several paragraphs, several of which involved her five children.
They included one of her sons dying from fentanyl poisoning; her oldest son barely surviving a rare cancer and having to have his leg amputated, and her adopted special needs son’s behavior putting her in physical danger.
She also said she had extensive childhood familial abuse but was not believed by her “alcoholic mother.” She was noted to have been traumatized while in Washington, D.C., during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Additionally, she was bedridden for a decade from a severe autoimmune disorder, and her husband, Duane, has nearly died three times in the past five years.
“Still, these things may be reasons, but not an excuse for my behavior,” she said. “There is no excuse.”
She said that she thinks she used the theft as a “soothing mechanism” for her grief.
She said she plans to pay back “every cent” she has taken and “accept whatever punishment comes to me.”
She hopes to use this experience to “hopefully stop others from committing the selfish, wrong-minded act of suicide.” She said she knows God has forgiven her and now wants to tell others about “the love, forgiveness, freely given grace, and everlasting life given to those who believe in Jesus Christ.’
City faces two scandals from leaders
South Lake Tahoe is not only grappling with scandal from Wallace, but also from its mayor pro tempore, Cody Bass.
In September, Bass was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and harassment in a Nevada court, according to ABC10. Police said that Bass assaulted a doorman at a local nightclub, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I will absolutely not be stepping down from my position on the City Council, as I have done nothing wrong,” Bass wrote in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I am committed to going through the due process to prove my innocence.”
South Lake Tahoe City Manager Joe Irvin has reassured residents that city operations remain stable despite the two controversies.
“With the recent events involving the mayor and mayor pro tem, I want to assure everybody that our city team continues to offer services as normal,” Irvin said in a Facebook video posted Tuesday. “If you call, we will respond. We’re here and committed to providing service to our community.”
Irvin added that the city finances are stable.
“There’s been questions about how these issues impact the city’s finances,” Irvin said while sitting at an empty desk. “I want to assure everybody that no one individual city council member has access to the city’s finances. That is managed by myself and the finance director.”
He also promised the city’s residents transparency, adding, “When and if there’s information that we need to update all of you with, we will. Please trust that.”
Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.
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