It's looking like embezzlement of public money in Capistrano Unified's athletic department, a top administrator told the Orange County Register Wednesday.
District Superintendent Joseph Farley said early findings of an internal investigation show coaches in one of Orange County's largest school districts may have received kickbacks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from a local sporting goods company.
A PBS story broke in May that showed high school and college coaches across Orange County reportedly from a now defunct Laguna Hills sporting goods company.
According to the Register, for the past nine months, the Capistrano Unified School District has been conducting an internal investigation into the matter. The probe is separate from a .
"We believe there could have been criminal misconduct," Capo Superintendent Joseph Farley told the Register Wednesday. "The findings are significant enough that it merits being turned over to the sheriff's department."
In May, PBS SoCal reported that coaches from 29 schools received kickbacks from Lapes Athletic Team, a sports apparel and equipment company that did business with area school districts.
Between 2000 and 2008, the company put taxpayer money into secret slush funds, some of which was given directly to coaches, according to records uncovered by Teresa and Geoff Sando, an Irvine couple who took over the now defunct company.
To read Wednesday's Register story in its entirety, click here.
This type of activity is what the union sought to restore.
It was a good idea to initiate this investigation. The current board voted to honor the contract with the district employees that the previous board had signed. The previous board imposed a contract that did not work so trigger language was added to contract. The previous board signed the modified contract with the trigger language. If the board would have negotiated the cuts and contract instead of imposing a contract then there would have been no money restored this year and the contract would have run its course. The increase of ADA this year would not have modified a negotiated contract. The current board is made up of a mix of board members. "just a parent" wrote yesterday on the comment board from the article "A time to talk" Parent-Teacher conferences extended for coming school year.", "The CUSDreform website headline states: "November 5, 2010 ELECTION ANALYSIS: Voters Continue to Entrust CUSD Control to Reform Trustees -- Union Fails to Gain Board Majority" http://www.cusdreform.com/ All the current decisions are being made with the "reform" trustees in the majority and in "control." I'd like to float the idea that we stop labeling and categorizing our elected officials."
The union has nothing to do with "sort of activity", this is a culture of corruption that has to do with team sports and these coaches will be dealt with when they are actually proven guilty, the district can't fire them until charges are officially filed. I'm glad you are here though to pin everything on the new board, you are especially good at showing your bias Jenni... Capo Mom.
It is important to remember that this problem was not unique to CUSD. It is unfair to use the actions or poor choices of a few to indict an entire district, the board of trustees or teachers/coaches, in general.
I think the real question here is why hasn't the DA gotten involved sooner on this? Why is the DA waiting for the district to turn information over to law enforcement. This story broke in early May but has been investigated by the school districts since September and October. Where has the DA been this whole time?