Local charter school org offices raided for embezzling teacher retirement funds

[alp227]

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Investigators from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office on Thursday raided the offices of a Latino non-profit that has become a political flashpoint in a key San Jose City Council race.

Amy Cornell, a district attorney's office spokeswoman, said today that computers, financial records and bank documents, among other items, were confiscated at the Mexican American Community Services Agency on Sinclair Drive, after the agency that touts "cultivating health, education and culture" was served a search warrant. She declined to state the nature of the search, citing an "ongoing investigation."

The Mercury News has previously reported that MACSA has been investigated for the past year by state officials and the district attorney's office over whether MACSA officials might have misappropriated or embezzled teacher retirement funds. In June 2009, local school authorities forced MACSA to close its two charter high schools in San Jose and Gilroy amid allegations that the 46-year-old nonprofit had diverted about $400,000 from employee retirement funds into operating expenses.

[fascisthunter]

1. and so it begins... ALREADY

lol

[MadMaddie]

2. Couldn't see that coming could they?

:sarcasm:

[mzteris]

3. nothing that hasn't been done

in spades by trads . . .

Chicago, Illinois Regional schools superintendent Charles Flowers charged with stealing $376,000 in public funds from bankrupt agency
http://churchembezzlement.blogspot.com/2010/01/chicago-illinois-regional-schools.html


State will take over finances of Jemez Mountain School District
http://newmexicoindependent.com/34078/state-will-take-over-finances-of-jemez-mountain-school-district


The best thing is that this was caught pretty damn quickly - most traditional scams go on for years and years . . .

[Hannah Bell]

4. $400K in one year from two schools v. $376K in 3 years from all the schools in Cook County, Ill.

Yeah, alllllll the time.

"Traditional scams" -- that's rich.

Charter schools are just a fraction of the schools operating in the US but have fraud all out of proportion to their presence.

Because it's easy.

The main reason this got investigated was because one of the principals was in a political contest.

some of the charter school theives are stealing $1 million PER SCHOOL.


you say it happens "all the time," but looking through the list of big crimes at your link, most of it is penny-ante stuff -- like the coach stealing from the vending machines.

We're talking thousands v. hundreds of thousands to millions, from single schools, over a year or two.

[Catshrink]

5. And then there's "legal" theft

you know, building rentals and exorbitant executive salaries paid to the management companies.

But charters are better! Rah Rah!11!!

[mzteris]

6. yeah let's shut down all 5000 charter's because of the sins

of a handful of people who manage 500 of them.

I have a better idea. Let's get rid of the for-profit management companies instead.

[Hannah Bell]

7. so you're saying that 10% of charter's (sic) are corrupt?