Capistrano schools admit sports gear embezzlement in California

FROM http://www.mercurynews.com/  -

An investigation shows some of Capistrano Unified School District high school coaches may have embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars of parent and district money, a top school official says.


The Orange County Register reports Capistrano Superintendent Joe Farley says coaches may have routinely overbilled the district for athletic supply orders made to Laguna Hills-based Lapes Athletic Team Sales in exchange for kickbacks from the now defunct business.

"We believe there could have been criminal misconduct," Farley told the newspaper Wednesday. "The findings are significant enough that it merits being turned over to the sheriff's department."

The district expects to provide a full report to the Orange County Sheriff's Department by the end of the summer.

The district launched an investigation in October into allegations brought by Geoff and Teresa Sando of Irvine, who inherited the Lapes company and found discrepancies in its billing records.

The Sandos say coaches at about 30 county high schools and community colleges may have received kickbacks.

Farley declined to identify coaches involved.

Investigations are now under way at other Orange County schools, according to Orange County schools Superintendent Bill Habermehl.

Many schools say their coaches received kickbacks from Lapes, but the funds were used appropriately for team-related expenses, said Habermehl.

"They found out there was nothing wrong, or there was an error of judgment but no misappropriation or misuse of funds," Habermehl told the Register. "Ninety-nine percent of our coaches are doing nothing wrong. It's just a matter of a few who broke ranks and had a poor error in judgment."