The Orange County Sheriff's Department expects to open a formal investigation into allegations that some high school and college coaches received kickbacks in the form of personal checks from a sporting goods company, in addition to maintaining accounts their districts were not aware of, according to a sheriff's spokesman.VOC provides a link “to view the Sandos' list of "slush" account totals.”
The investigation follows a request from Orange County Superintendent of Schools Bill Habermehl.
. . .
Habermehl's request came after an Irvine couple provided him with a detailed list of what they say were off-the-books accounts held by coaches outside of district oversight, as well as company checks written to coaches.
Geoff and Teresa Sando, who acquired Lapes Athletic Team Sales as it was going out of business, say the company orchestrated a kickback scheme with coaches across Southern California from 1992 until it closed down in 2008.
The Sandos say the company maintained "slush" accounts that school districts were not aware of, and that the company's former owner, Bill Lapes, made payments to coaches to reward them for their business.
. . .
The Sandos say they've been seeking a criminal investigation of the alleged "slush" accounts and kickbacks for more than three years. Teresa said she first provided evidence of the "slush" funds to the sheriff's department in 2008, and last July sent a sheriff's investigator copies of checks made out to Patton….
By my count, eight community colleges appear on the list:
Saddleback College -- $26,272.49 (from 1994 to 2006)
Orange Coast College -- $3,335.70 (from 1995 to 2002)
Fullerton College -- $2,706.13 (from 2003 to 2003)
Cerritos College -- $410.00 (from 2007 to 2007)
East Los Angeles College -- $2,300.00 (from 2005 to 2005)
Palomar College -- $2,658.58 (from 2005 to 2005)
Rio Hondo College -- $139.00 (from 1995 to 1995)
Victor Valley College -- $7,043.75 (from 2002 to 2004)
6 comments:
That's not that much slush - only about 2,000 bucks or so a year. Maybe they turned it into scholarships. You don't know.
Interesting point, 12:53. And since there are a lot of people on the coaching staff, it could have amounted to no more than a few hundred bucks apiece. Doesn't make it right, but it changes the issue a little.
Here are two factoids for you: (1) evidently, none of these "gifts" were reported to the college by any coaches, (2) after the story broke, Saddleback College announced that it would investigate the matter.
The story was a long time coming. Saddleback College Prez Burnett must have been aware of it long before it broke. If there were an innocent explanation for the $26 grand, wouldn't he have at least intimated it? He did not. He (evidently) simply announced that there would be an investigation.
Please note that I have not been arguing that Saddleback College coaches have engaged in wrongdoing. As I recall, I have thus far simply noted these reports in the news media.
Would you rather I not do that?
I'm sure glad IVC is not on the list!
BvT: I certainly don't want you to think I'd rather not know further details. My point was just that, as the previous commenter indicated, it's possible that the per-individual amount of the gifts was quite small.
Even if the per-individual amounts were small, it's still not ethical. But if ethics are relative, I'd say it's more unethical to fail to report a $10,000 gift than it is to fail to report a $200 gift.
gj, of course you are correct.
I do occasionally find it necessary, however, to remind some readers that a report of an accusation is not itself an accusation.
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