DA Office coverup?

     Remember the Lapes “kickback scheme” scandal that involved various South County high school coaches and, as I recall, one Saddleback College employee (who, as I recall, was quietly reprimanded, or some such thing)?
     Well, the Lapes business is back in the news:

Public Defender: DA Investigator Involved in Kickback Scheme (Voice of OC)

     A court filing by the Orange County Public Defender's Office claims that the District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges in an alleged kickback scheme involving high school coaches and a sports equipment supplier apparently because one of its top investigators was involved in similar “criminal activity” with the same company.
     The allegation follows the DA's Office decision to not file charges against three Capistrano Unified School District coaches allegedly involved in a kickback scheme with Laguna Hills-based Lapes Athletic Team Sales. An earlier investigation by Capistrano Unified found that the coaches accepted bribes from Lapes Athletic Team Sales and stole more than $80,000 from the district.
     “The District Attorney’s Office has failed to pursue the matter despite sufficient evidence, giving rise to the appearance of protecting its own,” Deputy Public Defender Adam Vining claimed in a motion filed last month....

     Naturally, “The DA's Office says Vining's assertions are baseless.” But the DA’s Office has little credibility.

     As PBS SoCal and Voice of OC first reported last year, Bill Lapes, the founder of Lapes Athletic, is accused of orchestrating an elaborate slush fund and bribery scheme involving dozens of high school coaches across Southern California. Lapes allegedly siphoned off a portion of purchases into secret “slush” accounts from which he would write checks to coaches.
     All told, Capistrano Unified found that its coaches violated nine state and federal laws, including embezzlement, defrauding the district, and circumventing open bidding requirements.
     Despite the school district's findings, DA's Office declined to prosecute the case....

     Let's see where this goes.

Discussion items for Oct. 29 board meeting

Discussion items for Monday

This appears under "reports"

Prop 32 is yet another iteration of an old union-busting gambit, this time prancing furtively as a Trojan Horse. We've seen it here in OC before. It'll be interesting to see if our trustees, nearly all of whom are Republicans, have anything to say about it.

Tom would have been all over it.

Signs of the Times