SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Capistrano Unified trustees on Wednesday night will discuss revisions to a district policy governing how employees make school purchases and accrue credits and incentives, just two days after they fired three high school coaches believed to have secretly received kickbacks from a sporting equipment company.
Capistrano Unified school board policy would be revised to clarify that employees cannot receive “gifts, incentives, inducements, favors, monetary returns either promised or given, and/or rebates of any kind” that don’t “accrue directly” to the district.
Former Dana Hills High head football coach Brent Melbon hugs one of his players after a 2009 football game. Melbon, who worked as a full-time P.E. teacher at the Dana Point school, was fired Monday by Capistrano Unified trustees for his involvement in a money kickback scheme involving a sporting equipment company.TEXT BY SCOTT MARTINDALE, FILE PHOTO: KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTERMORE PHOTOS »
On Monday, the district’s seven trustees voted unanimously to terminate and seek “financial restitution” from former head football coaches Eric Patton of San Clemente High, Chi Chi Biehn of Mission Viejo’s Capistrano Valley High and Brent Melbon of Dana Point’s Dana Hills High.
District spokesman Marcus Walton said the proposed policy revision was part of a routine updating of a number of district rules, and not connected to any specific event or action.
“There’s no reason for the timing of this board policy coming forward now,” Walton said. “It’s just something that most organizations continually look at and evaluate as they continue their operations.”
Walton stressed that the proposed revision was intended to clarify existing board policies already barring employees from accepting gifts and money. Indeed, existing board Policy 3291 prohibits employees from accepting gifts “in which it could be construed that the gift was given as a condition for providing educational services to a student, or to influence the district’s decision to purchase instructional materials or any other items of value.”
The proposed revision to Capistrano Unified board Policy 3315 states in part, “Any supplier attempting to or providing such incentives shall result in the immediate termination of any existing and future order(s) to the supplier. The district will take any and all appropriate actions deemed necessary including, but not limited to, referral to local law enforcement authorities.”
On Wednesday night, district trustees will conduct an initial review of the proposed policy revision; it likely will then be voted on at a meeting next month.
Protracted investigation
Capistrano’s decision to remove three veteran coaches from the field and from their full-time teaching positions was the culmination of a 16-month district investigation into high school coaches who did business with Lapes Athletic Team Sales, a now-defunct Laguna Hills sporting equipment company.
At least three other Capistrano Unified assistant football coaches may have been disciplined for their involvement in the scheme.
The district’s investigation centered on personal spending accounts that Capistrano coaches allegedly maintained with Lapes Athletic over the past two decades, allowing them to convert school district funds into personal credits that they could then spend as they saw fit, without district oversight.
Most of the public taxpayer money appeared to have been funneled back into athletic programs, although independent media investigations, including the Register’s, found some of the money may have been spent on personal clothing gear for coaches and other improper uses.
Although Capistrano Unified officials have insisted they cannot comment on the cases, they have stressed that the district would be compelled to investigate any employee who used even one dollar of public taxpayer money for an “unapproved purchase.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department launched a probe last year, but has not released any findings.
Origins of probe
The misconduct by the coaches was brought to Capistrano Unified’s attention about 1-1/2 years ago by Irvine investors Geoff and Teresa Sando, who acquired the Lapes Athletic company and its billing records in 2008, in the wake of an investment deal that turned sour.
As they sifted through the bankrupt company’s financial records, the Sandos discovered that founder and long-time owner Bill Lapes had maintained personal spending accounts for the coaches that allowed them to convert taxpayer money into spending credits.
The Sandos accused coaches at about 30 O.C. high schools and community colleges of being part of the scheme, and turned over detailed accounting ledgers and other financial records to the school districts.
Mission Viejo’s Saddleback College subsequently disciplined one athletic department employee, and Patton’s attorney, Eric Hansen, said at least three other San Clemente High assistant football coaches were disciplined as well.
Irvine Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified said they did not discipline any employees, while Saddleback Valley Unified said its investigation was ongoing.
Although the Sandos have acknowledged their relationship with Lapes dates back to when Geoff Sando began working as the company’s part-time accountant – and the Sandos subsequently invested money into the business – the Sandos maintain that Bill Lapes kept two sets of books, and that they were unaware of the coaches’ personal spending accounts until after the company went bankrupt.
Bill Lapes has never granted an interview on the matter; his sons, Chad and Adam, who once worked for their father, have suggested the Sandos knew of the scheme all along and only publicized it because they lost money in the Lapes investment deal.
The Sandos said many districts across Southern California were watching the Capistrano case closely, and more are likely to move forward in the wake of the discipline imposed there.
