Embezzlement

The superintendent of a tiny school district near Mt. Shasta is facing embezzlement and grand theft charges. Aldo John Zanotto, 51, is scheduled to appear in court Monday to continue his arraignment on five counts of embezzlement and four counts of grand theft. Siskiyou County investigators began looking into the finances of the Weed Union Elementary School District last spring after county school officials found discrepancies in the district's books. Assistant Dist. Atty.

The former president of California's biggest union local pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges that he enriched himself by stealing from the low-income workers he represented. Tyrone Freeman, who headed Local 6434 of the Service Employees International Union, entered his plea to a 15-count indictment returned in July. A trial has been set for Nov. 20 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Freeman, 42, is free on $50,000 bail. The indictment includes allegations that he embezzled union funds, billed the organization for costs of his Hawaiian wedding, violated tax laws and gave false information to a mortgage lender.

Embezzlement charges against leaders of a Bell Gardens youth soccer league have been dismissed after witnesses for the prosecution could not be found. "We were unable to proceed to trial because we could not locate sufficient witnesses," Deputy Dist. Atty. Ann Rundle said. Supporters of Danny and Martha Lopez steadfastly maintained that the couple were innocent after their arrest last October on suspicion of misdemeanor embezzlement.

A Quantico Marine Corps corporal shot to death earlier this week was assisting an inquiry into an alleged embezzlement scheme involving personnel assigned to the helicopter squadron that serves President Bush, law enforcement sources said Thursday. The sources said Cpl. Estella Pearson, 26, who was killed Monday in a parking lot in Woodbridge, Va., was investigating a scheme apparently linked to the payment of travel money for trips never taken by military personnel.

A Santa Monica city official was arrested on charges of embezzlement and grand theft Tuesday after being accused of bilking the city of nearly $400,000 by allegedly making illegal payments to companies he controlled, police said. Charles M. Cota, 43, was arrested at his office in Santa Monica City Hall, where he is a supervisor in the city's Risk Claims Department. Investigators said Cota, of Valencia, wrote settlement checks for claims against the city to four firms he controlled.

Police said they arrested a former Homedco Inc. clerk this week and charged him with embezzling $345,000. Michael John Rangel, 31, of Huntington Beach was arrested Wednesday by Fountain Valley police at a restaurant in that city after what police said was a two-month investigation. After searching Rangel's home, police said more than $300,000 was "still missing." Police believe most of that money "has been spent," said Detective Rick Martinez.

An Arcadia man who founded a charity to raise money for kidney research at USC pleaded guilty this week to embezzling more than $147,000 from donors while charging the university more than $500,000 for fund-raising expenses. David Frederick Thornton, 37, also admitted bilking $400,000 from friends and relatives who thought they were helping him negotiate a business deal with the Nigerian government.

Former Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton, serving a two-year prison term for illegal weapons possession, on Friday was ordered tried on embezzlement charges relating to a now-defunct school operated by the party. Newton and another school official, Mark Alexander, appeared in Oakland Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing, then were ordered held for trial on charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds at Oakland Community School.

The live-in caretaker of a 92-year-old Costa Mesa woman has been arrested after allegedly embezzling more than $50,000 from the woman's savings account, police said. Over the past six months, Luseane Maikale Fuka, 32, of Costa Mesa allegedly forged checks and deposited them into her personal savings account, police investigators said. Fuka was arrested without incident Tuesday at the home of Grace Maupin, where Fuka had worked for the last four years, Police Sgt. Ron Smith said.

A Diamond Bar bookkeeper was sentenced Wednesday to four years and eight months in prison for embezzling $317,000 from a tire company where he kept the accounts, state tax officials said. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ordered Santosh K. Maheshwari, 60, to pay more than $317,000 in restitution to G.T. Tire and Wheel Co. of Bellflower. Maheshwari also was ordered to pay $18,823 in delinquent state income taxes and penalties, plus the cost of the investigation.