Judge Change Delays Arraignment Hearing

*By Nickolas Furr and Lina Chankar

Following nearly six weeks of delays, Superior Court Judge Ana España pushed back the arraignment hearing of former Southwestern College administrators a third time, to April 12. España said she wanted to review the material and “understand what the issues are.” There are 60,000 different documents involved, according to San Diego County District Attorney estimates.

Arraignments were originally scheduled to begin Jan. 7 at the San Diego Central Courthouse. Judge Timothy Walsh pushed back the date of arraignments until Jan. 30 and moved the location of the court to the South County Courthouse in Chula Vista. Judge Stephanie Sontag was to preside. The District Attorney’s office filed a motion to move the case back to San Diego, but last week Walsh ordered it to remain in South County, citing the fact that since most defendants and the school districts were from this part of the county, the case should remain in Chula Vista. On Feb. 15, Sontag assigned the case to España.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis began issuing indictments in the South Bay Corruption Case in December 2010. Dumanis called it the largest corruption case of its kind in San Diego County history. So far the D.A.’s office has filed 232 criminal charges against 15 elected officials, school administrators and school contractors in three different school districts. There have been complaints about the size of the courtroom, which seats about 30 people. After defendants and members of the press are allowed inside, there are only seats for five or six members of the public. With the trial in Chula Vista, many members of the public who queue up outside the courtroom expressed concern that they might never be able to attend the trial.

Depressed Chopra Fails to Appear at Arraignment Hearing

*By Nickolas Furr and Lina Chankar

Residents of the Southwestern Community College District who expected to see former SWC president Raj K. Chopra and former vice president Nicholas Alioto arraigned in court on Wednesday were sorely disappointed.

Gary Cabello and his ex-lawyer outside court / Photo: Marshall Murphy

For the second time in a month, Chopra failed to appear in a San Diego Superior Courtroom for his arraignment hearing. Defense lawyers again cited Chopra’s health as the reason for his absence. Chopra is claiming “severe depression.”

Alioto, summoned from Wisconsin, did appear, along with the 13 other defendants of the “South Bay Corruption Scandal,” an investigation San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis called the worst of its kind in county history.

Also present were former SWC trustees Yolanda Salcido and Jorge Dominguez, EOPS director Arlie Ricasa, former administrator John Wilson, and former interim president Greg Sandoval; Sweetwater trustees Pearl Quiñones, Bertha Lopez, and Jim Cartmill; former Sweetwater superintendent Jesus Gandara; San Ysidro School District Superintendent Manuel Paul; San Ysidro trustee Yolanda Hernandez; financier Gary Cabello; and Jeff Flores, the president of Seville Construction Services. Hernandez, who failed to appear on Jan. 9, has already been arraigned.

Chopra, Dominguez, Salcido Indicted as Corruption Case Widens

Arlie Ricasa / Photo by Marshall Murphy

*By Nickolas Furr and Lina Chankar

This was an online-only piece done for the SWC between Fall 12 and Spring 13 terms. Several students were involved and did this on their own time, without class involvement.

Former Southwestern College Superintendent Raj Kumar Chopra and former trustees Jorge Dominguez and Yolanda Salcido have joined four other current and former college leaders as defendants in a widening corruption case that now involves 15 people from three South Bay school districts.

A San Diego County grand jury handed down 232 criminal charges against elected officials and school contractors in what has become known as the “South Bay Corruption Scandal,” an investigation San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis called the largest of its kind in county history.

Fifteen defendants were summoned to Superior Court for arraignment Monday afternoon, six who had previously been charged and nine who were new to the indictments. The grand jury investigation resulted in indictments of administrators from Southwestern College, Sweetwater Union High School District and the San Ysidro School District.

Sweetwater Trustees Won't Get Legal Fees

*By Mary York and Nickolas Furr

Sofia Reyes / Photo: Christopher Soto

Sweetwater Union High School District trustees decided to take no action on a controversial agenda item that would have granted $1.3 million in legal fees to four trustees who have been under investigation by the San Diego County District Attorney in the South Bay pay-to-play scandal. Trustees let the agenda item die without motions at the end of a volatile seven-hour meeting.

Nearly 800 people packed the Hilltop High School gymnasium and sat on folding chairsand wobbly bleachers shouting “Shame! Shame!” and holding up signs with doctored photos of trustees behind prison bars. On the agenda were items to grant $400,000 each to indicated Sweetwater trustees Arlie Ricasa and Pearl Quiñones as well as former trustee Greg Sandoval. A fourth item sought $100,000 for trustee Bertha López whose home was searched by the district attorney but who has not been charged. Former Sweetwater superintendent Jesus Gandara was also indicted and has legal fees guaranteed in his severance package. Gandara was fired in June, 2011. DA investigators also searched the homes of former Southwestern College administrators Nicholas Alioto and John Wilson. They have not been indicted, though District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said more indictments were possible.