Posted on 08/09/2017 10:49:23 AM PDT by Mark
The former director of food services for the Los Angeles Unified School District has been charged with misappropriation of public funds and embezzlement for allegedly diverting $65,000 in district money to a culinary club he controlled, prosecutors said Tuesday.
David Binkle, 55, is also accused of forging a district vendor application, failing to report his outside financial interests to the district and funneling public funds into his personal bank account, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office said in a statement. All told, hes accused of 15 felony counts.
Binkle resigned from the LAUSD in 2015 following a critical audit of the food services program.
The audit said the $341 million-a-year program under his direction had problems dating back to the districts 2011 decision to let food services forgo standard contracting practices with the expectation that administrative costs would be lowered.
Expensive hotel stays and millions of dollars in waste were also uncovered by the audit, which was released by the districts inspector general.
The ex-director was, as this paper reported in 2015, a champion of healthy eating, even appearing at the White House alongside then first lady Michelle Obama and starring in TEDx Talks.
Prosecutors say between 2010 and 2014, he allegedly diverted the money to the culinary club, for which he was president.
If convicted, he faces 13 years and eight months in state prison, according to the D.A.s office. Prosecutors have said an arrest warrant was filed on Aug. 2. He was released on $220,000 bail.
When reached by phone on Tuesday, Binkles attorney, Alec Rose, declined to elaborate on the case.
On Tuesday, calls to several phone numbers listed for Binkle were either disconnected or not returned.
A better article:
http://freebeacon.com/issues/official-met-michelle-obama-wh-indicted-stealing-school-lunch-funds/
Maybe he can get a job at CA DMV forging drivers licenses for illegals.
I hear prison food is pretty healthy.
“Don’t drop the soap.”
That's not to say that the kleptocrat shouldn't have to reimburse, and do time, and be held up as an example to all the other rank-and-file city employees.
What a piker. He should have set up a tax-free charity and called it the ____ Foundation and taken in donations for Haiti and given out less than 10% of the money.
Shoot, his daughter could have “borrowed” some of the tax-free money to pay for her wedding. That’s super-legit and legal.
Set up an illegal email server, run for office, do pay for play, influence-peddling, work with Obama.
He could have been worth $100 million dollars and had fools carrying his water.
If you are a Democrat you think everyone should have their lunch money stolen in a public school as a part of the “socialization” process.
>>$65K is chicken-feed.
That was my reaction, too. Something else is going on here. Great post. Your hypotheses cover all the possibilities I can think of.
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