Former Capistrano Unified School District Foundation fundraising director charged with embezzlement
The former director of the nonprofit once known as the Capistrano Unified School District Foundation has been charged with embezzling more than $42,000, prosecutors said.
Michelle Hart, 44, of Fresno wrote checks to herself and made unauthorized purchases with the foundation’s bank card, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.
On Aug. 20 she was charged with six felony counts of misappropriation or embezzlement of monies by a public officer, according to the criminal complaint.
The foundation’s role to was raise money for the Capistrano Unified School District and Hart served as the executive director from May 2014 to December 2017. She resigned after it was determined that theft had occurred.
Authorities knew Hart had relocated to Fresno and local police arrested her on Thursday, Aug. 22, District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Kimberly Edds said.
Hart was being held in lieu of $42,088.91 bail, the same amount she is accused of embezzling. She will have to travel to Orange County to face the charges against her, Edds said.
The foundation was recently renamed the CARE Foundation.
In October, the Capistrano Unified School District asked the nonprofit to stop using the district’s name to raise money, saying the group had not been transparent enough in its finances and had different funding goals.
The allegations of embezzlement were also part of the rift between the district and the foundation.
Last September, the foundation filed a civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Hart accusing her of stealing more than $50,000.
A notice of settlement was filed with the court on July 1, though the terms of the agreement were not outlined.
“The foundation worked with Ms. Hart to settle our dispute,” CARE’s attorney Stephen Rosen said.
The details of the pending settlement are confidential, he said.
Court records show the agreement calls for a request to formally dismiss the lawsuit be filed by Oct. 31, 2020.