Fullerton Soccer Club Dealing with Embezzlement Charges
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COMMUNITY ullerto♥ n bsCeALErNDAvR Peage 1r 4-15 FULLFERTON’S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS • Est.1978 (printedO on 20% recycled paper) • YEAR 38 #2 • EARLY FEBRUARY 2016 Submissions: [email protected] • Contact: (714) 525-6402 • Read Online at : www.fullertonobserver.com COUNTY OPENS HOMELESS SHELTER AT SANTA ANA BUS TERMINAL OC Supervisors approved an emergency shelter at the former Santa Ana Transit Terminal, located at 400 W. Santa Ana Blvd., at a special January 29 meeting held so that beds could be prepared before the upcoming weekend rains. On January 27 the Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the property, received approval from Federal Transit Administration officials to lease the terminal to the county for use as a temporary shelter. Federal approval was necessary because OCTA used an FTA grant to purchase the property. The monthly rental rate is $11,615. The lease states that the county’s use of the terminal shall be limited to emergency sheltering services related to inclement weather and severe rain events during the El Niño rainy season for a period not longer than five months. According to the lease, providing meals or other servic - es at the site is not permitted. The county previously approved an Parks & Recreation Director Hugo Curiel attended the meeting and answered questions about changes from the city’s point of view that agreement to purchase the 44,892 sq ft. need to occur to fix lapses in the club’s filings after embezzlement and other irregularities surfaced. PHOTO BY DOMINIQUE BRIET property from OCTA on December 22, but that transaction is not expected to COLLEGE TOWN FORUM close escrow until April 2016. Fullerton Soccer Club Dealing by Jane Rands with Embezzlement Charges Betsy Gibbs, Chair of Neighbors United for Fullerton (NUFF), aptly facil - 7 . A by Tracy Wood & Spencer Custodio criticized the board by denying them itated the forum on CollegeTown held at 7 S D . 5 C I D 1 www.voiceofoc.org spots on teams. U the public library on January 25. A E . N P T D The full board of directors will meet O Fullerton’s Director of Community O E is investi- R The District Attorney’s office R N T G A O Feb. 2 with city officials to discuss a range Development Karen Haluza, and City R T gating the former treasurer of the A S D I E T E of issues, including the for-profit compa - Planning Manager Heather Allen provid - L N S Fullerton Rangers youth soccer group for M R L A O P R ny. Club officers also must prove that at ed an abbreviated presentation before T U P possibly embezzling more than $190,000 E S F P from the volunteer organization, accord- least 80 percent of the soccer players live fielding questions from a full house of res - ing to the Fullerton Police Department. in Fullerton. The city regulates use of city idents anxious for answers. Separately, soccer club officials fields by nonprofit groups. The CollegeTown Specific Plan (SP) said Wednesday night the for- The club sponsors about study was equally funded by CSUF, Hope mer treasurer, Laura Zellerbach, The Fullerton 172 teams and Hugo Curiel, International University (HIU) and the agreed to a confidential civil Rangers Fullerton's parks and recre - City of Fullerton in 2008. The SP would court settlement last fall but haven’t done ation director, told those at change the zoning to increase density up lawyers for the club told them a full, the meeting that the city to 3400 residential units, 200,000 square not to publicly disclose the wanted to maintain recre - feet of commercial space, nearly 300,000 T independent amount. ational soccer. of office space, and about 173,000 of N But, he stressed that tax - E audit of institutional (school) space. The SP L The Fullerton Rangers filed a L D payers pay for the playing would not just set height maximums, but A Fullerton its finances, I complaint with the C S fields and recreational, non- also height minimums to ensure new 2 E police department in May, despite the S E 0 R I competitive use is the city's building would increase the density in the E 4 R 2015, said Fullerton police T missing V 6 top priority. R area. One of the SP zones near the 57 - R spokeswoman Sgt. Kathryn T E E money... 5 “If there is a for-profit out freeway would be maximized to ten sto - V S N Hamel. The complaint alleged 2 D B there,” Curiel said, “that is E ries. If approved, the SP would not 5 at least $192,000 was missing A - R O something that goes above require any immediate changes. Rather, 4 between 2012 and 2015. O R E 1 and beyond ...” the development would occur on the T 7 U H “The case is at the DA’s office,” said T Rangers board member Jimmy Obleda, property owners’ (CSUF, HIU, and other C Hamel, adding it can take several months N director of coaching and technical devel - private owners) timelines. I R to investigate such allegations. opment, said all money received by the The residential units will require only O Zellerbach apparently left the Fullerton Rangers before the complaint was filed. for-profit group, Rangers Academy LLC, 1.95 parking spaces per unit regardless of Her husband, James Zellerbach, declined goes to pay coaches. number of bedrooms in the unit. to discuss the issue Thursday in a brief According to the Fullerton Rangers web Continued on page 18 telephone conversation. site, the academy is for children five to “It’s a confidential settlement,” Rangers eight years old and those who enroll “will private academy is being dissolved and President Raul Valdivia told a reporter have an enhanced opportunity to gradu - that its work will be done by the non- during a break in the meeting, declining ate into our competitive Fullerton profit Fullerton Rangers. to give an exact amount for the missing Rangers Club teams.” According to the most recent, publicly money. Board members said it was the former available tax statements, the Rangers 4 treasurer, Zellerbach, who suggested they bring in about $1 million a year, mostly 3 In addition to the alleged embezzle- 8 form the private company. Obleda said from membership dues and assessments, N 2 ment, the sometimes-heated soccer club R 9 1 O after the meeting that the academy was 5 E and spend roughly $900,000, the bulk for A board meeting highlighted other issues, 0 T V 7 C created in response to requests from par - coaches salaries and training. R including allegations that a for-profit R X N ents for more competitive training for E The Fullerton Rangers haven’t done a E O O company was wrongly operating under L S B T their children. full, independent audit of its finances, R L the umbrella of the nonprofit soccer club B O E “We thought we weren’t doing anything P despite the missing money, because of the U L and accusations that some non-profit O L F wrong,” he said. “We were actually trying cost, board members said. U board members were acting in secret or F punishing the children of parents who to do the right thing.” He said that the Contact Tracy Wood [email protected] Page 2FULLERTON OBSERVER COMMUNITY OPINIONS EARLY FEBRUARY 2016 so pale like a white sheet of paper, so we PASSION FOR JUSTICE by Synthia Tran © 2016 are very worried.” “I am fine, please go Fullerton back to bed,” I said with a weak smile. Father in the ER Hospital staff left the patient’s care to Observer the family, so we took turns to be with A few months before father fell ill, I nurse announced that father had no blood father during the day, stay overnight, and The Fullerton Observer Community came back to Vietnam for a regular visit, for her to take, none! That was when the take care of father. He didn’t want me to Newspaper, founded by Ralph and Natalie and we made the most of that summer. doctor provided us with the aplastic pneu - sleep on two chairs, by his bed in the hos - Kennedy and a group of friends in 1978, is On a day that father didn’t go swimming monia prognosis. staffed by local citizen volunteers who create, pital; he told me to go home and rest, but publish, and distribute the paper throughout with our cousin, I walked with him to the It was my brother’s turn to visit father, I disobeyed him every now and then, just our community. beach, and I took pictures of him and his so he went. Even though father needed a to be with him and to give my cousins a This venture is a not-for-profit one with friends or whomever stopped and greeted blood transfusion (and his blood type was break. all ad and subscription revenues plowed back him. I had those pictures developed, and rare), he refused to take his children’s The janitor was mean. She started into maintaining and improving our inde - the next morning when we walked, I blood. My brother had to pretend that he pendent, non-partisan, non-sectarian com - mopping the floor at 4:30am. If I came in munity newspaper. handed the pictures to the same people. had gone swimming at the beach while he a minute late, she wouldn’t let me walk Our purpose is to inform Fullerton resi - Everyone was happy.