LOS ANGELES
A man has been charged with allegedly pocketing tens of thousands of dollars while he worked as a principal at two schools over the past four years, state prosecutors stated.
“Betraying students, their parents and school administrators is the ultimate failure for those who are the face and voice of a school,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said.
Kyle Douglas,50, was charged one count each of misappropriation of public funds, forgery, and grand theft.
He pleaded not guilty Thursday.
In 2017, while employed as the principal at Inglewood High School, the defendant is accused of negotiating a contract with a company for the private use of the school’s parking lot, according to officials.
He allegedly did not receive authorization and profited about $57,000 from the deal.
Two years later, while working as a principal at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Pasadena, Douglas is accused of collecting about $10,000 for a student trip to China and never paying the company that he hired to organize the trip, according to officials.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “The Pasadena Unified School District said it could not comment specifically about the charges, but said in a statement: ‘As soon as the district learned about the allegations against Mr. Douglas, he was immediately placed on a leave of absence. We fully cooperated with law enforcement in this investigation.’”