The SEC alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday, Jan. 12, in U.S. District Court that from December 2018 to January 2021, Yossi Engel induced at least 29 individuals to invest in his company, iWitness Tech, LLC by claiming their funds would be used to purchase and install security camera equipment.

Additionally, Engel also allegedly promised that investor funds would be used to purchase property in Israel that would be developed and sold.

“Both of these claims were false,” the SEC said in the suit seeking sanctions and undisclosed civil penalties against Engel. “Rather than use investor money to purchase cameras or develop property, Engel misappropriated the funds by spending investor money for his personal benefit and making Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors in an attempt to keep the scheme going.”

Engel cultivated a reputation in the Orthodox Jewish community as trustworthy, charismatic and generous. According to the SEC, he opened a small synagogue in a room next to his iWitness office where he taught from the Torah, which is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

“Engel, however, exploited the goodwill he engendered through his community activities to engage in a fraudulent securities offering scheme,” says the suit.

When investors asked Engel why he didn’t obtain bank loans for iWitness at a lower interest rate, he allegedly replied that because he was from Israel, he did not have sufficient credit in the United States.

“This was false, and the reason Engel could not obtain bank financing was because his businesses were not real,” states the suit.

Investors typically sent money to Engel and iWitness by wire or check. In some instances, Engel told investors to wire funds to another investor, who would provide them with payments, according to the SEC.

“Most iWitness investors did not question this flow of funds, but the ones who did were told that they needed to send money via the third party because the third party was capable of changing money in Israel at lower rates than the banks,” the suit says. “This was another falsehood.”

A group of investors allegedly was brought into the scheme by a person identified in the suit as “Individual A,” who was unaware of the fraud and believed the investments would be beneficial to his friends.

Individual A, who ultimately lost more than $700,000 of his own money, is now repaying investors more than $5.7 million because of the guarantees that he signed with them, says the suit.

Beginning in December 2018, Engel allegedly represented to existing and potential investors that he needed capital to purchase cameras and other equipment for iWitness, and would pay their investment returns from installation fees.

He allegedly offered at least one investor multiple variations on this deal, for different camera installation jobs, with investments ranging from $50,000 to $180,000, and rates of return of 10% to 20%.

However, in reality, iWitness’ camera installation business was never profitable and over five years worked on projects worth $10,000 to $20,000 for only 20 to 30 customers, says the suit.

The SEC alleges Engel also created an illusion of profitability by using investor funds to pay for office rent, cars and payroll.

“Engel’s representations about iWitness’ operations and the source of investor returns, and the appearance of iWitness as a profitable, ongoing business, were all material to investors’ decisions to invest in iWitness,” the suit says.

In April 2020, Engel allegedly began pitching a new investment scheme.

He allegedly told investors he had a special relationship with the mayor of Bnei Brak, a town in Israel with a high concentration of Orthodox residents, that enabled him to fast-track the development of units in apartment buildings that would be sold slightly below market, generating a quick profit.

In connection with this pitch, Engel sent investors and potential investors videos and pictures of an apartment building in Israel, a video of him sitting in the office of Bnei Brak’s mayor, and copies of land registrar documents, the suit states.

However, Engel later admitted there were no investment properties and he knew the land investment scheme was “based on lies,” the SEC said. The videos Engel sent investors were allegedly of apartments where he had once lived. Additionally, the video of Beni Brak’s mayor, with whom he did not share a special relationship, was taken when he simply stopped by the mayor’s office to say hello, the suit says.

Engel allegedly sent more than $2.5 million to currency exchangers in Israel, and he withdrew $861,000 in cash. Engel also spent $56,880 at casinos and to fly on private jets at least twice.

At the end of December 2020, his scheme collapsed. Engel, who had been urging investors to roll over their investments or agree to additional time for repayment, was unable to solicit additional investments to cover his obligations, and he fled the United States to Israel.

“After a flurry of emails in which he apologized for ruining people’s lives due to his ‘sickness,’ he briefly returned and, during that time, he met with some investors who were attempting to salvage their losses,” the suit said.

Engel eventually signed a notarized statement in February 2021 admitting to securities fraud, and participated in a recorded meeting with several investors a month later in which he admitted running a Ponzi scheme, said the SEC.

Engel told investors he would try to pay them back at that time, but has not returned to the United States, according to the suit.

Robert Fichidzhyan, 40, admitted in a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego that he built “skimmers” — customized electronic devices that his accomplices secretly installed at dozens of gas stations to steal credit and debit card information.

In addition to the prison term handed down Monday, Jan. 9, Fichidzhyan was ordered to forfeit $249,890, which is the amount he personally received from the scheme, and participate with seven co-defendants, who primarily reside in Granada Hills, Glendale and North Hollywood, in paying an additional $619,923 in restitution.

“Identity thieves should not assume they are safe committing electronic larceny,” U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman said in a statement. “Anyone who victimizes the public in our jurisdiction will be brought to justice.”

Agents with the U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service assisted federal prosecutors in the investigation.

A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment in September 2021 against the defendants, alleging access fraud conspiracy and various counts of aggravated identity theft. Fichidzhyan pleaded guilty to conspiring to use unauthorized access devices and possess device-making equipment.

Fichidzhyan is a prolific scammer, with credit card fraud and identity theft-related convictions dating back to 2002, when he was 19, according to prosecutors. In 2010 he and another individual were convicted in Utah of skimming victims’ financial information at gas pumps, collecting 4,052 stolen credit card numbers in 11 days, a sentencing memorandum says.

Fichidzhyan’s role in the Southern California scheme was to build skimming devices used extensively by his alleged co-conspirators.

Typically, fraudsters insert a skimming device inside an ATM or a gas pump to steal transaction data used by customers to complete bank withdrawals or gas purchases. The skimming device stores the stolen data until it is retrieved by the skimmer or an associate.

After retrieving the stolen data, a fraudster can encode a new unauthorized card bearing the victim’s real information, including the account and PIN number, and use it to make purchases or withdraw cash.

Fichidzhyan’s fingerprints showed up on skimming devices recovered during the investigation and were linked to his alleged co-conspirators, according to court documents.

Electronics supplier records show that Fichidzhyan ordered at least 14 separate shipments of the kinds of components used to build skimmers from July 2016 to July 2018 at his former residence and then transitioned to using straw recipients or addresses to receive supplies. Additionally, telephone records show that Fichidzhyan was in regular contact with the co-defendants who installed the skimming devices, suggesting that he actively provided technical support for his products, prosecutors said.

Federal agents began observing the alleged co-conspirators intensively installing and downloading from skimming devices at gas stations across Southern California in September 2019. Fingerprints belonging to two of the defendants were found on some of the skimmers seized by law enforcement, prosecutors said.

Other fingerprints and DNA recovered on the skimmers led agents to those involved in building the devices, including Fichidzhyan. Specifically, they found Fichidzhyan’s fingerprints on a skimming device recovered from a gas station in South Gate in September 2019 and his DNA on a device at another station in National City in July 2020, court records state.

Although Fichidzhyan’s only source of reported income besides unemployment and disability benefits was a $10-an-hour job at his parent’s health care business, his bank account included cash deposits of $249,890 during the duration of the conspiracy, according to court records.

Prosecutors say they haven’t been able to determine the exact number of victims in the skimming scheme because they are too numerous to calculate.

“Calculating the number of victims is difficult and time-consuming, as it requires comparing card numbers across hundreds of transactions and then attempting to trace card numbers to individual victims, which often requires multiple rounds of subpoenas and many hours of analysis by bank staff and investigating agents,” according to the sentencing memorandum.

A hearing for the seven remaining defendants is scheduled for March 20.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a court motion last week that it dismissed the case against Brian Javaade Meshkin, 46, “in the interests of justice.” The Ladera Ranch man, founder of Proove Biosciences Inc., was indicted in 2021 on charges of conspiracy and receiving and making illegal payments.

Charges also were dropped against Ossama Antoine Jawar, a former sales representative for Proove, and four physicians with the National Spine & Pain Center in Virginia. Three other defendants were granted immunity from prosecution and had their cases dismissed.

Kelly Thornton, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego, which handled the case, declined to comment on the dismissals.

Proove offered several pharmacogenetic tests that purportedly determined a patient’s risk of abusing certain prescription opioids and how patients metabolized certain drugs. The tests were marketed primarily to physicians who specialized in pain management.

Federal agents executed a search warrant in June 2017 at Proove’s headquarters and seized records.

The indictment alleged Meshkin carried out a scheme from early 2013 until June 2017 to pay physicians kickbacks ranging from $100 to $150 for each Proove test ordered for Medicare and Medicaid recipients. Additionally, the indictment claimed some of the Proove defendants leveraged outstanding kickback payments owed to physicians to demand that they order more tests.

The dismissal follows a Dec. 11 motion seeking an evidentiary hearing filed by Meshkin’s attorney, Jason de Bretteville.

The motion alleges a government “taint team” provided at least 85 potentially privileged documents belonging to Proove to prosecutors on the trial team.

A taint team typically is made up of Department of Justice attorneys and FBI agents who are independent of the trial team and screen evidence collected through search warrants, such as emails and other electronic documents, to determine if they are exempt from disclosure.

The purpose of the taint team is to insulate the prosecution from exposure to privileged attorney-client information.

Prosecutors said during a hearing that the allegations about the taint team are “wildly inaccurate,” but did not elaborate on their decision to drop the charges, said de Bretteville, who believes his motion prompted them to quickly back away from the case.

“The court was made aware of what happened and they dismissed the case,” he said in a phone interview. “The prosecution’s investigation started in 2013 and, as a result, nine people were indicted. Then the prosecution walked quietly into the night 30 days before trial.”

Meshkin said he feels vindicated by the government’s dismissal.

“Those words used by the government to dismiss this case — ‘in the interests of justice’ — ring especially true today for the millions affected by this misguided effort to destroy Proove,” he said in a statement. “There has been so much injustice over the past six years that it is wonderful to see truth prevail.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to set the record straight and to move forward from here with my head held high.”

Officers attempted to pull over a vehicle near Westminster Boulevard and Beach Boulevard, but the driver refused to stop, leading to a short chase, Westminster police said in a statement.

During the chase, police say, the driver threw the drugs from the window. One of the officers involved the pursuit said afterwards that “it looked like a snowstorm, according to a Saturday morning press release.

A short time later, the driver, who police identified as Tim Hughes of Downey, stopped the car and was arrested on suspected possession of narcotics for sale, felony evading and destruction of evidence, according to the statement.

Officers searched the pursuit route and recovered more than six ounces of methamphetamine and seven ounces of fentanyl. A potentially lethal dose of fentanyl constitutes only 0.00007 of an ounce.

An additional 300 fentanyl pills, an ounce of heroin and about $6,000 in cash were located inside the vehicle, police said.

In a lawsuit filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, Carol Wimber Wong and the other plaintiffs allege Alan and Kathryn Scott deceitfully sought positions as senior pastors with Vineyard Anaheim in 2017 to control tens of millions of dollars of assets. Then, in February, the Scotts left the umbrella organization Vineyard USA and renamed the church Dwelling Place.

“They had no intention of applying for the vacant senior pastor position until learning of Anaheim Vineyard’s substantial assets and knew that keeping Anaheim Vineyard in the worldwide Vineyard Movement was a material term of being hired as the senior pastors,” the lawsuit states.

Alan and Kathryn Scott did not respond to emails and phone calls placed to Dwelling Place seeking comment.

Jay Pathak, national director of Vineyard USA, said he regrets that the Scotts have removed the Anaheim church from the organization but believes the lawsuit is reasonable.

“While we are beyond grieved to have been informed of Vineyard Anaheim’s decision to end this process, we recognize the Scotts, their board and this church as our brothers and sisters in Christ,” he said in a statement. “We are praying that God will give them favor for the sake of their city and the kingdom.”

2,400 churches worldwide

Vineyard USA is an association of charismatic Protestant churches, noted for a spiritual awakening described as the “Vineyard Movement,” along with modern worship music. There are more than 2,400 Vineyard churches in 95 countries, including about 550 in the United States.

Wong’s husband, John Wimber, who died in 1997, was a founding leader of the Vineyard Movement. In 1982, the couple established the Anaheim Vineyard church.

In December 2017, Anaheim Vineyard recruited a new senior pastor following the resignation of its prior senior pastor, Lance Pittluck, who had served more than 20 years, according to the lawsuit.

The church formed a search committee and the Scotts, who had served as pastors of a Vineyard church in Northern Ireland, became candidates for positions as senior pastors at Anaheim Vineyard.

Settled in OC in 2017

Kathryn Scott and her husband relocated to Orange County in 2017, purportedly to further the wife’s musical career, the suit says. The Scotts socialized with Mike Safford, who was senior associate pastor of Vineyard Anaheim, and his wife, Liz Safford, and often discussed the church’s future, according to the suit.

“Mike Safford asked defendant Alan Scott in early 2017 whether he would be interested in becoming the Senior Pastor of Anaheim Vineyard once Pastor Lance Pittluck retired,” says the complaint.

“On multiple occasions, defendant Alan Scott represented to Mike Safford that he had no intent to continue affiliating with Vineyard USA and the Vineyard Movement following his resignation from the Vineyard church in Northern Ireland due to his dissatisfaction with the organization,” the suit states. “Defendant Alan Scott expressed his belief that he needed to launch a new Christian church that did not involve affiliation with Vineyard USA.”

Were assets the lure?

However, Alan Scott’s disinterest in the senior pastor position at Anaheim Vineyard allegedly changed in April 2017, when Mike Safford confided that the church had nearly $74 million in assets.

“At the time, Mike Safford initially thought the conversation was merely ‘shop talk’ but Liz Safford discerned that the conversation was very concerning, as though defendant Alan Scott had an ulterior motive,” the suit states.

Then Alan Scott, despite his dissatisfaction with Vineyard USA and the Vineyard Movement, applied to replace Pittluck when he retired. The Scotts were quickly hired by the church’s search committee as senior pastors.

The suit claims that neither the search committee nor the board of directors were aware of Alan Scott’s previously expressed dissatisfaction with the Vineyard Movement. It also alleges that throughout the job interview process, the Scotts made it clear they would keep  Anaheim Vineyard in the Vineyard Movement and Vineyard USA, despite knowing those representations were false.

Additionally, after assuming leadership for the church, Alan Scott allegedly encouraged board members who did not support him to resign from their positions and refrain from nominating themselves for a new term.

“Defendant Alan Scott has sought to avoid any financial accountability to Anaheim Vineyard members for his decisions,” the suit states. “He has implemented a campaign to exert spiritual manipulation and deception over staff and its members.”

Then, on Feb. 25, 2022, without the knowledge of Vineyard USA officials, Alan Scott publicly announced that Anaheim Vineyard would be leaving the worldwide movement.

“Plaintiffs allege that the Scott defendants always intended to remove Anaheim Vineyard and its $62 million in assets from the worldwide Vineyard Movement,” the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Alan Scott publicly stated on March 25 that he doesn’t know why Anaheim Vineyard left Vineyard USA and the worldwide movement. “Instead,” the complaint alleges, “he simply asserts that he uniquely hears from God and that he is told to leave the Vineyard Movement and Vineyard USA with its millions of dollars in assets.”

During a three-hour hearing Wednesday, Dec. 14, Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Michele Minor and Deputy Commissioner Neil Chambers determined that Thongxay Nilakout, who fatality shot and robbed 64-year-old Gisela Pfleger, is suitable for release, said the woman’s daughter, Birte Pfleger of Rancho Palos Verdes.

The victim’s husband, Klaus Pfleger, who was 62 at the time, also was gunned down but survived.

Dana Simas, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections, confirmed the parole hearing panel’s recommendation.

However, recommendations do not result in the automatic release of an inmate, she said. Those recommendations are followed by a review period of up to 120 days by the full Board of Parole Hearings. Gov. Gavin Newsom then has 30 days to review the board’s recommendation and determine if the inmate will receive or be denied parole.

Birte Pfleger, 54, along with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, plan to request that Newsom deny Nilakout’s parole. “The State of California and a judge said he needs to be put away for life,” she said. “You can’t tell me he has really changed. Someone like that doesn’t change. Premeditated murder is beyond rehabilitation.”

Nilakout, 17 years old at the time of the crime, was originally sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, in 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life-without-parole sentences are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. Justices ruled children are constitutionally different from adults for sentencing purposes, noting that their lack of maturity and underdeveloped sense of responsibility can lead to recklessness, impulsiveness and risk-taking.

About 2,000 juvenile inmates nationwide serving mandatory life-without-parole sentences, including Nilakout, were impacted by the decision. Nilakout was denied parole in 2019.

Nilakout’s accomplice, Khamchan Bret Ketsouvannasane, who was 19 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and remains incarcerated. A third defendant, getaway driver Xou Yang, also then 19 and described by authorities as the “mastermind” of the robbery, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received 25 years to life in prison. He has since been paroled.

All three men had immigrated from Laos and were living in Banning when they hatched the robbery plot.

Birte Pfleger, a history professor at Cal State Los Angeles, has purposely avoided telling her now 90-year-old father, who lives in Germany, about Yang’s parole and Nilakout’s possible release because he still suffers physically and mentally from the shooting.

“The last little peace of mind that he had was when he found out that they (Yang and Nilakout) were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” she said.

Birte Pfleger said she was studying for her master’s degree in history at Cal State Long Beach, when her parents came from Germany to visit her on Friday, May 13, 1994. Over the weekend, she took them to the J. Paul Getty Museum and Universal CityWalk.

However, on Monday, May 16, the Los Angeles area was enshrouded in “June gloom,” a weather pattern that causes cloudy, overcast skies and cool temperatures. Birte Pfleger suggested that her parents drive to Idyllwild, where the skies would be clearer and the scenery picturesque.

The Pflegers were robbed and attacked while photographing flowers at a scenic overlook on Highway 243, about a half-mile from Lake Fulmor. A  photograph taken by Klaus Pfleger just moments before the shooting shows his wife carrying a pair of binoculars.

Nilakout forced Gisela Pfleger to the ground and shot her twice in the back of the head while she struggled to keep her purse, which contained $295, her daughter said. Klaus Pfleger was shot in twice in the face and once in the torso.

Miraculously, he was able to drive to Lake Fulmor and, although unable to talk, managed to scribble a note stating that he was German and was able to direct authorities to the location of his dead wife, Birte Pfleger said. After undergoing surgery at Desert Regional Medical Center, he also provided a precise description of the attackers and their vehicle, she added.

Police received tips from Banning’s Hmong community that led them to the attackers several days after the shooting.

The 25-page civil complaint filed by university police Sgt. Marcus Simpson accuses President Soraya Coley of systematically blocking such probes to protect the school’s reputation and preserve her job, which she has held since January 2015.

“The university has a historical and continuous pattern of preventing criminal wrongdoing from being reported to the (Los Angeles County) district attorney in order that the university does not receive negative publicity,” states the lawsuit, which was filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Simpson also claims he and other officers who challenged Coley about not reporting criminal activity and changing police reports were retaliated against.

The suit, which names Coley, Cal Poly Pomona Vice President Christina Gonzales, interim university Police Chief Scott VanScoy and former California State University System Chancellor Joseph Castro as defendants, seeks $10,000 in damages for each instance of retaliation.

Cal Poly Pomona officials deny the lawsuit’s allegations.

“The university believes that the lawsuit is without merit and that the allegations substantially misrepresent the facts,” said spokesperson Cynthia A. Peters. “We have at all times operated legally, ethically and transparently.”

CSU system officials declined to comment further about the specific allegations because the matter involves pending litigation.

“CSU takes very seriously any and all allegations of misconduct, policy violations and fiscal improprieties,” Michael Uhlenkamp, a spokesperson for the system, said in an email. “When any such allegations are brought to our attention, we take appropriate action in response.”

The lawsuit follows a whistleblower complaint from Simpson and four other campus officers filed with the CSU system in May 2021 against Coley and Gonzalez alleging malfeasance, fiduciary incompetence and unethical leadership.

The suit, first reported by Cal Poly Pomona’s student newspaper, the Poly Post, cites several instances in which Coley allegedly attempted to thwart or prevent criminal investigations at the university.

Embezzlement probe abandoned

In one instance, according to the suit, Cal Poly Pomona officials became aware in February 2017 that a professor was embezzling grant money to purchase personal items and finance a European trip unrelated to school activities.

Campus police investigators were preparing a search warrant for the professor’s home in Long Beach when Coley allegedly ordered the agency to halt its probe.

“Due to the investigation being stopped by defendant, no documentation regarding this incident was submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney or any other prosecuting agency,” the suit says. “This is despite the fact that upon the initial investigation, it appeared that serious crimes had been committed.”

The allegations against the professor, who was not identified in the lawsuit, appear to align with those detailed in a 2018 investigative report from CSU system auditors involving reimbursements from the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation to a faculty member.

At the time, the faculty member, identified only as “Employee A,” was co-director of the California Center for Land and Water Stewardship.

From July 31, 2011, to Aug. 23, 2016, according to the report, 28 payments totaling $40,576 were reimbursed to either the employee or in the name of her husband, .

It wasn’t clear from the documentation whether Cal Poly Pomona Foundation officials were aware the individual being reimbursed was the faculty member’s husband, but they knew the reimbursement was for purchases she made using his credit card.

Additionally, the auditors were not always able to determine if the professor’s travel reimbursement claims were appropriate or in accordance with acceptable policies because, in some instances, they were submitted months or even years after the travel occurred.

For example, nine separate reimbursement claims were submitted on May 11, 2015, for transactions that occurred as far back as April 10, 2012, more than three years earlier.

The professor used foundation funds to purchase hundreds of items that were shipped to her home, including dozens of planters, approximately 200 bags of container mix, trellises, a composter, a mulcher, canning supplies, cookbooks, a cheese-making kit, and a NutriBullet blender.

Questioned about the business purpose of the items, the professor said they were related to a project and the pending publication of a paper exploring whether the perceived value of growing food is greater if the grown food is cooked or canned.

Auditors also found that the faculty member improperly used foundation funds to pay a student for research involving the breed of dog that she owned and to run errands related to her dogs.

Simpson’s claims echo those of former university police Lt. Aaron Eaton, 52, who retired in August 2020.

Eaton recalled traveling with former university Police Chief Dario Robinson to the Long Beach home of the professor suspected of  embezzlement. Their initial trip to the house was to get a legal description of the property to add to a search warrant that was expected to be served later.

“I believed full well that we were going to go back maybe within the next week and serve the search warrant. That didn’t happen.” Eaton said by phone Friday.

“Several weeks to maybe a month later I asked the chief, ‘What’s going on with that particular investigation?’ and he said that it was no longer being investigated,” he said.

Eaton said he believes the case was dropped so the university could avoid “bad press.”

After pressing on the embezzlement case and raising issues of malfeasance, he said he stopped receiving information from Robinson on other cases. Eaton claims his relationship with Robinson was fine until he started pushing back on university leadership’s interference in criminal investigations.

“Once Dario realized that I wasn’t going to participate in some of those types of things that they were doing, then it became obvious that I was the enemy,” he said.

Starting his career in 1991 with the Montclair Police Department and later serving 15 years with the Long Beach Police Department, Eaton came to Cal Poly Pomona in 2016 as a lieutenant. He said his experience at the university was unlike any other he had experienced working in law enforcement.

“I think the university puts itself on a different level than other organizations,” Eaton said. “They believe that the activities or criminal activities that happen on a campus are or should be contained on the campus. They believe that they have an overriding administrative way of doing things and rarely do they want it to be investigated criminally.”

He said he left the university due to “ongoing retaliatory actions for the things that I was standing up for.”

Ultimately, no criminal or administrative action was taken against the faculty member, who was allowed to retire from Cal Poly Pomona, according to Simpson’s lawsuit.

Don’t publicize embezzlement

Campus police also allegedly encountered interference from Coley in February 2020 amid allegations that Jeanette Bernardette Paredez, an accounting specialist at the Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, had embezzled nearly $1 million over two decades.

Paredez stole the funds by entering her mother into the university’s processing system as a vendor at the foundation’s Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel and used phony invoices to pay for services her mother had not performed, according to federal court records.

Paredez pleaded guilty in February 2021 to mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. She was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution.

Simpson, who at the time was in charge of the patrol and investigation divisions, alleges Coley ordered changes to the police department’s criminal report so she and the university would not look bad if details about the report became public.

The changes “ensured that it did not appear that Coley or other university administration had failed in their supervision, or other duties, that led to the embezzlement taking place,” the suit states.

Efforts by the Southern California News Group to obtain the police report were unsuccessful.

Coley, who previously served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Cal State Bakersfield for 10 years, also allegedly forbade the police department from issuing a press release on the embezzlement case.

“Coley specifically did this because she wanted to distance herself from the situation, fearing that it may get her fired,” states the suit. “Thus, she tried to hide the fact that she was on the board of directors of the foundation at that time, and that she should have taken actions to ensure such illegal conduct did not occur.”

Cal Poly Pomona officials insist there was no attempt to cover up the embezzlement case.

Information about the theft was shared with the CSU Chancellor’s Office, the CSU Board of Trustees Audit Committee, the foundation’s Board of Directors and, when the investigation was complete, the Cal Poly Pomona’s Associated Student Senate, Peters said.

Coley said in a May 10, 2021, email to the whistleblowers and other campus police personnel that she was “sickened” by the embezzlement and took appropriate action once it was discovered

“In doing so, my intention was not to cover up or obfuscate such wrongdoing — rather, to accurately convey the context for such occurrences, especially in matters concerning Cal Poly Pomona’s stewardship of public resources,” she wrote in the email obtained by the Southern California News Group. “As a result of this case, we used the opportunity to fully investigate the foundation’s business and accounting practices and to strengthen internal fiscal controls to prevent future improprieties.”

Coley also disputed claims by the whistleblowers that she is a heavy-handed manager or prone to meddle in police investigations.

“I feel compelled to address your characterization of my leadership style as one based on fear, as it is antithetical to my core ideals and philosophy,” she said in the email. “I am guided in this work by my beacon statement developed in my first administrative role, to remain student-centered, faculty and staff-focused, and community-minded.”

Prosecutors asked to drop case

However, Simpson alleges those lofty ideals didn’t stop Coley and Gonzales from obstructing Cal Poly Pomona police in February 2020 in the prosecution of a student suspected of filing a false report for identity theft.

“The handling district attorney stated the request is unethical and could cause other future criminal case dismissals and advised that their office would proceed absent new exonerating information,” according to the suit, adding that Gonzales and Coley potentially violated state law prohibiting witness tampering.

The suspect later wrote an article in The Poly Post alleging racism by the police department in its investigation of the incident.

“Despite the fact that the newspaper article was filled with inaccuracies regarding the investigation in which defendant Coley was aware of, she failed to make any response to the complaint,” says the suit.

Plan for kangaroo court

In response to the incidents detailed in the lawsuit, Coley and Gonzales proposed forming an internal “kangaroo court” involving a committee that would decide if a criminal case should be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, according to Simpson

However, Simpson and Robinson advised Coley and Gonzalez that a case-screening committee would be unethical and illegal,

“In response, Gonzales said she had previously used this type of internal process at one of her previous employers, the University of Colorado at Boulder,” the suit states. “Upon investigation, it appeared that this was not accurate.”

Simpson spoke to an assistant deputy district attorney about the legality of the proposal.

“The District Attorney agreed with the assessment and stated it violated the District Attorney’s role of deciding who would be prosecuted … and was improper,” the lawsuit says.

UC system campuses in Riverside, Berkeley, Santa Barbara and San Diego have historically struggled to inventory and repatriate massive Native American collections, according to the 31-page report released this month detailing an audit that began last year.

“Some campuses have yet to completely review all the remains and cultural items in their control,” said the audit, adding it will likely take a decade to give the items back to the tribes.

Only UC Davis and UCLA have repatriated the majority of their Native American collections.

The audit noted that UC Riverside has returned less than 1% of its Native American artifacts and will likely need $165,000 annually to complete the task.

The 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and California Assembly Bill 2836, enacted in 2018, established requirements for the return of human remains and cultural items from governmental and museum collections.

‘Pathetic and reprehensible’

Mark Macarro, tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Indians in Riverside County, said he is incensed by the audit’s findings with regard to UC Riverside.

“The university has a pathetic and reprehensible history of breaking federal NAGPRA for 42 years and now AB 2836 of 2018,” Macarro said in an email. “That the auditor reached similar conclusions in 2020 only confirms this reality. It is obvious that we will need to bring additional measures to compel compliance.”

Officials with the UC system said Monday it welcomes the auditors’ recommendations for improvements.

“UC is committed to implementing all recommendations and believes they will help further our efforts to fulfill our ethical obligation to return ancestral remains and cultural items to the tribes in a prompt and respectful manner,” Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the system, said in a statement.

New policy in 2021

The UC system issued a new Native American cultural affiliation and repatriation policy in December 2021 to “make real and meaningful progress,” Holbrook added.

A federally recognized tribe may request the return of its ancestors’ remains and cultural items by submitting a repatriation claim to the government.

“Once entities return remains, some tribes may choose to rebury them because those tribes believe that the spirits of their ancestors cannot rest until they are properly buried,” the audit states.

The Riverside and San Diego campuses recently discovered large collections of artifacts that, in some instances, were stored inappropriately.

“The Office of the President (of the UC system) has not ensured consistency in how campuses respond to newly discovered collections,” the audit said. “As a result, tribes may have different experiences when working with campuses to reclaim their ancestors, creating an unnecessary level of complexity and possible frustration.”

Reparation coordinators

The audit also noted the UC system has not required campuses to employ full-time repatriation coordinators.

UC Riverside’s former repatriation coordinator, who was not identified, had experience building and maintaining positive relationships with tribes as a tribal council member, but did not meet other requirements for the position, auditors determined.

“Specifically, the former repatriation coordinator acknowledged that he has not participated in the entire repatriation process and has only a general understanding” of it, the audit said.

Some steps have been taken to provide repatriation coordinators with information and training to address their lack of experience.

The UC system provides training and conducts bimonthly meetings with repatriation coordinators to provide advice and allow campuses to learn from one another, said the audit.

Auditors found that when coordinators lack experience with repatriation requirements they may make mistakes and delay the return of items to tribes.

In one instance, UC Riverside accidentally began repeating the tribe affiliation process for a claim after it had already completed the same process years earlier, according to the audit. As a result, repatriation was delayed by four months

Auditors recommended that the UC system require its campuses to submit detailed repatriation plans and budgets by February 2023.

“Tribal members have noted that it is difficult to navigate consultation and repatriation with multiple campuses or institutions if each uses a different approach,” the audit said. “It is important that the Office of the President ensure that tribes have the same experience no matter which campus they are working with.”

The lawsuits, filed last month in state court against Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center and Redlands Community Hospital and several of their physicians, allege doctors engaged in fraud by prescribing each of the men remdesivir without their knowledge or consent. Doctors also allegedly failed to explain that the drug is ineffective in treating COVID-19, is toxic to kidneys and can cause death, the complaints say.

“In COVID-19 healthcare circles across the country, remdesivir has carried the nickname ‘Run, death is near,’ ” said the civil complaint, which seeks unspecifed damages. “Remdesivir is medically unnecessary for treatment of COVID-19.”

The World Health Organization issued a recommendation in November 2020 against the use of remdesivir regardless of disease severity, saying there is no evidence the drug improves survival or shortens recovery.

Additionally, the National Institutes of Health said individuals with kidney impairment or failure may experience liver or kidney toxicity due to the release of sulfobutylether beta-cyclodextrin sodium contained in remdesivir.

Gilead Sciences, which manufactures remdesivir under the brand name Veklury, said it welcomes oversight by WHO and maintains the drug is an effective treatment for COVID-19.

“Veklury is playing a critical role in the pandemic by helping to prevent disease progression and enabling patients to recover faster,” the company said in a statement. “Veklury is recommended worldwide in both mild-to-moderate and severe COVID-19 disease by several key guidelines in more than 40 countries.”

Christina Briones alleges in one of the lawsuits that her 50-year-old husband, Rodney Briones, had a low chance of dying from COVID-19 when he developed symptoms of the virus on Aug. 1, 2021. However, as his symptoms worsened, he sought treatment from Kaiser Permanente as a walk-in patient on Aug. 10, the complaint states.

There, a physician gave him some ineffective medication and sent him home. The doctor allegedly did not prescribe a safe, multidrug treatment therapy for Briones or refer him to a specialist, the suit alleges.

“Had the Kaiser Riverside physician provided safe multi-drug early treatment to Rodney, referred him to a safe multi-drug early treatment specialist, or disclosed the availability of safe multi-drug early treatment to Rodney, he would have recovered from COVID-19,” the lawsuit states.

Briones continued to deteriorate and, on Aug. 12 returned by ambulance to Kaiser, where he was admitted and prescribed a five-day regimen of remdesivir, the suit says.

A few days later, his kidneys began to fail and he was placed on a ventilator. He died Sept. 12.

“It was medical negligence to administer remdesivir to Rodney 12 days after manifestation of COVID-19 symptoms,” the suit states. “The drug does not help patients with COVID-19 survive and does not shorten the recovery time of those patients who do survive; but it does cause serious side effects and death.”

Kaiser Permanente extended sympathy to Briones’ family, but declined to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit.

“While we cannot comment on personal health information or the specific circumstances of this case, our physicians and dedicated healthcare professionals are committed to providing the highest quality health care for our patients in a safe and equitable manner and in accordance with all federal and state guidelines,” the company said in a statement.

“Treatments for COVID-19 continue to evolve rapidly, and we prescribe care that is intended to provide the best clinical outcomes based on current knowledge and their individual needs.”

In the second lawsuit, Evangeline Ortega alleges her healthy 65-year-old husband, Armando Ortega, was administered remdesivir at Redlands Community Hospital, without being told the drug was dangerous and medically unnecessary to treat COVID-19.

Remdesivir caused Armando Ortega to suffer kidney and multiple organ failure, resulting in his death on Jan 6, 2021, the suit alleges.

Redlands Community Hospital officials declined to comment because litigation is pending.

Attorneys Matthew Tyson and Bryan Garrie, who represent both plaintiffs, also filed a lawsuit in connection with another alleged remdesivir-related death at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. And they plan to file similar lawsuits within the next week against Corona Regional Medical Center and Kindred Hospital Rancho in Rancho Cucamonga.

“Physicians are killing hospitalized COVID-19 patients by eliminating choice of treatment and using a deadly protocol without patient knowledge or consent,” Tyson said. “We are helping victims to raise public awareness and hold the physicians and hospitals accountable for this atrocity.”

During the fierce life-and-death struggle in the early morning hours of July 31, Darrell Dean Waters, 46, of Los Angeles allegedly wrapped his hands around Young’s throat, choking her until she nearly passed out, savagely bit her on the breast and forced her to orally copulate him.

And when she cried out for help, he purportedly mocked her, sadistically asking, “Nobody is coming for you, are they?

Although the Southern California News Group does not typically name sexual assault victims, Young, 44, agreed to be identified and publicly share her harrowing account of survival.

“There really isn’t a reason to stay anonymous,” she said in an interview this week. “I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Released from jail hours before attack

Waters was arrested for misdemeanor possession of a dirk or dagger, which is a knife or other instrument that can be used  as a stabbing weapon, shortly after 11 p.m. on July 29, Sgt. Ron Salary, a spokesman for the Torrance Police Department, said Tuesday.

Less than three hours later, he was released from custody on his own recognizance because it wasn’t clear whether the case would be prosecuted by Torrance City Attorney’s Office or the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which has a propensity for refusing to keep those charged with nonviolent offenses in jail, Salary said.

The District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday it had no role or say in the release of Waters, adding that all misdemeanors in Torrance are handled by City Attorney’s Office. Salary acknowledged city prosecutors have undertaken the dirk and dagger case against Waters.

It is unfair to blame the District Attorney’s Office or the Torrance City Attorney’s Office for Waters’ release, said Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, a union that represents Los Angeles County prosecutors.

Release not unusual

“The California constitution requires courts to consider public safety when setting bail,” he said. “Recently, this requirement has been watered down by the courts, Legislature and some prosecutors. However, when it comes to misdemeanor crimes, historically, few defendants were ever kept in custody.”

As of March 2017, which are the most recent statistics available, less than 1% of pretrial county jail inmates were there for misdemeanor crimes, Siddall said.

Young believes more must be done so that individuals arrested on misdemeanor weapons charges like Waters are locked up longer.

“If he had been kept in jail, what happened to me wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I could have been murdered.”

Work shift ended after midnight

Young’s ordeal began around 12:30 a.m. on July 31. She arrived at her apartment following a waitressing shift at a restaurant in Redondo Beach’s Riviera Village.

Young gathered up her two dogs — a terrier mix and a dachshund mix — for a late-night walk a block away at a park at Nova Community Church in the 4300 block of Emerald Street.

The park typically would be teeming with other dog walkers and cars in the parking lot, but at that late hour it was desolate.

Young said she and her dogs had walked about 30 yards toward a trash can when Waters tackled her from behind and violently threw her to the ground.

Fought back

She fought back but was overpowered due to her small stature.

“He had me upside down and was choking me,” Young said. “He was beating me severely. He tried to force oral copulation on me but I bit down on his penis as hard as I could. He said, ‘You got me good, bitch’.”

Young recalled that as she was being raped and pummeled, one of her dogs licked the blood from her mouth. She asked Waters if he was going to kill her, but he said “No.” Then he loosened his death grip and ambled into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Young ran to the first home she could find and pounded on the front door. A startled woman who answered initially refused to let Young inside, but acquiesced after seeing her horrific injuries.

Police arrested Waters on Aug. 1 about two miles from the park near South Inglewood Avenue and 190th Street on the border of Redondo Beach and Torrance, Young said.

Waters has been charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, and sexual penetration by use of force. He remains in Los Angeles County Jail without bail. Officials say he also was convicted of robbery in 1994.

Gascón: Victim showed ‘incredible bravery’

The violent attack in Torrance sent shockwaves through the South Bay, District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

“The victim, in this case, exhibited incredible bravery,” he said. “This awful attack could have ended even more tragically were it not for her tremendous will.”

Despite the praise from Gascón, Young still suffers residual damage from an attack that she describes as “life-altering.”

She has undergone four reconstructive surgeries to repair her broken and missing teeth and also is receiving psychiatric therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Young’s anxiety was heightened on Aug. 23 when she had to testify at Waters’ preliminary hearing.

“I did extremely well and had to brace myself,” she said. “It was scary. He was sitting 12 feet away from me. I caught his gaze. He stared at me the entire time.”

Raising funds

For now, Young is unable to work. Friends have launched a fundraising campaign on her behalf so she can make ends meet while she plans for the future.

“I want to attend nursing school and put my life back together,” she said. “But I need time to heal from this attack and the absolute disruption of my life.”