Hired a real accountant and was nailed by them. No surprise that the schools happily forked over the money with no proof of work.

Lolita Garcia, 60 the founder of a nonprofit called Central Coast Kids & Families, which provided services to families of children with special needs — was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement, tax evasion, submitting false invoices, and theft by false pretenses. Garcia billed schools for in-school services and a state nonprofit for in-home services that never happened.

Garcia got caught after an accountant she hired to do her finances noticed in 2015 that it appeared she had diverted charitable funds. The CPA tipped off the state attorney general’s office, which notified the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. The case was investigated by investigator Jackie Meroney and forensic auditor Sandra Kyzivat. They examined hundreds of invoices and timesheets for the 2013- 2014 and 2014-2015 school years and discovered that Garcia intentionally overbilled the districts and others for a total of $192,823

Special Need Children’s Service Founder Guilty Of Embezzlement