After an 8-month probe by fraud detectives into the finances and fundraising of the Valencia High School softball team, prosecutors with the county’s Public Integrity Unit has decided the case does not warrant prosecution.
Greg Risling, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday: “The case was declined (Monday) because there was insufficient evidence to prove a crime occurred.”
The decision revealed Tuesday comes on the heels of a probe sparked by a written complaint filed more than a year ago and pursued by Detective Mike Marino of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau.
Marino said the DA’s decision was “based on the totality of circumstance in the case.”
It follows extensive work carried out scrutinizing financial records and related documents, he said.
“It was a lot of analyzing of financial records, going through bank accounts, everything,” Marino said, reflecting on his investigation.
Responding to concerns voiced by parents of students at the school and of those of students associated with the softball team, Marino investigated.
At that time, when the probe began, officials with the William S. Hart Union High School District, who were asked repeatedly to confirm whether they had received a formal complaint from parents of Valencia High School students about fundraising for the school’s softball team, said they were investigating the “situation.”
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