Nearly a year after a law firm turned over a College of the Canyons audit that indicated “potential violations of law” and reporting that $12 million may have been misused, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office has reported that it lacked the evidence to win a criminal case.
In November 2024, attorneys for the Santa Clarita Community College District, which oversees COC, said the preliminary findings from their look into facilities contracts that the college had awarded since 2000 showed conduct “nothing short of egregious,” according to Jessica Ehrlich of F3 Law, the district’s counsel, in recommending a further look.
The millions of dollars reported as misused involved work on more than 700 projects that had been completed over more than two decades, according to reports from the college’s attorneys.
In September 2025, the Public Agency Law Group handed its findings over to the DA’s Office, with Sherman Wong of the Public Agency Law Group sharing a similar view as Ehrlich’s.
“The internal audit identified potential violations of law,” Wong was reported as saying in September, adding that his firm also met with the DA’s Office.
Eric Harnish, spokesman for College of the Canyons, said he was not able to discuss whether COC recovered any of the money alleged to have been misused or the efforts the college may have undertaken to get it back.
“Right now, we are not able to comment on specific details around the forensic audit but look forward to providing more information to the community at the appropriate time,” he wrote in a text message Wednesday.
Both COC and the District Attorney’s Office have declined to release the audit.
In a statement issued from his office last week, District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s Public Integrity Division, tasked with looking into corruption from public officials, said there would be no charges forthcoming after its investigation into the audit that was turned over.
“The Public Integrity Division prosecutes crimes committed by elected and appointed public officials and their subordinates,” according to an email sent Aug. 6 on behalf of the DA’s Office by Zara Lockshin, a public information specialist. “The Public Integrity Division reviewed the matter and determined there was insufficient evidence to prove criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Of the $12 million that was identified in the audit, $8 million was for contracting fees and $4 million was for consulting fees, according to Ehrlich’s November 2024 report to the board.
The announcement could complicate an ongoing legal situation for the community college, which is being sued by former COC Chancellor Dianne Van Hook over a wrongful-termination claim she filed in November 2024.
Her lawsuit alleges she was pushed out the door over a multitude of discriminatory actions taken by the college, which occurred months before the allegations of financial impropriety by the district became public.
In 1988, Van Hook became the state’s youngest-serving community college CEO at age 37.
In July 2024, Van Hook was placed on leave, with the governing board announcing that they would take steps to find a permanent replacement. Van Hook announced her retirement two weeks later.
Local attorney Jeff Hacker, who’s representing Van Hook in her lawsuit against the district and several other parties, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
A judge in the lawsuit sustained a demurrer on several of Van Hook’s claims, a legal objection from one side stating the other did not sufficiently make its case.
In response, Van Hook filed an amended complaint last month, claiming breach of contract, wrongful termination, violation of due process, retaliation, failure to provide personnel files, age discrimination, racial discrimination, a hostile work environment and harassment.
The next hearing in the civil case is Aug. 25, according to L.A. County Superior Court records.
Former interim COC president, David Andrus, who assumed Van Hook’s role after her departure, did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Andrus, who preceded Jasmine Ruys before she was named superintendent-president in March, was the interim president at the time the preliminary findings were first presented to the COC board in 2024. That presentation led the board to vote to hire a third-party auditing firm.
Wong, in a brief phone conversation Wednesday, referred questions to the public record of the meetings regarding the audit.
Katherine Quezada contributed to this report.
