COLTON, Calif.—Colton Joint Unified officials used the district’s cafeteria fund to illegally pay for more than $730,000 in utilities, salaries and benefits, and accepted inappropriate gifts from vendors, according to a scathing report from the California Department of Education.
On Oct. 7, 2012, the department received a complaint alleging Colton school district officials were “accepting food service gifts from its food service vendors,” an Aug. 19 letter from the department to Superintendent Jerry Almendarez reads in part.