Former San Diego City Employee Accused in Theft of $100k from Park and Recreation Department

A 48-year-old former San Diego Park & Recreation Department employee was arraigned Thursday on charges that he was involved in the theft of more than $100,000.

Rogelio Najera was arraigned on charges of grand theft by an employee, misappropriation of public monies and altering, falsifying and/or destroying accounts related to public monies, Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr said Thursday.

Schorr said Najera was sent a letter last week notifying him that charges would be brought against him on Thursday. Schorr would not comment on whether any other employees may have charges brought against them.

An auditor's report released Thursday does not name Najera or the two recreation centers where money was taken, but City Auditor Eduardo Luna told Patch that one of the centers is Robb Athletic Field on Bacon Street in Ocean Beach. City officials were alerted to the alleged theft by a fraud hotline tipster, Luna said.

The report says that between July 2004 and February 2008, 31 checks totaling $34,900 were made payable to an employee for reimbursement for out-of-pocket payments to patrons to refund cleaning/damage deposits, according to accounting entries.  Another nine checks worth $10,300 were made payable to friends of a recreation center employee also as refunds for cleaning/damage deposits. However, the auditor's investigation determined that neither the employee nor the friends made cleaning/damage deposits.

The investigation also determined that $54,905 of fee money was missing from deposit records made to the accounts for the recreation council, even though the employee who received the checks was responsible for making such deposits. Financial records also turned up missing, and certain revenue figures were inflated, according to the report.

After the employee involved in the aforementioned suspicious activities was reassigned to another recreation center in July 2009, more discrepancies were discovered at the new center for the period of Jan. 30, 2010, through July 9, 2010, according to the report. A total of $893 of fee money was missing from deposit records. Between the two centers, a total of $100,998 of suspicious transactions were recorded.

Luna said the tip came in that two employees were involved in suspicious activity, but the investigation only substantiated the claims against one. The matter was referred to the police department and now the District Attorney's Office is handling the case.

Najera's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. A readiness conference is scheduled for March 29, Schorr said.