Former Stockton Unified board president accused of misusing district credit card appears in court
By Web staff
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STOCKTON, California (KCRA) — Former Stockton Unified School District Board President AngelAnn Flores appeared in court Monday for the first time since being charged with misusing a district credit card.
Court documents show Flores is facing four felony charges for making false or fraudulent claims, embezzlement by a public officer, grand theft, and embezzlement by a public or private officer.
A state audit of the school district revealed the mishandling of funds over several years.
Officials said they found Flores’ alleged non-compliance to the district’s credit card policy was “intentional, egregious and clearly for personal gain.”
Flores did not enter a plea when appearing in court for her arraignment on Monday afternoon. She will be back in court on May 29 for further arraignment.
In a statement responding to the allegations, Flores’ attorney, Tori Verber Salazar, called Flores “the victim of political retaliation and is paying the price for raising her voice fight(ing) corruption and for the well-being of Stockton Unified students.”
Salazar spoke on-camera with media after Monday’s hearing, with Flores next to her. Flores did not speak.
“Our client’s being used because she’s a whistleblower bringing attention to people who have misappropriated funding in SUSD,” Salazar said. “She was the one that stood up and said, ‘enough is enough.’ Let’s investigate these cases.”
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office did not answer questions after the hearing concluded and instead read a prepared statement on camera about the arraignment and the charges Flores is facing.
“To comply with the California State Bar’s Code of Ethics, this office will not be commenting further,” public information officer Erin Haight said.
San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow said his department began investigating Flores after the school district reported its concerns.
“We did look into the other board members at that time to make sure people were following the policy and all that we could see with the information [SUSD] gave us that all the other ones had fallen in line and were following the rules,” Sheriff Withrow said.
Flores is a current school board member.
During Monday’s hearing, the judge said he would allow Flores to attend board meetings, school site visits and graduation ceremonies as part of her bail agreement.
Flores’ attorney told KCRA 3 her client plans to go to the school board meeting on May 7.
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