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Lindberg v. California Dep't of Education10/31/2005
Two consultants who were subsequently sent down to investigate Colegio confirmed Lindberg's findings.
La Hermandad
La Hermandad was a major CBO receiving ESL-Citizenship program funds. At Cervantes's request, Lindberg investigated La Hermandad and found "major" problems with the program, causing him to suspect fraud. When Bert Corona, the executive director of La Hermandad, found out about Cervantes's fraud fighting system, he became indignant, stating, "How dare you even look at our records. How dare you expect accountability from us. And we are not going to stand for this. We are going to see that it stops."
Members of the Hispanic caucus pressured Cervantes to fund La Hermandad even though he found problems, and that pressure was felt by Cervantes through Eastin and her lieutenants. Despite his misgivings about La Hermandad, Cervantes was under tremendous pressure to fund the program. Cervantes told his supervisor, deputy superintendent Dhyan Lal, about the apparent fraud; he also tried to get word to Eastin about it by asking his superiors to arrange a meeting with her, but they refused, assuring him that she was being kept informed.
The CBO's Are Protected and Employees Opposing Fraud Are Retaliated Against
1. Cervantes Is Dismissed and His Fraud Fighting System Discontinued
In January 1996, Gabe Cortina was appointed by Eastin as Deputy Superintendent and became Cervantes's direct supervisor. Cervantes immediately alerted Cortina that there were serious problems with CBO's. He told Cortina there was lack of documentation, there was no evidence of some classes being conducted, money was being siphoned off to other programs, and there was "no accountability" for the public funds.
The next month, Cervantes received a report from Kates disclosing that there was clear evidence of fraud by the CBO's. The report confirmed what Lindberg had been telling Cervantes "100 percent."
On February 14, 1996, Cervantes met with Cortina. He handed Kates's report to Cortina telling him they now had documented evidence of fraud by a certified fraud investigator. Cortina threw the report back at Cervantes, saying he "didn't want to hear it." Cervantes told Cortina he had "to hear it" because what was going on was a "rape of the public treasur ." Cortina angrily stated that he didn't "give a damn" what the consultants said or if there was fraud going on, telling Cervantes, "Your job is to get the money out the door, and I don't care if you found fraud. You pay these people." Cortina stated that neither he nor Eastin cared whether fraud was occurring; he made it clear that his job was to get money to the CBO's because "Delaine [Eastin] wanted it that way." When Cervantes suggested to Cortina that if he failed to act, he could be considered a coconspirator in the perpetration of fraud, Cortina called him a "son of a bitch."
Cortina
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