By Juliette Funes
The Whittier Daily News
POMONA, Calif. — A former Mt. San Antonio College fire program director accused of stealing nearly $1 million from students and the college has been charged with 12 counts of theft and embezzlement — increasing the total felony counts against him to 16.
Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Jerry Dewayne Austin, 57, of Norco with one count of grand theft by embezzlement and 11 counts of grand theft of personal property at a Thursday hearing at Pomona Superior Court.
Austin was charged earlier this year with two counts of felony forgery and two counts of felony identity theft. But prosecutors on Thursday refiled the case to add the 12 new grand theft counts, according to Shiara D vila-Morales, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.
“It’s not uncommon for a matter to sometimes be dismissed and prosecutors go back to the drawing board and refile,” she said. “The matter is now being handled by the Major Fraud Division.”
Austin, whose bail is set at $700,000, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“It’s unfortunate that the bail has to be so high because there are certain ways of extracting punishment,” said Early Hawkins, Austin’s attorney.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives suspect Austin, the director of Mt. SAC’s Fire Technology Program since 2003, overcharged students for classes, equipment and uniforms and deposited the money in a fraudulent bank account.
According to the felony complaint, Austin opened the account in October 2005 using Mt. SAC’s tax identification number and forged the signature of a part-time faculty member to authorize himself as the administrator and embezzle at least $150,000 from the school.
From August 2008 to August 2010, Austin took between $1,112 and $1,623 from each of the 11 victims listed in the complaint, eventually stealing at least $500,000, according to the document.
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