The former Gilroy Unified School District Board of Education trustee who is already facing charges for embezzling $52,000 from a leading South County social services agency is now up against additional charges for allegedly embezzling thousands of dollars from his 2010 campaign account.
Francisco Dominguez, 51 of Gilroy, has been charged by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office with four new felonies. This includes Grand theft and three counts of perjury based on Dominguez’s use of campaign contributions during his successful 2010 GUSD School Board race.
Dominguez, according to a press release Tuesday morning from the Santa Clara County DA’s office, “vastly misrepresented how (his) donated funds were used.”
Dominguez was arrested last week and is out on bail on the new charges, the press release states. If convicted, he could face up to six years in jail.
“I’m sure the people who contributed to Mr. Dominguez’ last school board campaign never expected their money would be used on such things as a car smog inspection or concessions at Dodger Stadium,” said Deputy District Attorney John Chase. “He treated campaign donations as his personal funds and then lied about it under penalty of perjury on the state forms.”
An examination of his campaign bank account revealed that half of the nearly $6,000 in contributions were used for personal purpose such as meals at restaurants, bagel shops and cafes in Southern California. He did not disclose these expenditures on official campaign forms.
Chase said that Dominguez also allegedly transferred more than $1,700 to his personal accounts and withdrew $300 in cash.
Dominguez is currently being prosecuted on a criminal complaint filed last October for defrauding an international engineering firm and nonprofit South County Collaborative for tens of thousands of dollars.
The embattled Board of Ed. trustee turned himself in after he was charged in late October by the Santa Clara County DA’s office. He officially resigned from the Board of Education Nov. 9, 2011 after allegations came to light.
During the time frame of the alleged crimes, Dominguez served on the School Board in Gilroy and was an unsuccessful candidate for state assembly. He had previously served on school boards in San Jose and Oxnard.
