The former finance director of a private Huntington Beach elementary school will plead guilty next month to embezzling more than $2 million from the institution to pay for Angels season tickets, vacations to Europe and other personal expenses, according to court papers filed Friday.
Ricardo Nieva, 49, of Trabuco Canyon is set to enter his plea to two federal counts of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson on Nov. 10.
Nieva was the business manager at Pegasus School for nearly 20 years until his resignation in September 2013.
From the end of 2006 to May 2013, he cashed about 250 checks payable to himself that amounted to more than $2 million, according to his plea agreement.
Nieva admitted trying to cover his tracks by altering bank statements and doctoring other records, according to the document. He acknowledged spending the stolen money on private school for his children and vacations to Europe, Hawaii and elsewhere.
The money also went toward the Angels season tickets, a golf club membership, an Arizona time-share, camps for his kids, mortgage payments and shopping, the document states.
The plea deal proposes a prison sentence of less than 3 1/2 years, plus restitution.
Pegasus School was founded in 1984 and accepts students after an assessment of the child’s potential. Its current tuition is $18,700, according to the school’s website, and enrollment is 565 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
— City News Service