|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A former San Mateo County Community College District Chancellor accused of taking kickbacks from contractors and falsifying tax documents was convicted of eight felonies, leaving a jury deadlocked on another 18 charges against him. Next month, prosecutors will decide whether to retry him.
A jury found Ron Galatolo guilty of four counts of perjury and four counts of tax fraud, all felonies, after a trial lasting more than 40 days. With the jury deadlocked on 18 other counts, Judge Leland Davis declared a mistrial on those charges on Jan. 20. The jury also found Galatolo not guilty of one other count of perjury.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office is still weighing whether to retry Galatolo on the 18 deadlocked counts. Even without a second trial, he is facing up to 7 years and 4 months in prison.
The 27 felony charges against Galatolo, a 62-year-old Menlo Park resident, include conflict of interest, misuse of public funds and embezzlement, all tied to his years leading the community college district. He served as chancellor from 2001 to 2019, overseeing a budget of nearly $1 billion for the district’s three campuses: Cañada College in Woodside, Skyline College in San Bruno and the College of San Mateo. Some of the charges stemmed from benefits and gifts he allegedly received from district contractors while others are related to omissions on Galatolo’s personal tax and DMV filings.
Galatolo’s convictions were for charges that he falsified financial disclosures and tax filings and failed to properly report income and gifts. Jurors acquitted him on one perjury count for tax forms filed in 2015 but could not reach unanimous verdicts on the remaining charges after eight days of deliberations.
Galotolo has maintained his innocence and blamed honest mistakes when filling out forms.
Prosecutors are set to decide whether to pursue a retrial on March 6. Sentencing on the eight felony convictions could take place weeks after that determination, prosecutors said.
Ouch! I’m not buying that honest mistake gilling out forms b-s! This guy was already convicted of extorting contractors for kick-backs. I’m so tired of the petty criminals that worm their way into Public Office then grab as much as they can until caught! I wasn’t raised that way! I wish there was a way we could tell and nip this sort of thing in the bud! It happens too frequently these days!
Ouch! I’m not buying that honest mistake filling out forms b-s! This guy was already convicted of extorting contractors for kick-backs. I’m so tired of the petty criminals that worm their way into Public Office then grab as much as they can until caught! I wasn’t raised that way! I wish there was a way we could tell and nip this sort of thing in the bud! It happens too frequently these days!