High school booster club says former treasurer embezzled about $200K

Yahoo

28-03-2025

Mar. 28—The Liberty Ranch Hawks Booster Club has sued its former treasurer, alleging she embezzled about $200,000 from the organization.
Carmela Cuadrado Baker, along with her husband Paul Lee Baker and 10 unnamed others, were named as co-defendants in a complaint filed with Sacramento County Superior Court on March 20. The allegations say that Carmela Baker, a para-educator with the Galt Joint Union Elementary
School District, began volunteering with the Booster Club, which raises and distributes funds for 17 athletic teams at Liberty Ranch High School, in 2019.
"Unbeknownst to Plaintiff and the other Board members, at some point Defendant began using the debit card issued her to pay personal expenses," the complain alleges. "These amounts were small at first and gradually grew over time. Defendant was able to conceal the charges by doctoring the ledgers so they would balance out."
According to the document, the Booster Club's clerk noticed something off on a ledger and requested statements from the bank on March 7, discovering that where the ledger said there should be $170,000, there was instead less than $5,000.
On March 19, Galt Join Union High School District Superintendent Anna Trunnell released a statement outlining the discovery of missing funds, saying the Booster Club had notified the administration and law enforcement, which has initiated an investigation.
"Moving forward, the District will review its policies and procedures for school-connected organizations, such as the Booster Club, to help prevent future incidents," Trunnell's statement said. "While the Booster Club's funds are not the District's direct responsibility, the District will consider any assistance needed by the Sports Booster Club so that students are not affected."
The Booster Club is the starting point for fundraising for athletic programs at the school, organizing the snack bar at games and other fundraising events. Money goes into a pool, which is then used to distribute to teams for equipment, team dinners, senior nights, banquets and more.
The Booster Club's filing asked for restitution of any funds proven to be embezzled, which it stated is more than $200,000, asked "For treble damages of the Converted Funds as provided in Penal Code section 496, subdivision (c)", and asked for compensatory damages to cover legal fees.
The complaint included Paul Baker, a teacher, saying "Mr. Baker knew, or should have known, about Defendant's embezzlement" based on the high amount of spending.
The Booster Club's complaint also asked for a jury trial.
Included in the filing was a list of unauthorized purchases used by the Booster Club's debit card at 51 different businesses, with the largest coming at Instacart (more than $53,000), Amazon (more than $44,000), Walmart (more than $27,000), Costco (nearly $18,000), and PayPal (almost $13,000). Other notable spending came at AirBNB (more than $7,000), City of Galt (almost $7,000), Disneyland ($4,600), Save Mart (nearly $5,000) and Stratton's Pizza (more than $3,000).
The Booster Club is being represented by Matthew Weber and Jennifer Williams of Downey Brand.