PROSECUTORS SEEK NEW CHARGES AGAINST FORMER BEVERLY HILLS USD CHIEF: Jeffrey Hubbard of Newport-Mesa Unified in Orange County faces two felony counts of misappropriation of funds in his previous role leading Beverly Hills schools and could face more.

 

By Lauren Williams, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/nVznfD

The charges against Jeffrey Hubbard are related to his previous job as superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. (Los Angeles Times)

October 2, 2011, 6:23 p.m. - Prosecutors are seeking additional criminal charges against the Newport-Mesa Unified School District's chief.

Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard, 54, faces two felony counts of misappropriation of funds related to his previous job as superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office plans to take recently acquired evidence to a grand jury in hopes of securing additional charges and possibly joining them with the first two felony charges.

"We learned of the details that give us a reason to file additional charges fairly late in the game," Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman said after Hubbard's pretrial hearing Friday.

Huntsman declined to specify what the charges would involve, saying only that they would be similar to the counts already filed.

Huntsman said the district attorney's office received the evidence after Hubbard had been charged with the two felonies.

Hubbard's attorney, Sal Ciulla, said in court that he would fight any additional charges. Hubbard has pleaded not guilty to the two counts and has said that he would not accept a plea bargain.

The district attorney's office plans to make the case for more charges before Hubbard's trial begins; it is tentatively set for Nov. 10, Huntsman said.

The other defendant in the case, Karen Anne Christiansen, to whom Hubbard is accused of making payments without required school board approval, is expected to go to trial the same day.

Hubbard is accused of giving Christiansen about $20,000 without the approval of the Beverly Hills school board.

Hubbard took a leave from Newport-Mesa Unified, the district for schools in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, to prepare for the trial but is back on the job this fall. Several members of the school board have stood by him, saying they believe he is innocent.