San Diego Community College officials are investigating whether a former administrator is directly involved with a dubious business transaction. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
Former facilities manager Damon Schamu may have turned a blind eye and allowed two prominent businessmen to pose as the college's real estate agents. The Union-Tribune says businessmen Mike Madigan and Paul Nieto bought property near the college's downtown campus for $750,000. The property owners agreed because they were promised tax benefits that come with selling land for public use. Madigan and Nieto then turned around and sold the land to the college for $1.2 million, a profit of more than half a million.
San Diego Community College spokesman Richard Dittbenner says they want to know who mislead the owners – and if there was any other wrongdoing.
Dittbenner: In land sale transactions, there tends to be lengthy paper trails and all this sort of stuff. So we're trying to pull all these things together and exp as we can so that we ourselves can get a fully understanding of what has transpired.
The original property owners never got the tax breaks – but Madigan and Nieto did.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
