A former employee of an East Bay school district is facing federal charges related to a scheme to defraud the district of about $3.3 million, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A federal grand jury has charged Eric Rego of El Dorado Hills with three counts of mail fraud in connection with a scheme against his former employer, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, using fake invoices for electronic devices that Rego kept and resold, a federal indictment alleges.
Rego, 39, used MDUSD funds earmarked for an after-school program to buy iPad tablets and other electronic devices that he then sold for his own profit, according to the indictment.
MDUSD, a public district in Contra Costa County, had an after-school program for which Rego was the coordinator, with access to and control over financial aspects such as purchases and invoices, authorities said.
The after-school program was funded primarily through state grants and contracted with an unnamed nonprofit to operate the program, authorities said.
From July 2020 through May 2024, Rego oversaw purchases of iPads, MacBooks, GoPro cameras and other electronic devices through the nonprofit. He then falsely claimed to a nonprofit employee that the iPads and other devices were needed for students in the after-school program, but instead kept the devices and resold them at a fraction of their cost, the indictment alleges.
Rego instructed the nonprofit to include the cost of the devices in a generic line item on its monthly invoices, which he approved for payment by the district, authorities said.
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In all, Rego defrauded the district out of about $3.3 million, authorities said.
Rego was arrested Tuesday and was scheduled to appear in federal district court Wednesday in Sacramento.
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