Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office

SJ School Board Member to Serve Time for Theft of Funds, Perjury

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that jail time has been handed down to a longtime San Jose school board member for spending money raised for a bond measure on himself and hiding it.

Former Franklin-McKinley School District board member John Lindner was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in county jail after using the money for his own benefit and concealing it in required campaign disclosure filings.

Lindner, 55, pleaded no contest on Feb. 20 to grand theft, perjury and violations of the state's Political Reform Act, according to the district attorney's office.

Lindner was the treasurer for a committee that raised money for a successful 2010 bond measure intended to improve aging schools in the district, prosecutors said. Investigators discovered Lindner used $28,000 of that money on airline tickets, lumber and other personal expenses.

Lindner also loaned $12,000 of the money to a relative who paid it back later on.

It was taken into account by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Arthur Bocanegra that Lindner has since resigned from his position on

the school board and will be barred from running for office for the next four years, prosecutors said.

Lindner stepped down on Feb. 28, according to a letter he sent in to county superintendent Mary Ann Dewan.

"Lindner betrayed the trust of the students and the schools that he was serving," Deputy District Attorney John Chase said in a statement.

"Jail time reflects the seriousness of stealing from a fund whose purpose was the improvement of education."

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