Two Women Face Charges in Thefts at L.A. Schools

The wife and sister-in-law of the accused chief organizer of a supply theft ring in the Los Angeles Unified School District were charged Friday with grand theft growing out of their alleged participation in the ring.

Wendy Gayle Tokunaga, 42, of Agua Dulce, was arrested and accused of two counts of grand theft and one count of receiving stolen property. She is the wife of Melvin N. Tokunaga, recently fired by the school board from his post as deputy director of custodial operations.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Wendy Tokunaga had been instrumental in operating two landscaping firms that cooperated in fleecing the district of thousands of dollars for orders that were billed but never delivered.

Also charged was Wendy Tokunaga’s sister, Betty Spencer, 38, of Van Nuys, who Reiner said has agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against the Tokunagas and others among the 10 people charged so far in the thefts. She was accused of one count of grand theft.

A brother of the two women, Robert G. Stokey III, 42, of Lancaster, pleaded no contest March 16 to a misdemeanor charge of altering a school document and also has agreed to testify.

Four other defendants, including Tokunaga, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Thursday.

Reiner, who has said the total losses to the school district may be in excess of $500,000 over a period of several years, said Friday that the investigation is continuing and “we are getting a lot of information from many sources within the school district.”

He said other district employees, as yet uncharged, are “presently targeted” in the inquiry.

Paper Organization

Reiner said Wendy Tokunaga used a paper organization, Valley Landscaping of Van Nuys, to bill the school district for more than $18,000 in supplies that were never delivered between June, 1981, and October, 1982. Although Spencer’s name was on many of the billings, he said, her signature was in Wendy Tokunaga’s handwriting.

The district attorney added that Wendy Tokunaga also used a second firm, Plants Plus of Saugus, to sell plants that had been ordered by her husband, acting in the name of the schools, from three other nurseries that were unaware that anything was wrong. Persons identifying themselves as school employees, including Stokey, picked up the plants but instead of delivering them to the schools would bring them to her firm, which would resell them.

“The Tokunagas were conducting this scam every way they could think of for several years,” Reiner said, again blaming school district officials for an inadequate accounting system that played into the hands of the suspects.