La Mesa

Former Grossmont College student body president Michael Bang pleaded guilty Wednesday to grand theft in the embezzlement of thousands of dollars in student funds.

Bang, 26, who has since changed his name to Michael Humbert, faces a maximum term of one year in County Jail.

San Diego Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz set sentencing for June 13.

Also pleading guilty to grand theft was another former student body president, Larry Humpal, who succeeded Bang after he resigned. Humpal was ousted in a student referendum in September, 1987.

Humpal, now a student at the University of Southern California, also faces a maximum one-year jail term.

Humpal’s attorney, Ronald Frant, said the judge told him that if he imposes any custody, he could do his sentence over the summer and be free to resume classes in the fall.

Normally, the maximum sentence for grand theft, a felony, is three years in state prison and a fine of $10,000. But in a plea bargain agreement, a ceiling was placed on the maximum sentence of one year or less.

“They will not be sending them to prison,” Frant said.

The misappropriation of $36,000 in student funds was alleged to have been spent on hotels, car rentals, limousines, food and drinks, according to a lawsuit filed against the pair by the Associated Students of Grossmont College.

The students used a student government credit card at a hotel in Beverly Hills and in Anaheim between June 27 and July 1, 1987.

Two other co-defendants face a preliminary hearing next Wednesday. They include Humpal’s mother, Peggy Klecha of El Cajon, and David Brooks, the former executive secretary for the student government.

All remain free on their own recognizance.