School Administrator in Bid Scandal Gets Suspended Sentence, $9,900 in Fines : Justice: The defendant’s attorney says it is not lenient, but the prosecutor and some residents disagree.

A former Orange Unified School District administrator convicted for his role in a bid-rigging scandal will not spend any time in jail, but he was ordered Monday to pay $9,900 in fines.

In May, Superior Court Judge Myron S. Brown convicted Steven L. Presson of seven counts of conspiracy and embezzlement, five of them felony charges, and held him responsible for a $9,900 loss to the school district.

Presson, who had been the district’s maintenance officer, was accused of masterminding a scheme to divert between $2 million and $3 million in district jobs to selected companies in exchange for gifts and favors.

At the hearing Monday, Brown sentenced Presson to a suspended term of one year in Orange County Jail and three years of unsupervised probation. Presson had faced a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, according to the district attorney’s office.

Last month, two contractors convicted in the case--Ronald Brock and William A. Gustafson--received similar sentences but without fines.

Charges against Diane Elizabeth Presson, the wife of Steven Presson, were dismissed in April because of a lack of evidence.

About 400 Orange Unified residents upset by the sentences given to Brock and Gustafson signed a petition last month asking Brown to impose harsher penalties in the case. On Monday, six district residents who attended the hearing said they considered Presson’s sentence a slap on the wrist and were “disgusted” with the outcome.

“The Easter Bunny died,” said Kathy Moran, parent of two Orange Unified students who has followed the case closely. “For everybody who believed in truth and justice, boy, what a sad day.”

Presson’s sentencing closes the book on the scandal, which began in 1984 when the Orange Police Department began a two-year investigation of the district. The Orange County Grand Jury indicted the Pressons, Brock and Gustafson in 1986. The case also led to the downfall of four trustees accused of “willful misconduct” during their terms on the board. The district has 38 schools serving more than 25,000 students in Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Villa Park. The case cost taxpayers an estimated $356,000 in court costs and attorney fees.

Early in the case, Brown had said that if the prosecution “remotely proved” that there had been a loss of $100,000 or more, that the conspirators would be sent to prison. He concluded, however, that the prosecution failed to do that.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna L. Crandall expressed outrage and disappointment with the outcome. “I think the proof is there. (Brown) read the transcripts,” Crandall said. Presson “should be subjected to state prison and nothing less.”

Presson, who was at the hearing, would not comment. His attorney, Salvatore P. Ciulla, said that he had expected the decision and that it was not lenient.

“Basically, (this case) has destroyed them financially, so to say that the sentence is lenient is really a gross understatement,” Ciulla said. The $9,900 will be paid to the court immediately, he said.

Ciulla said that when Presson’s probation expires in three years, he can request that the conviction be set aside and all charges dismissed.