Demoted School Principal in Inglewood Quits
Leonard Matthews, a former high school principal who pleaded no contest last month to embezzling thousands of dollars in school funds, has retired from the Inglewood Unified School District, officials said this week.
Matthews, who was demoted from principal of Hillcrest High School to an adult school teacher after the charges surfaced in 1987, faces sentencing next week in Los Angles Superior Court on three embezzlement counts. He agreed to pay the district $10,000, school officials said.
Authorities said Matthews set up a personal bank account to divert school funds, spending the money on clothes, groceries, cosmetics and a $218 Nativity scene that was ordered for the school but sent to his home.
His retirement was effective in June, officials said.
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