Police Conclude Scyphers Probe; Charges May Be Filed : Investigation: Specifics of allegations are still a mystery more than three weeks after popular Simi Valley coach is suspended.

Detectives said Friday they will ask the Ventura County District Attorney to consider filing criminal charges against Simi Valley High baseball Coach Mike Scyphers, who is under investigation for allegedly mishandling his team’s money and discipline.

The announcement wrapped up a weeks-long probe by Simi Valley Police into allegations against Scyphers that school officials and police still refuse to reveal.

“It’s a matter that should be reviewed by the District Attorney’s office, and it’s also potentially a personnel matter for the school district,” said Lt. Mark Layhew, head of Simi Valley Police detectives.

School officials also were mum on the police investigation and their own internal investigation. Susan Parks, assistant superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District, refused to discuss the case and referred all inquiries to the personnel office.

“We’re not releasing any internal information until we’ve got all of our facts together,” said Leon Mattingley, the district’s assistant superintendent for personnel. “I think like everyone we’re waiting for the outcome.”

Scyphers, 41, still on administrative leave with pay from his coaching post, also declined to comment. The highly successful coach who has brought the baseball program to national prominence has filed a grievance against the district, claiming he was suspended without five days’ notice as required by a union contract. District officials say he is not entitled to that notice because he was suspended only as a coach, not as a teacher.

Sitting out of uniform in a lawn chair down the third base line Friday afternoon, a Pioneers’ cap on his head, Scyphers watched his team lose to Fountain Valley, ranked second in the state, in the Southern Section Division I quarterfinals, 12-1.

His players wore black caps they bought to protest their coach’s May 3 suspension.

Brian O’Neill, Scyphers’ attorney, said Friday in a phone interview, “I’m not going to comment on what (the police) are doing. . . . That’s the nature of the world. They do an investigation, and the prosecutorial assessments are made by the D.A.’s office.”

In the stands, sympathies ran strong in favor of Scyphers.

“I think it’s a witch hunt,” said Fred Boyer, father of Brett Boyer, a junior reserve first baseman. “This man never stole anything from anybody. I think when all’s said and done, I don’t think they’ve got anything, and I know at least 25 other people sitting here who you couldn’t convince otherwise.”

Terry Hankins, father of senior third baseman Ryan Hankins, added, “They’re still going to have to prove to me that he’s done something wrong. . . . My opinion is still the school district is out to get him.”

Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald Grant said he will meet Tuesday with Simi Valley Police detectives to review the allegations school officials made against Scyphers and the results of the police probe.

Players and assistant coaches said that detectives have grilled them specifically on Scyphers’ use of field rental fees to pay his assistant coaches and on a traditional team discipline practice called “the block.”

Scyphers has admitted he accepted a field rental fee from an adult baseball league last summer, which school district officials said violates their policies.

Scyphers has said he cashed the league’s check and in turn paid his assistant coaches--$500 to Darin Furlong and $300 to Shaun Murphy, including $100 from Scyphers’ own pocket.

Scyphers also has admitted using “the block,” a discipline system in which players bid small amounts of money for the chance to give teammates who break team rules a swat with a wooden paddle. State law forbids the use of corporal punishment in schools.

But players and assistant coaches said the detectives’ questions also strayed far from the topics of discipline and finance--even touching on whether Scyphers let his underage players indulge in adult vices such as alcohol, gambling and tobacco on road trips.

“They were on a fishing expedition,” said Murphy, a former Simi Valley player who worked as an assistant last year. “They were asking about everything.”

Lt. Layhew replied, “The questions asked by the detectives were specific to the investigation.” But he declined to say more on the scope of the questioning by Detectives Robert Hopkins and Kathy Shatz.

The ongoing questioning about vague and secret allegations initially shocked the players and stirred their parents to launch an angry campaign of meetings, court filings and even newspaper ads to try to keep Scyphers on the field.

Friday’s police announcement only further angered his supporters.

“I think (the police) are full of . . .,” Fred Boyer said. “I have known the man for quite a while and I just don’t believe it.”