$901,000 USC Embezzlement Case Voided
A case against a former USC bookkeeper who allegedly embezzled nearly $1 million was thrown out of Los Angeles Municipal Court on Thursday when the statute of limitations ran out.
Charles Crane, who officials at the USC Colburn School of Performing Arts say worked as business manager from May, 1988, to July, 1993, had been charged with taking $901,000 from donations, tuition and endowment funds gathered for the school. Crane had pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement in the case.
His lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the school knew about the disappearance of funds since 1989, “but never followed up on it.” Geragos blamed the school’s “lax standards” for officials not realizing that the money was being taken from department accounts.
The prosecution was unable to persuade a judge that the statute of limitations should not apply if a party is unaware of the commission of a crime.
Toby Mayman, executive director of the school, said her office was indeed unaware of irregularities. “There was absolutely no indication that anything was going wrong before 1993,” she said in an interview.
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