Parent Accused of Embezzling From School Bingo Games

A parent volunteer was arrested on charges of grand theft and burglary at a fund-raising event for South Pasadena High School, police said.

At the time of his arrest, Richard Carmona, 47 of Los Angeles had “several pockets” filled with $2,055 in bills that had been marked by the South Pasadena Police Department, said Lt. Doug Brown.

Carmona is free on $50,000 bail. No criminal charges have been filed.

Fellow Tiger Booster Club members became suspicious of Carmona when the club’s historically lucrative bingo game started turning lower profits, Brown said.

For several months the low take was linked to a 1995 no-smoking policy that significantly lowered turnout to the games. But after analyzing the accounting books, club organizers determined that the absence of tobacco could not fully account for the loss in revenues, said Tom Ashby, booster club president.

In its 11-year history, the Saturday bingo games have brought in $2 million for the school. During good years, the games have raised up to $300,000. But in the last fiscal year the event pulled in only $90,000. Ashby noticed that a large portion of the losses came from a bingo-related game known as pull tabs.

The size of Lotto Scratchers, pull tabs are bought for 50 cents to $1 and reveal winners instantly. For the last 10 months, Carmona served as a kind of manager for the pull-tab table, the person players would see to pay their money, Ashby said.

But instead of putting the money in the till, Carmona is charged with putting the money in his pocket.

Pocketing cash in public “is not that easy,” Ashby said, but “we’re not policemen. These are parents and friends who wouldn’t suspect anyone of doing that.”

Ashby said other club members are shocked but supportive.

“People are calling and saying ‘You did the right thing,’ ” he said. “This isn’t our money, this is the kids’ money.”