Man Who Stole From College Still Getting Paid

A Compton Community College printer, who in January pleaded no contest to felony charges of stealing from the school, continues to receive a regular monthly paycheck although he hasn’t been on the job for 16 months.

The college district’s Board of Trustees has kept Santiago Ardines, 42, on paid administrative leave since June 14, 1995, the day police arrested him on suspicion of producing counterfeit checks, birth certificates and other documents at the campus print shop where he worked for a decade.

Under pressure from a campus employees union, the board decided in closed session two weeks ago to ask for his resignation and stop paying Ardines monthly wages of $2,311 plus benefits as of Jan. 1, 1997.

Some at the college say the board’s action does not resolve questions as to why Ardines’ employment status remained in limbo for so long.

“Everybody’s wondering why he’s getting paid and [is] not here,” said Lucille Haley, college employees union co-president.

Investigators involved in the criminal case said the evidence against Ardines clearly presented grounds for dismissal.

“For the life of me, I don’t understand how it is that he’s still employed [at the college],” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jose Arias.

On the day of his arrest, Ardines said he had produced business cards, fliers and political materials in exchange for favors such as typing, and that most of his customers for such work were college employees, said Compton Police Sgt. John Swanson.

Investigators said they may never know exactly who Ardines was doing private work for--or even what that work entailed. But Arias said there were indications that at least some of Ardines’ superiors knew about his operation.

“There appeared to be some kind of implicit permission for [Ardines] to be doing this, and he appeared to be doing this for everybody,” Arias said.

Print shop supervisor Edwin Okada, whose suspicions about Ardines’ work sparked the police investigation, testified during Ardines’ August 1995 preliminary hearing that he had repeatedly notified the college business office about Ardines’ activities. Okada testified that his concerns were either shrugged off by administrators or resulted in one of several inconsequential memos warning against printing documents unrelated to campus operations.

Prosecutors eventually filed 15 counts of felony theft and forgery against Ardines, none of them related to the work he may have done for college employees. And the charges to which Ardines eventually pleaded no contest essentially accused him of operating a private business with college resources.

At one point, prosecutors considered filing criminal charges against college officials suspected of knowing about Ardines’ activities, Arias said, but they were unable to prove that someone explicitly approved the activity.

Swanson agreed that he was never able to determine whether campus authorities knew that some of Ardines’ printing activities were illegal. “You’ve got to prove that [Ardines and his superiors] were in cahoots and [that] they knew they were doing something illegal,” Swanson said. “Now try to prove criminal intent on that one.”

Interim college President Ulis Williams declined to speak to The Times. However, he authorized the following written statement: “The FBI and local authorities have thoroughly investigated the case concerning Santiago Ardines and have determined that Compton College and the Board of Trustees are not involved as it relates to the charges alleged in this matter.”

(The FBI received a tip about Ardines’ activities, but turned the matter over to Compton authorities, according to police. FBI officials did not return calls.)

Board members said they cannot discuss their actions regarding Ardines because they involve confidential personnel matters.

Four past and present board members interviewed by The Times denied any knowledge of Ardines’ illicit printing activities before his arrest. All four said that they had never requested private work from Ardines and that they were barred from releasing details of the case. Two others could not be reached.

Ardines told The Times that at least part of the reason for his paid leave was the board’s loyalty to him and a belief that he was set up in some way.

“I did a lot of work for the Board of Trustees and [board members] have sympathy for me,” Ardines said. He would not disclose what kind of work he did for various board members because he said he hopes to return to his college job. He added that he was paid overtime in exchange for outside printing jobs ordered by board members.

Perhaps, Ardines speculated, the board believed his claim that the fraudulent documents were planted in the print shop.

Indeed, board President Carl Robinson said he was not convinced of charges that Ardines’ activities constituted felony theft.

Still, union representative Haley said several employees have asked her in recent months for an explanation of why the board has not either dismissed or reassigned Ardines in order to restore full staffing to the print shop. But every time she would press board members for an answer, “they always just put it on the back burner,” she said.

“It’s political,” she said. “It’s a sticky situation that nobody really wants to get into around here. Not even me.”

Negotiations concerning Ardines’ paid administrative leave have come up in closed-session board meetings many times since his Jan. 8 plea, board President Robinson said.

Ardines said some negotiations were aimed at bringing him back to work at the print shop, although Robinson said he had no knowledge of that option ever coming up in board discussions. Ultimately, Ardines’ no-contest plea forced the board to ask for his resignation by the end of the year, said Ardines, who now works at an office supply store in Gardena.

A former karate instructor from Panama, Ardines originally was charged with 15 felony counts ranging from possession of a counterfeit seal to printing fictitious checks. After pleading no contest to three felony counts of theft occurring between 1989 and 1995, he was sentenced to three years probation and 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay restitution including $5,000 to the college.