Former Coach Won’t Face Prosecution

Criminal charges will not be filed against former Los Alamitos High School basketball coach Steve Brooks in connection with the alleged misuse of team funds, but a deputy district attorney said he would advise the school district to pursue the matter in civil court.

“I’ve rejected the case for insufficient evidence,” said Mike Murray, the Orange County deputy district attorney who handled the investigation.

Brooks declined to comment on the allegations. His attorney Jack Early said late Thursday that he believed the matter remained under investigation by the district attorney’s office, but denied Brooks did anything wrong.

“It’s not unusual to get complaints or to have someone who is disgruntled [with a particular coaching decision] when they think it goes against their children,” Early said.

Murray said that while he didn’t think there was enough evidence to prosecute Brooks, there was reason for concern, and that he would recommend the school district consider filing a civil action against Brooks. Civil cases require a lower standard of evidence than a criminal cases.

“In this case, it’s difficult to trace the money trail, and that’s what is going to be the biggest impediment,” Murray said. “The money goes from account to account to account, but no one can say what the money was spent on. I think they have a much, much better shot at a civil case. There were certainly all kinds of strange things being done with the money, and there were a lot of strange things being said by Brooks.”

School and district administrators began probing the use of proceeds from basketball team activities in July, after about half a dozen parents of current and former players wrote letters raising questions. Other team parents characterized the charges as a personal vendetta, and blasted district officials for allegedly forcing Brooks to leave the team.

David Hatton, assistant superintendent for Los Alamitos Unified School District, said he was unaware of the district attorney’s decision in the case, and couldn’t comment.

“We wanted to let the system do its work,” Hatton said, declining to speculate on whether the district would pursue a civil case against Brooks.

Brooks was a winning coach who led the basketball and volleyball teams at Los Alamitos High for nearly 20 years. While he enjoyed strong support among the families of varsity players, Brooks proved less popular among junior varsity basketball players. Nine junior varsity team members quit the program early in the 1999-2000 season. Brooks, who is still a math teacher at Los Alamitos High School, resigned his coaching position Oct. 1, citing family and personal reasons, school administrators said.

Individuals who were questioned as part of the investigation said it focused on the proceeds from an annual winter basketball tournament Brooks has organized at Los Alamitos for at least a dozen years. Parents told school officials they had questions about the use of funds they had provided for various team activities. But school and district investigators were unable to account for profits from the more recent tournaments, money that should have been deposited in school or Booster Club accounts.

Particularly curious was a $5,000 payment that Brooks made to the school after the investigation had begun in the late summer, Murray said.

“He was already aware that at least the school was looking at him. Then he comes up with $5,000, but the money comes through his mother’s account. There’s some strange things going on.”