Morning Report: AG Goes After Leaders of Fake Petco Charity
EM - News Moderator 
The California attorney general is now suing the ringleaders of the fake charity scam first exposed by Voice of San Diego in 2023. Rob Bonta announced Thursday he hopes to recover $3.8 million that should have gone to actual charities, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after the announcement that the scam’s two ringleaders pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud conspiracy. We’re not sure they have any money to actually pay back. The federal plea deal requires major payments to the IRS and Social Security Administration as well.
How it works: Charities operate concession stands within Petco Park and many other stadiums. They bring in volunteers, who serve up hot dogs and pints supposedly without pay. The charity then gets to keep roughly 10 percent of the stand’s collections that day. That money is supposed to go to the charity, not any one person.
In 2023, we exposed Chula Vista Fast Pitch for operating illegally in the stadium for years. The group pretended to support girls softball, but in fact its leaders paid people in cash, below minimum wage and under the table, while pocketing the rest of the money. The Padres and their concessions contractor Delaware North collected an estimated $35 million off the stands Chula Vista Fast Pitch ran and did not have to pay minimum wages or other worker benefits.
About that lawsuit: The lawsuit names four new alleged co-conspirators. One of them started up a new charity just months after Chula Vista Fast Pitch shut down. That new charity, Greek Life Aid, also started providing concession services within Petco Park.
As we reported in 2024, the mission of the new charity, Greek Life Aid, was unclear and no officials at local public colleges had ever heard of the group.
Read the latest about the lawsuit here.
Teachers Union Chief’s Colleagues Not Happy with Him
The president of the San Diego Unified teachers union received an overwhelming vote of no confidence from his board this week.
By a vote of 11-1, the union’s board passed a resolution declaring that President Kyle Weinberg had overseen “a pattern of decisions being made without required board approval, undermining the authority of this board.”
The vote follows the revelation that the district will eliminate hundreds of classified positions to address a budget crunch after the teachers union successfully pushed for raises and a no-layoff clause for themselves.
At State of the City, IB Mayor Shares Spotlight
Last night, Imperial Beach Mayor Mitch McKay was set to give a State of the City address that differs from others in recent years. He planned to give each councilmember a platform to discuss their districts too.
In his latest South County Report, our Jim Hinch notes that Imperial Beach City Council meetings have gotten more understated and calm since McKay, a relative political newcomer, became mayor following former mayor Paloma Aguirre’s election to the Board of Supervisors.
Hinch talked to some who see this as a positive shift. Others crave some of that fighting spirit that characterized Aguirre’s time as mayor.
“ICE Out” Protest at Federal Courthouse
Protesters gathered in front of downtown’s federal courthouse Thursday morning to speak out against ICE’s actions in San Diego.
ICE arrests rose by roughly 1,500% in San Diego during a five-month period last year, compared to the same time in 2024, CalMatters found, and an estimated 250 children have been arrested, according to Legal Director for ACLU Frederick Carroll.
“In contrast to things that look like armed militaries rolling down our streets or knocking on people’s doors, we’ve had an increase in enforcement,” Carroll said. “I don’t want to call it subtle, because I don’t think it has been.”
Carroll said the tactics in San Diego are not substantively different than in other parts of the country.
“They’re picking up people on the way to work. They’re going and picking up people who check into court. They’re going and picking up people… at the Vista Courthouse,” Carroll said. “It’s just done with a little less flair here in relaxed San Diego.”
In Other News
- Correction: Yesterday’s story about an ex-county parks employee who swiped checks meant to support county parks misattributed some information to a county spokesperson. It has been updated to reflect information that came from the sheriff’s department.
- A city audit found San Diego firefighters failed to meet emergency response time targets for three years, the Union-Tribune reports.
- Times of San Diego reports that the city of San Diego’s former top manager is now the lead negotiator for the group seeking to make La Jolla its own city.
- The Union-Tribune dug into the county’s decision to advance a plan to try to provide health care to San Diegans who lose Medi-Cal insurance while KPBS reports on the county’s initial moves to make its behavioral health services department a standalone agency.
- The Union-Tribune reports that the number of noncitizens moved from San Diego County jails into federal immigration custody spiked last year as the Trump administration increased use of judicial warrants to push past a state law limiting cooperation with immigration authorities.
- CBS 8 reports that San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and other mayors across the state are imploring Gov. Gavin Newsom to restore funding that’s helped cities across the state ramp up homeless services.
- NBC 7 had a rundown of a clash earlier this week between Supervisors Jim Desmond and Terra Lawson-Remer over his proposed first-time homeownership proposals.
- KPBS recounted the streetcars of San Diego’s past.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt, Rami Alarian and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Scott Lewis.
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