Source: Office of United States Attorneys
OAKLAND – A federal grand jury has charged Eric Rego with three counts of mail fraud in connection with a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud his former employer, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD), through fake invoices for electronic devices that Rego kept and resold.
According to an indictment unsealed today, Rego, 39, a resident of El Dorado Hills, Calif., committed fraud by using MDUSD funds earmarked for an after-school program to purchase tablet computers and other electronic devices that he then sold for his own profit. Rego was an employee of MDUSD, a public school district in Contra Costa County. The school district had an after-school program that offered to students in transitional kindergarten through twelfth grade academic, recreational, and environmental programming. The after-school program was free to students and funded primarily through state grants designed to benefit high-need population areas. Rego was MDUSD’s after-school program coordinator.
The school district had a contract with a nonprofit (referred to as Nonprofit 1) to run its after-school program. As the program coordinator, Rego worked closely with Nonprofit 1. Beginning around July 2020 and continuing through around May 2024, Rego purchased or caused to be purchased iPads, MacBooks, GoPro cameras, and other electronic devices through Nonprofit 1. Rego allegedly falsely claimed to a Nonprofit 1 employee that the iPads and other devices were needed for students in the after-school program, but instead kept the devices and resold them at a fraction of their cost.
To carry out his scheme, Rego directed a Nonprofit 1 employee to submit monthly invoices containing a line-item expense for subcontracts and supplies and to include the cost of the iPads and other devices in this line-item. Rego reviewed and approved these monthly invoices and caused their submission to MDUSD for processing and payment. In so doing, Rego falsely represented to MDUSD that the invoices were for Nonprofit 1’s expenses incurred from operating the after-school program. In all, the indictment alleges that Rego fraudulently obtained iPads, MacBooks, GoPro cameras, and other devices at a cost of not less than approximately $3.3 million.
The defendant was arrested today and will appear in federal district court in Sacramento on Feb. 5, 2025.
An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count of mail fraud. Any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Dan Costin made the announcement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Rezaei is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Linda Love. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Concord Police Department. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI thank the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and Superintendent Adam Clark, Ed.D. for their cooperation with the investigation.