A hearing in a lawsuit filed against two fired former school officials will be held on Dec. 14 when the defendants will challenge filed complaints, according to court documents.
The complaints that former Vice President Richard van Pelt and former Facilities Director Alfred Hutchings face are bribery allegations on top of a host of hedonistic requests.
Van Pelt and Hutchings were fired in June after the school found out that the two men were being investigated by the District Attorney’s office for ‘conflicts of interest.’
According to the Assistant Head Deputy of the DAs Public Integrity Division, Jennifer Schneider, the investigation is ongoing with no completion timetable. “It’s impossible to determine when the case will be completed,†she said. “We investigate these matters until we are satisfied and find out if it is a viable case. Our priority is examining the evidence.â€
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the two men, LED Global — a company that lost the bidding for a lighting contract for the school — also claim to be the whistleblowers in the DAs investigation into the two men.
Possible details that sparked the DAs bribery probe were revealed in the lawsuit filed by LED Global on July 26.
The two plaintiffs, LED Global’s Robert Das and Saila Smith, claim that van Pelt and Hutchings solicited a payment of $250,000, first-class travel, four-star hotel accommodation, cigars, and prostitutes on an excursion to India in exchange for the awarding of a $5 million lighting contract.
The lawsuit also claims that Hutchings implicitly threatened Das and Smith by hinting that he had beat and killed people during his stint as a former Los Angeles Chief of Police.
Van Pelt and Hutchings deny all allegations.
John Schmocker, the attorney that represents van Pelt and Hutchings filed a cross-complaint in September.
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