CALIFORNIA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM COLLEGE cbs2.com - $5M May Have Been Stolen From Compton College: "$5M May Have Been Stolen From Compton College

(CBS) LOS ANGELES In a scathing audit of Compton Community College, state investigators said they found numerous instances of potential financial fraud, phony student enrollments, missing computer equipment and the campus auto shop being used for private gain.

The 'extraordinary audit' ordered by the state Legislature expands previous probes that led to the college being taken over by the state in May 2004 and to the school's loss of academic accreditation last year, the Los Angeles Times reported. The campus became a satellite of El Camino College in Torrance last fall.

State auditors and the investigative firm Kessler International recommended that authorities consider possible prosecutions for irregularities found during the period of 2003 to 2005 examined in the study, The Times reported. The
FBI and Los Angeles County District Attorney's office are looking at the report, officials told The Times.

Former college trustee Ignacio Pena pleaded guilty in 2005 to siphoning more than $1 million in public funds via a dummy organization that enrolled people in sham courses.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Marshall 'Mark' Drummond estimated that upward of $5 million was stolen from the college during those years, but there is no way to really know since many documents were destroyed, The Times reported.