Correction: An earlier version of this story should have said Ron Galatolo was convicted of four counts of perjury in addition to four counts of tax evasion.
BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A jury Tuesday (Jan. 20) found former San Mateo County Community College Chancellor Ron Galatolo guilty of tax evasion and perjury, but has not decided yet whether he took any bribes or misappropriated district money.
Galatolo was found guilty of four counts of tax evasion and four counts of perjury. He is facing a maximum of 10 years in prison, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The jury also found the educator innocent of one count of perjury.
Jurors will continue to deliberate on the remaining 18 charges against Galatolo today. Galatolo, 62, of Menlo Park, is facing 27 felonies, including tax evasion, perjury, conflict of interest, misuse of public funds and embezzlement.
Galatolo was chancellor from 2001 until 2019, during which voters approved bond issues totaling nearly $1 billion. The purpose of the bond measures was to pay for new buildings and renovate existing ones. The DA accused Galatolo of taking bribes from the contractors on those projects. The district is comprised of Canada College in Redwood City, Skyline College in San Bruno and the College of San Mateo.
Defense lawyer Charles Smith previously told the jurors that Galatolo is on trial not for a crime but making a mistake because he was never trained how to fill out tax forms related to his job as chancellor.
But Deputy District Attorney Joseph Cannon said Galatolo is a CPA who doesn’t make mistakes on his tax forms.
Galatolo allegedly lied to the DMV when he filed a 1963 Corvette and a 2006 Chevy SSR, claiming he bought them at a low price. When he registered the Corvette, he claimed he bought it for $2,500 even though it was worth $50,000, Cannon said during closing arguments.
Jurors found Galatolo innocent when he filed tax forms in March 2015 to disclose the gifts he received from contractors.
Galatolo didn’t disclose the gifts he received from contractors after allegedly giving them jobs on the college district’s three campuses over a 10-year period, according to Cannon.
He hid expensive gifts, including tickets to the Super Bowl 50 game in Santa Clara and a Kanye West concert.
Today will be the ninth day jurors will be deliberating.
“This is by far the longest deliberation I’ve ever had. It’s stressful,” said Smith, a longtime defense attorney.
Smith said he feels confident and hopes the charges will be reduced to misdemeanors during sentencing.
The jury went back to work yesterday, asking Judge Leland Davis how to consider pieces of evidence.
While deliberations continue, Galatolo remains out of jail on $150,000 bail.
Terrific news! Now could the DA please find guilty and then sentence the pro-Hamas protestors who did $100K or more damage to the Stanford Quad and President’s office?
Wrong county, Benny. Stanford is in Santa Clara County. Galatolo is in San Mateo County.
A Kanye West concert? People will spend other people’s money on anything.