Facing two felony charges, Newport-Mesa Unified Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard told the school board earlier this year that he rebuffed an offer to discuss a plea bargain with prosecutors, according to emails obtained by the Daily Pilot.
"Yesterday, the D.A. started to make a plea bargain offer to my counsel but we immediately declined," Hubbard wrote to school board members on Jan. 21. "I'm not guilty — period."
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman said he does not recall discussing a plea bargain with Hubbard's attorney, but didn't discount that it happened.
"It doesn't mean anything about the strength of our case," he said. "If our case was weak, we'd dismiss it. It's common practice to discuss possible deals in criminal cases, so we probably talked about some possible agreement."
Hubbard, 54, stands accused of misappropriating funds while at his previous job as superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. Prosecutors allege that he improperly OK'd $20,000 in payments to, and enriched the car allowance for, a former subordinate, Karen Anne Christiansen.