Ex-School District Official Fails to Show for Sentencing

An arrest warrant was issued Monday for a former Orange Unified School District administrator after he failed to appear for sentencing on an embezzlement and conspiracy conviction in a multimillion-dollar bid-rigging scandal.

Steven L. Presson, a former school district maintenance officer, was ordered arrested by Judge Myron S. Brown after he did not show up in Orange County Superior Court.

Presson was to be sentenced for his role in a kickback and bid-rigging scheme that diverted district jobs to two construction contractors in exchange for gifts, money and favors.

Presson’s attorney, Salvatore P. Ciulla, told the prosecutor his client was working in Arizona and unavailable to appear.

Presson faces up to eight years in prison.