More U.S. Surplus Equipment Seized in Citrus College Probe

An investigation into how Citrus Community College disposed of up to $5 million in donated government equipment widened Thursday as federal agents raided two San Diego County locations and seized equipment and documents.

Investigators said they confiscated up to 12 truckloads of heavy machinery from a storage facility in Vista and documents from a home in San Marcos. They said the home was apparently rented by the son of a Citrus College teacher who is under investigation in connection with the case.

Michael Mahan, who taught diesel technology at the Glendora school, has not been charged with a crime and could not be contacted Thursday.

Officials are investigating whether he illegally obtained and sold up to $5 million in equipment through a surplus government property program meant for the college, said Bob Young, assistant special agent in charge of investigations with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Earlier this month, investigators from the FBI, the federal General Services Administration and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service--an arm of the Defense Department--raided Mahan’s Huntington Beach home and his college office, where they seized documents.

The team also inventoried heavy equipment at Citrus College and seized $3.5 million worth of donated military engines, compressors, cranes, forklifts and other goods they found at a public storage yard in Ontario.

Citrus College President Louis E. Zellers said Mahan, who came to the school in 1990, has been placed on administrative leave. As a diesel technology instructor, Zellers said, Mahan had authority to shop for and inspect equipment but was not authorized to buy or receive surplus government property.

Last fall, Zellers said the school noticed that Mahan appeared to be acquiring more equipment than he needed for his classes. At that point, school officials told him to quit shopping.

“We have every indication that we’ve done everything properly,” Zellers said. “We had no knowledge that this was going on.”

Like many educational institutions, Citrus College, which serves about 10,000 students in the San Gabriel Valley, is eligible to receive donated government equipment through the state GSA, which oversees disposal of surplus federal property in California.

But institutions must comply with federal laws that regulate how they use the equipment. In many cases, the law prohibits resale of equipment for a set amount of time or unless it is modified to reduce its strategic military value.

Zellers said he was shocked to learn that the state agency had released up to $5 million of merchandise to Mahan without asking for authorization from the college.

Most of the equipment apparently never arrived at the college, Zellers said. Instead, he said, it was trucked to warehouses and sold. One federal investigator said the case unfolded when a salvage dealer went to the GSA in Sacramento and asked for title documents for some equipment he had bought.

The investigation has prompted Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae), who chairs the House Government Activities and Transportation subcommittee, to demand an investigation into how the federal GSA oversees disposal of surplus property.

She cited a report by the inspector general that called the program “highly vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse” and said safeguards are especially needed today, when the federal government can expect a huge increase in such surplus equipment.