Court orders $750K restitution in $1.5M Patterson school embezzlement case
A federal judge has ordered two former Patterson school district officials to repay a combined $750,000 following their convictions in a $1.5 million embezzlement scheme, according to court records filed this week.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez ordered former assistant superintendent Jeffrey Menge to pay $550,000 and former IT director Eric Drabert to pay $200,000 to the Patterson Joint Unified School District.
The restitution amounts were finalized April 21 through court-approved stipulations between prosecutors and defense attorneys, vacating a previously scheduled May 5 hearing. The payments are not joint and several, meaning each defendant is responsible only for his individual amount.
The total falls short of the roughly $1.5 million that prosecutors said was diverted from the district as the scheme operated between 2018 and 2022.
Court records show Drabert has already paid $100,762, which will be applied toward his restitution balance. Payments are to begin immediately, with both men required to contribute a portion of their income toward restitution while incarcerated and after their release.
Menge, 45, of Copperopolis, was sentenced last month to 30 months in federal prison, while Drabert, 46, of Modesto, received an 18-month sentence. Both are ordered to surrender to federal authorities by May 26. The court recommended both men serve their sentences at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater, pending designation by the Bureau of Prisons.
Following their release, each will serve two years on supervised release.
Patterson Joint Unified School District Superintendent Reyes Gauna said the restitution provides some relief but does not fully account for the district’s losses.
“We’re happy with what we can get, but it’s disappointing,” Gauna said. “I would have loved to have gotten more.”
Gauna said investigators described the scheme as highly sophisticated, making it difficult to fully determine the total financial impact.
“This was such a sophisticated scheme — we’re very lucky we even caught them,” he said.
He added that while the financial loss was significant, the greater impact was on the community.
“The greater loss was the trust of the community,” Gauna said. “That’s not measurable.”
Gauna said the district is continuing efforts to recover additional funds, including through insurance coverage for employee theft and the potential liquidation of assets tied to the case.
He said the investigation began after district employees raised concerns about suspicious activity. “If it weren’t for those employees who came forward, we wouldn’t have found it,” Gauna said.
Since then, the district has implemented stricter financial oversight measures, including increased monitoring of purchases, inventory controls and additional layers of approval for large expenditures, he said.
Prosecutors previously said the two men used a company controlled by Menge to submit fraudulent invoices to the district, including double billing and charges for equipment that was never delivered.
