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SF school official arrested on suspicion of money laundering

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A former San Francisco school official has been arrested for allegedly laundering San Francisco Unified School District money in connection with a $30 million energy-efficiency contract.

Timothy Tronson, 45, was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with 22 felony counts, including fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy and misappropriation of the school district's money. The charges stem from a contract between the school district and North Carolina-based Strategic Resource Solutions that was supposed to help the school district save money on energy charges.

The criminal complaint alleges Tronson, along with a former Strategic Resource Solutions employee, and the president of another company called Covenant Enterprises, Inc., conspired to file a series of false documents that allowed $500,000 to be paid to Covenant.

Authorities say Covenant's president Alpha Omega Bibbs III then distributed more than $400,000 in checks payable to Tronson's brother-in-law Saeed Karimi and a business for which the district attorney's office could find no public fillings. At least 11 of those checks went to Tronson, the district attorney's office said.

Multiple felony charges were also filed against Karimi and Bibbs, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's office. They have not yet been arrested.

Strategic Resource Solutions subcontracted with Covenant, and authorities also say two former employees of Strategic Resource Solutions allegedly charged some of the costs of Covenant's work to the school district. Arrest warrants have been issued for the two employees.

Tronson, who was the school district's executive director of the Facilities Management and Development in 1999 when the alleged scheme began, could spend up to 21 years in prison and pay a $1 million fine if convicted of all counts, according to the district attorney's office.

Tronson is also being charged with conflict of interest violations resulting from his actions as a school district official. He is being held on $2 million bail. Tronson and his wife, Soodabeh Tronson, 41, have also slapped with tax-evasion charges. Soodabeh Tronson had not been arrested Wednesday evening.

Two separate felony grand theft charges were filed against Strategic Resource Solutions for alleged corporate criminal liability.

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