Former CapRadio General Manager Jun Reina made his first court appearance Monday after being criminally charged for felony embezzlement, grand theft and forgery.
The 60-year-old former executive arrived at the courtroom inside the Sacramento County Main Jail surrounded by his family for his first arraignment before Judge John P. Winn, which lasted only a few minutes.
Reina spoke briefly at the podium to acknowledge the charges leveled against him by prosecutors, but did not enter a plea. His attorney Mary Ann Bird from the Stockton-based firm Bird & Van Dyke requested the arraignment be postponed until April 1, which prosecutors said was acceptable.
Reina let out a sigh and tapped his chest once after court proceedings wrapped up, before leaving the courthouse with his family and driving away. Neither Reina nor Bird provided further comment.
A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson told CapRadio that as part of his original surrender terms, Reina gave up his passport when he turned himself in at the Main Jail Thursday and the document is now in the sheriff’s custody.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced charges against Reina last Thursday, accusing the former general manager of “orchestrating a multi-year scheme” to divert CapRadio funds for his personal use. Prosecutors say the scheme took place between Dec. 6, 2016, and June 12, 2022, and that Reina spent the funds on lavish personal expenses such as college tuition for his children, international travel and home improvements.
The DA’s office accuses Reina of misappropriating approximately $1.33 million through unauthorized credit card charges and payments to his personal credit card accounts, as well as more than 100 electronic fund transfers from the public media station’s bank account to his personal account.
The forgery charge is also in connection to what is identified in the criminal complaint as the “Magnum Towers Proposal.” Prosecutors are also alleging some enhancements: one of property damage exceeding $1 million, and another related to the fraud and embezzlement allegations involving the taking of more than $500,000.
The arrest and charges come following a nearly two-year-long investigation by the Sheriff’s Office into Reina, which began in January 2024 and continued until August 2025.
Reina was hired as CapRadio’s chief financial officer in 2007 and added chief operating officer to his title in 2013. He was then promoted in 2020 to executive vice president and general manager before resigning in 2023.
CapRadio went through layoffs and canceled four longtime music programs in August of that year. A month later an audit from the California University System Chancellor’s Office found years of significant financial mismanagement at the public media station, which is licensed to Sacramento State.
A subsequent August 2024 forensic examination commissioned by Sac State found over $760,000 in unsupported payments, with more than half of those made to one station executive which CapRadio reporters identified as Reina.
Former, current CapRadio staff react
Former CapRadio News Anchor Mike Hagerty was at the Main Jail to watch Reina’s arraignment. He retired from the public media station two years ago on his own terms, and attended the arraignment in support of his former colleagues.
Speaking outside the Main Jail Hagerty said it was good to see Reina, “in a position of having to answer for what he is alleged to have done.”
“It’s reassuring to see that we are now at the next step of this really sad saga that cost my friends, in many cases, their jobs, that caused a great radio station to go through enormous pain, and that deprived the community of some exceptionally good talent that is no longer there,” Hagerty said.
Hagerty said before Reina walked into court, he had not laid eyes on the former executive since he resigned in 2023.
Hagerty was also not surprised that Reina did not enter a plea at this appearance. He believes Reina’s defense team is going to have to consider their next move, given the amount of evidence gathered by the Sheriff’s Office, and the time the DA’s office put into developing the case.
“Whether his attorney will think that it’s a good idea to go all the way to trial in front of a judge or jury, in the face of the evidence that has been unearthed by those audits, is a call she’s going to have to make,” he said.
Former CapRadio News Anchor Mike Hagerty stands outside the Sacramento County Main Jail Feb. 2, 2026.Chris Felts/CapRadio
Interim CapRadio General Manager Frank Maranzino worked under Reina as the station’s Director of Technology, before stepping into the top job in February 2024.
He said learning about CapRadio’s significant financial mismanagement hit him hard, especially as he worked to collect evidence and looked into paperwork as part of the investigation into Reina.
“It hurt my heart… it really did,” Maranzino said. “It was nothing I suspected. Since the forensic investigation came out almost two years ago, we’ve been diligent to right this ship and move forward with integrity.”
Maranzino said CapRadio has strengthened internal safeguards, such as following strict adherence to delegations of authority and improving compliance, in the wake of the fiscal mismanagement. He also said the station is focused on continuing its public service mission, as “stewards of the public trust and accountability.”
“Keeping our community-centered journalism and music programming for the audience, they depend on that,” he said.
CapRadio also reached out to Rick Eytcheson, who led the station as its General Manager from 2006 until his retirement in 2020. He stayed on as President Emeritus until 2023.
In a written statement, Eytcheson said he was “completely shocked when confronted with the evidence of misconduct attributed to Jun Reina which occurred at least partially during my tenure as President of Capital Public Radio.”
“I am stunned by the allegations that continue to surface. I’m deeply saddened and disappointed by all that has transpired. I grieve for the incredible staff and supporters of CapRadio whose trust has apparently been so callously violated,” he wrote.
Hagerty said he intends to appear again at Reina’s next arraignment in April. “I want to see Jun Reina face justice,” he said. “If a jury or a judge decides to convict him, I want to be here for that.”
“I want him to see me and any of my former colleagues… because I think it’s important that Jun Reina have an image in his brain of the people that he hurt.”
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by CapRadio Senior Producer Sarit Laschinsky and Reporter Chris Felts. It was edited by Digital Editor Sally Longenecker.
Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted or broadcast.
You can read our independent ongoing coverage of financial issues at Capital Public Radio here.
Editor’s note: CapRadio is licensed to Sacramento State, which is also an underwriter.