“Master-manipulator.” “A predator.” Someone who “groomed” CapRadio’s board of directors as he allegedly swindled money from the public media station. That’s how former CapRadio board member Roger Dreyer describes Jun Reina, the station’s former general manager.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office charged Reina last week with felony theft, forgery and embezzlement following a years-long financial scandal that crippled the station and damaged its reputation.
Reina is accused of misappropriating $1.33 million in CapRadio funds for his personal use from 2016 through 2022. Prosecutors say he spent the funds on lavish personal expenses such as college tuition for his children, international travel and home improvements.
Reina’s arraignment was delayed this week until April 1. The 60-year-old former executive made a brief appearance in court and acknowledged the charges against him but did not enter a plea.
An attorney for Reina denied similar allegations brought in a civil case last year.
Dreyer, a Sacramento attorney, served on CapRadio’s board for several years during Reina’s leadership. He spoke this week with CapRadio politics editor Chris Nichols about his reaction to Reina’s arrest.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your reaction when you heard Jun Reina had been arrested on felony charges?
Having been on the board, I had a lot of contact with Jun. I had contact with Jun when he was initially the CFO. He’s a master manipulator, now looking at things through the benefit of hindsight. He was very skilled at being very pleasant, polite, inviting [and] kind. And just like a predator, he groomed the board, I think, in a fashion that got everybody to like him, trust him. I’m a lawyer, so I understand the concept of someone who’s innocent until proven guilty, but the information that’s been provided publicly demonstrates that Reina took tremendous advantage of trust and belief that he was a good person in a key position for a tremendous public resource for the community.
He did it with such grace and secrecy. And while he is talking about how everybody’s doing a great job and working and appreciating everybody’s effort, he’s on the other hand, siphoning money apparently, according to the investigation, off to himself. So, [it was] the very worst kind of conduct because of the betrayal of people who are smart and trusting. And because he controlled the finances early on and because he had people that I believe were affiliated with the school [Sacramento State] in charge of finance and he apparently fooled them, it was disastrous.
I am candidly very appreciative of the efforts by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department for doing a thorough and complete investigation and arresting him and prosecuting him. If he is guilty of what he is accused of doing and what the evidence that has been in the paper has demonstrated, it’s the worst kind of crime in my opinion. He’s undermined not only the trust that everybody had in him, but he’s undermined this entity [CapRadio] that has already taken a body blow relative to the other financial issues. So, if he’s guilty of what he did, he’s a bad actor.
What do you think the arrest of Reina means for CapRadio at this moment and its future?
I think with his arrest, with the prosecution and how that’s going to play out in the public, well, that’ll be very painful and difficult to watch and listen to. And there’ll be all sorts of people who want to engage in recriminations.
The reality is it will cleanse CapRadio, I think, of that stain. It will expose just how insidious he was. And, I think CapRadio will come out the other side of it. I don’t know if they’ll come out better. I think they’ll come out with a stronger understanding of the need to watch the economics of a nonprofit like CapRadio and make sure that it’s sustainable.
Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was broadcast or published.
You can read our independent ongoing coverage of this and other stories about CapRadio’s financial matters here.
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