A man holds his dog as he rides through San Pablo Park which has support pillars decorated with murals Thursday, July 17, 2025 in Fresno. The murals by a dozen artists from Fresno and elsewhere are a Caltrans-funded project in collaboration with the Fresno Arts Council.
ERIC PAUL ZAMORA
ezamora@fresnobee.com
No one has been publicly identified or arrested five days after police were notified $1.5 million of taxpayer funds went missing from the Fresno Arts Council in a case of alleged embezzlement.
“This is the elephant in the room,” Smiley G. Calderon, advertising director for the Community Alliance progressive newspaper, said during an emergency meeting Monday night. “Why hasn’t the person who is incriminated in all this stuff been named?”
“We have to know this f—ing person because this person is an old time employee of FAC ,” Calderon said. “This person is in our community.”
On Friday evening, the Fresno Arts Council said in a statement that it was “the victim of unauthorized financial transactions resulting in the loss of agency funds.”
The employee, who remains unnamed, is no longer with the Fresno Arts Council.
According to the Fresno Arts Council, the city, local law enforcement and agency partners were made aware of the incident last week, which the nonprofit called a “personnel issue that is currently under investigation.”
Dozens of people from impacted arts and culture organizations gathered Monday night at community multimedia arts organization Dulce Upfront’s gallery on Van Ness and Home avenues. At least 70 people attended the meeting and asked city officials questions about the status of their grants and funding projects.
Smiley Calderon, center, looks as on as city officials address Fresno Arts Council embezzlement investigation and next steps with Measure P arts and culture grant administration at community art nonprofit Dulce Upfront’s space near Van Ness and Home avenues in Fresno. Melissa Montalvo Fresno Bee
Fresno city officials confirmed Monday that at least $1.5 million of Measure P funds were embezzled from Fresno Arts Council, the nonprofit organization had been contracted by the city to administer Measure P arts and culture grants.
In a joint statement issued Monday afternoon, Mayor Jerry Dyer, Council President Mike Karbassi and the Fresno City Council slammed the “lack of safeguards put in place by the Fresno Arts Council, which ultimately allowed this embezzlement to occur.”
Fresno police were made aware of the embezzlement last Friday and opened a criminal investigation. Fresno Police Department spokesperson Lt. Larry Bowlan said the city will be working with the FBI on the case.
Bowlan said that, as of noon Tuesday, no arrest had been made and that the department is unable to release or confirm the involved subject’s name at this point.
“It takes time for these types of investigations to get completed,“ he said.
City officials won’t name who stole money
City officials said they couldn’t name the person accused of stealing funds when asked by community members Monday night.
“Here’s what I would say, everyone’s innocent until proven guilty, and that is a role for law enforcement, not for us,” Councilmember Miguel Arias said.
“We are here to try and make the best situation out of what we’ve been handed,” Arias said. “But we’re not getting into naming people that way. That’s not our role. Everybody deserves a day in court. Law enforcement has a role. The judicial system has this role. The ultimate accountability for somebody who steals is that they end up doing some jail time, but that’s not for us to do,” he said.
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White answers questions about Fresno Arts Council embezzlement investigation and next steps with Measure P arts and culture grant administration at community art nonprofit Dulce Upfront’s space near Van Ness and Home avenues in Fresno. Melissa Montalvo Fresno Bee
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White Monday added that law enforcement has advised them to never talk about names or people.
“I don’t want anything to compromise a law enforcement investigation, because our hope is that the money’s not all gone, the money, some of the money can be captured. That’s my hope,” she said.
In 2023, the city entered into a five-year administrative services agreement with Fresno Arts Council to manage public grants set aside by Measure P, the 2018 sale tax that raises money for parks and arts in Fresno. Twelve percent of the 30-year, 3/8-cent sales tax’s revenue is set aside for competitive grants for arts and cultural programming.
On Friday, city officials sent a letter to Fresno Arts Council canceling this contract, effective Feb. 20.
The city will take over the distribution of the next round of $6.2 million in arts and culture grants.
Impacted grantees who have yet to be fully compensated can call the city at 559-621-2999 or send an email to ExpandedArts@fresno.gov. Grantees are asked to include the agreement they had entered into with the Fresno Arts Council and any other relevant information.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 1:57 PM.
The Fresno Bee
Melissa Montalvo is The Fresno Bee’s accountability reporter. Prior to this role, she covered Latino communities for The Fresno Bee as the part of the Central Valley News Collaborative. She also reported on labor, economy and poverty through newsroom partnerships between The Fresno Bee, Fresnoland and CalMatters as a Report for America Corps member.