Former CapRadio General Manager Jun Reina made his second in-person court appearance Thursday as his case was continued until early next year.
Reina appeared in a courtroom at the Sacramento County Main Jail, dressed in a dark suit and joined by his family. Reina’s attorney Mary Ann Bird asked Judge David Bonilla that the case be continued to Jan. 6, 2027 at 8:30 a.m.
Bird also asked that her client be able to appear via Zoom, noting that there was “extensive litigation” surrounding an anticipated civil settlement, and that appearing remotely would allow for a smoother process.
Bonilla granted the continuance but denied the Zoom request, saying civil litigation was not enough of a reason for Reina to not be physically present for his felony case.
Reina only spoke to agree to appear in-person before Bonilla in January, before swiftly leaving the courtroom.
CapRadio has reached out to Bird and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office for comment regarding the continuance and civil case.
This was the first time Reina was physically present in court since his brief initial hearing on Feb. 2, days after being charged by the district attorney’s office with felony embezzlement, grand theft and forgery. He has not entered a plea to the charges against him.
Reina’s subsequent court appearances were equally brief. He was not present for an April hearing, where Bird requested a continuance and for Reina to travel for a family vacation. Bonilla granted the requests over objections from the prosecution.
The former station executive then briefly appeared via Zoom in June, when the case was again continued until Thursday.
‘This has been going on for way too long’
Several former CapRadio employees and volunteers were in the courtroom as Reina made his brief appearance — the first time they have seen the former executive after he resigned from the public media station in 2023.
“He seems very tired, which is appropriate,” said former technical director Mark Jones, who retired this month after 47 years with the station. “This has been going on for way too long.”
Regarding the continuance, Jones said “if it must be, it must be.” He said CapRadio had been rebuilding since the financial mismanagement came to light more than three years ago, but called the ordeal “very unnecessary,” and one that left lasting scars.
“Thinking about what was lost when the people that were producing shows were let go, because all of a sudden there wasn’t enough money — why wasn’t there enough money? Well now we know,” Jones said.
His wife Joey Jones was a longtime volunteer with CapRadio. Joey Jones said she wanted to make sure the voices of other volunteers were being represented, as well as the many donors that contributed to CapRadio during Reina’s employment, referring to them as “victims.”
“Instead of waking up every morning and doing his job, living on his income the way the rest of us do, he got up and decided ‘no, I’m going to misuse those funds and abuse the trust of literally thousands of victims,’” Joey Jones said.
She said staff had spoken to Reina “when things began to look suspicious” regarding the station’s finances, and accused the former executive of lying “directly to their faces.”
Former donor services coordinator Patti Stoltz worked for CapRadio for more than a decade before retiring earlier this year. She said she was “very disappointed” to hear the case was pushed until next year.
“I lost a lot of friends and colleagues with the layoffs; it was a very hard time for those of us that were still there,” she said.
“We did [the work] without raises, without contributions to our 401k from our employer, as our benefits were being cut, and to find out that’s because the money was being siphoned off for personal use … It’s really, really hard,” Stoltz added.
Former CapRadio employees Patti Stoltz (left) and Mark Jones (center) and former volunteer Joey Jones (right) stand outside the Sacramento County Main Jail Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.Sarit Laschinsky/CapRadio
UC Davis law professor Gabriel Chin told CapRadio in January the charges filed against Reina are “wobblers,” and could be pursued as misdemeanors or felonies. If convicted on all charges, Chin said Reina could face a wide range of penalties ranging from more than 10 years in prison to “no incarceration at all.”
Stoltz said she has been speaking with current and former CapRadio employees about the ongoing case, and she wants to see consequences if Reina is found guilty.
“Everyone’s hoping that if there is a settlement or a plea agreement or it goes to trial, not only with financial restitution, but that some jail time would be involved,” Stoltz said.
“It needs to end, and I would say that as much restitution as can be made to the station is what we would want,” Mark Jones added.
Background
Reina’s charges stem from his time at CapRadio’s helm. He was hired as the station’s chief financial officer in 2007, and became its chief operating officer in 2013. Reina was later promoted to general manager and executive vice president in 2020.
Reina resigned shortly before CapRadio experienced layoffs and canceled four longtime music programs in August 2023.
The California State University Chancellor’s office released an audit a month later outlining significant financial mismanagement at CapRadio, which is licensed to Sacramento State.
The university later commissioned a forensic examination that found more than $760,000 in unsupported payments, more than half of which were made to a single station executive, identified by CapRadio reporters as Reina.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into Reina in January 2024, which ran until August 2025. The district attorney’s office announced charges against Reina on Jan. 29, 2026, accusing the former executive of carrying out a “multi-year scheme” to divert CapRadio funds for personal use.
Prosecutors claim Reina misappropriated approximately $1.33 million in station money through unauthorized credit card charges, payments to personal credit card accounts, and electronic fund transfers from CapRadio’s bank account.
CapRadio filed a civil lawsuit against Reina in December 2024 in Yolo County, accusing the executive of misusing station money to “secretly enrich himself,” including for home improvements, vacations and mortgage payments.
The station received a nearly $1.3 million insurance settlement related to the allegations in December 2025, with the station’s insurers taking CapRadio’s place in the civil lawsuit.
Disclosure: This story was reported and written by Senior Producer Sarit Laschinsky. It was edited by Editor Jen Picard.
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.