Throughout the process, community members have reportedly lost all faith in their local justice system.<\/p>\n
Background<\/p>\n
The dispute<\/a> began in 2022, when Plano ISD officials pushed the Jasper High School Choir Booster Club to fund repairs to the school\u2019s stage\u2014an expense club leaders argued was the district\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n After the club refused, district officials began requesting documentation the organization says was not required by policy or law. Despite compliance, Plano ISD disavowed the booster club, cutting off its ability to support the choir.<\/p>\n The booster club\u2014ran by moms Laura Cervantes, Krisinda Lingenfelter, and Maria Luisa King\u2014was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2013. It continued operating and maintained its Prosperity Bank account while determining how to proceed.<\/p>\n Club President Laura Cervantes later alleged district officials made demands for those funds and spread claims of financial misuse\u2014allegations she disputed.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Plano ISD administrators orchestrated an election of new leadership to the booster club\u2014despite the club being a private organization with active officers, over which Plano ISD had no control. Then, Fine Arts Director Dr. Phillip Morgan accompanied members of the new group to Prosperity Bank in an attempt to replace the original club\u2019s account signers.<\/p>\n The bank initially complied but later reversed course after determining the original nonprofit retained rightful ownership of the funds, issuing a check to the club and closing the account. The funds were then deposited in a booster club account opened at Vantage Bank.<\/p>\n The moms filed a report with the Plano Police Department but were reportedly told the dispute was a civil matter. However, when the \u201cnew club\u201d filed its complaint, the department arrested the three moms.<\/p>\n Cervantes, Lingenfelter, and King were taken into custody on August 26, 2024, before posting bond, which was set at $25,000 by Judge Lisa Bronchetti. Their bond conditions specified that they could not \u201cwork or volunteer in any capacity that requires handling the money of others.\u201d<\/p>\n A Collin County grand jury \u201cno\u2011billed\u201d the case in December 2024, but not before Plano PD froze the club\u2019s account and seized the remaining $4,437.39.<\/p>\n In June 2025, Plano Municipal Court Chief Judge Paul McNulty ordered<\/a> that money turned over to Plano ISD \u201cfor the use, benefit, and enjoyment\u201d of the Jasper High School choir, rather than returned to the account from which it was taken.<\/p>\n Recording devices were banned from the hearing and the booster club was denied its request to bring a court reporter.<\/p>\n The case raised concerns in the community that the local government will conspire to persecute those who challenge it\u2014even in the most trivial manner. After all, Judge McNulty had effectively ruled that a district-aided club can hijack the bank account of a distinct corporate entity recognized by the State of Texas and the IRS.<\/p>\n The Cover-up<\/p>\n After the case was decided, Plano ISD released a public statement<\/a> to its community which severely misrepresented the events.<\/p>\n \u201cPlano ISD was not a party to recent legal proceedings involving former Jasper High School Choir Booster Club officers,\u201d reads the statement. \u201cPlano ISD did not file any suit against the former booster club-these proceedings were strictly between the current booster organization and the previously disbanded group.\u201d<\/p>\n While Plano ISD was not a party to the lawsuit, court testimony made clear that the district initiated the new club\u2019s formation, escorted its members to hijack the original club\u2019s bank account, and aided in bringing the moms\u2019 prosecution.<\/p>\n The statement also claimed that through McNulty\u2019s order, \u201c$4,437.39 of the approximately $20,000 originally raised was recovered and, per judicial order, was returned, via the district, to be given back to the current Jasper Choir Booster Club for the direct benefit of Jasper High School student choir members.\u201d<\/p>\n However, McNulty\u2019s order made clear that the money was required to \u201cbe held in trust by the Plano Independent School District solely for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the Jasper High School Student Choir,\u201d rather than rewarded to either club.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Plano ISD explicitly stated<\/a> that it had instead handed the money over to the new booster club.<\/p>\n Additionally, the amount held by the original club was never $20,000. Court records made clear that the club had less than $14,000 in its bank account when Plano ISD orchestrated the heist\u2014much of which was spent on legal defense to counter the district\u2019s persecution.<\/p>\n Following reporting<\/a> by Texas Scorecard addressing these discrepancies, Plano ISD removed the statement from its \u201cStraight From the Source\u201d page but did not issue a follow-up.<\/p>\n Since that time, the dispute had quieted down until this week.<\/p>\n Federal Lawsuit<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the moms filed a new federal lawsuit<\/a> against Plano ISD and the relevant district employees in the Eastern District of Texas.<\/p>\n They are represented by San Antonio-based attorney Justin P. Nichols<\/a>, who graduated from Plano Senior High School. He also served as chairman of the Plano Heritage Commission<\/a> and as commissioner of the Plano Baseball Umpires Association.<\/p>\n Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF)<\/a>, a national grassroots organization committed to defending freedom, protecting constitutional rights, and holding government officials accountable, is supporting the plaintiffs in this case and has launched a dedicated legal defense fundraising campaign<\/a> to help offset the significant costs of federal litigation.<\/p>\n As the website<\/a> launched to announce the litigation stated, \u201cThe federal lawsuit challenges Plano ISD\u2019s authority to regulate and control independent nonprofit organizations and seeks accountability for the wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution of the three mothers who were later exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit alleges violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution\u2014and is seeking damages, attorney\u2019s fees, and injunctive relief barring Plano ISD from enforcing its unlawful policy of controlling independent parent organizations.<\/p>\n \u201cParents should never face retaliation, criminal accusations, or arrest for refusing to surrender control of organizations they built, funded, and operated independently,\u201d said Cervantes. \u201cThis lawsuit is about accountability and ensuring no other family experiences what ours did \u2013 an unrelenting, traumatizing campaign that shattered reputations, caused financial harm, and turned parent volunteers into targets.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past year, Plano ISD has been named a defendant<\/a> in two federal lawsuits concerning newly passed laws, been sued for failing to disclose<\/a> mold information, faced allegations<\/a> of antisemitism, and allegedly orchestrated the booster club legal heist, resulting in the current suit.<\/p>\n
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