Key Players in L.A. Community College Building Fraud Ousted From Leadership Positions

Since The Los Angeles Times published shocking news coverage of fraud and corruption surrounding the Valley Academic and Cultural Center construction, multiple key players in the building fraud have been ousted from various leadership positions in multiple communities.

The most recent resignation of LACCD Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez, came after a vote of no confidence by the LACCD District Academic Senate and following millions of dollars in jury awards in various lawsuits against the district. Rodriguez’s public denouncement and resignation however is not an isolated case.

Last year, Erika Endrijonas, former President of Los Angeles Valley College, was ousted from her position as President-Superintendent at Pasadena City College. Endrijonas was a key player in the VACC fraud convincing the LACCD Board of Trustees to approve the building’s construction and stacking the Citizen’s Building Oversight Committee with her stooges. Endrijonas also swept under the rug accreditation complaints regarding LAVC’s Media Arts Department and faculty in 2016. Endrijonas left LAVC for PCC, right before the announcement that a jury awarded an ex-employee $2.9 million in damages for mistreatment by the college. At Pasadena City College, Endrijonas’s bullying and bad behavior of faculty and staff resulted in the College’s Academic Senate and Faculty Union both publicly voting that they had no confidence in her leadership. Part-time faculty staged protests. The PCC Courier and Pasadena news outlets published multiple articles about the community’s loss of faith in Endrijonas’s leadership, confirmed by elections later that year putting new trustees on the PCC Board that declined to extend Endrijonas’s contract. Endrijonas’s solution was to move to Santa Barbara City College in the same position, where in a very short time she rankled the local community and provoked SBCC Trustees Veronica Gallardo to publicly comment they didn’t “trust” her.

Vice-President of Academic Affairs Karen Daar also appears to have been replaced with a new administrator.

In 2021, Laurie Nalepa, the Dean overseeing the LAVC Media Arts Department was replaced in her stewardship by Carmen Dominguez, a professional who came out of retirement to work with LAVC then newly appointed Barry Gribbons.

Jo Ann Gilbert Rivas aka Jo Ann Rivas, was elected to the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council last year, and served as the council’s secretary for a number of meetings. Prior to this, Rivas was a member of the LAVC Citizen’s Building Oversight Committee, using her position on the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council. According to the GTLNC website, Rivas is no longer on the council and the position of secretary is vacant.

Annie Goldman Reed aka Annie G. Reed was replaced as Dean of Student Services at LAVC in 2022. After IndyBay published about her consulting with CalTech, on August 19, 2023 – Reed’s relationship with Caltech was apparently terminated a month-and-a-half later in October 2023. Further, according to an article the LA Valley Star, LAVC’s Independent Student Newspaper, the new Dean of Students/Omsbudsman Cecelia Cruz has made a priority of changing culture and image of the office previously occupied Annie G. Reed to rebuild trust among the student body.

Dan Watanabe, the Grant Director at LAVC During the VACC’s approval, saw the Grant he administered in 2018 declined for renewal by the State. Last year Watanabe applied for the vacant full-time position in the Los Angeles Valley College Media Arts Department – only to be passed over not only at LAVC, but also at Los Angeles Pierce College.

Arantxa Rodriguez aka Arantzanzu Rodrigues, the full-time faculty member who was implicated in bilking taxpayers and students in courses that didn’t deliver the training advertised in LAVC’s catalog, retired early in 2022.

So far LAVC Media Arts Department Chair, Eric Swelstad, who was found to be faking his professional credentials and provoked both a student lawsuit in 2008 and Accreditation Complaints in 2016, for fraud, remains both as the department administrator and a full-time faculty member. Lying about membership in the Writer's Guild of America: West and being involved in the VACC construction project apparently has yet to result in his removal as Department Chair.

According to the L.A. Valley Star’s news coverage, Pinner Construction has now filed more than $35 million dollars in damages and claims against the Los Angeles Community College District.

Read Past Coverage Below

L.A. community college district chancellor to step down amid faculty tensions, lawsuit | Los Angeles Times

Corruption and fraud beset long-delayed L.A. Valley college theater project, lawsuit alleges | Los Angeles Times

LACCD Seeks Delay on Latest Pinner Lawsuit, May 6, 2024 | LA Valley Star

Pinner files a more than $35 million lawsuit against the LACCD for wrongful termination over VACC, March 27, 2024 | LA Valley Star

The VACC Serves as a Stark Reminder of Unmet Promises. May 20, 2024

LAVC Media Arts Department - Full-Time Phantom Professor | IndyBay

LAVC Grant Director Falsified Resumes/Employment Histories | IndyBay

LAVC Full-Time Faculty Running Off Students – Preventing Graduation

Breaking: Ex-LACCD Trustee Promised Fraud Investigation in 2020!

Update: LAVC Administrator Retaliated Against Student Whistleblowers She Stalked

LAVC Omsbudsman Stalked Whistleblowers

Controversial NoHo Neighborhood Rep Named In Racketeering Scheme at Los Angeles College

Did L.A. Valley College award Fake Degrees?

Breaking: LA Valley College Building Delayed Till 2025

Dozen LAVC Cinema Student Narratives challenges Erika Endrijonas’s LACCD Success Story

Erika Endrijonas faces new questions in LACCD fraud

Erika Endrijonas Legal Mess Lands In Federal Court

L.A. Valley College Employees Should Be Prime Suspects in Van Nuys Campus Burglaries

Breaking: Los Angeles Valley College Website Hacked AGAIN!

Latest Update on the North Hollywood/Van Nuys Los Angeles Valley College Scandal

Two Los Angeles Film Professors Bilked Taxpayers Over $3.5 Million Dollars

Los Angeles Valley College perpetuated wage theft against students on Julie Su's watch

L.A. City College Presidential Hopeful Fostered Retaliation Culture as LAVC President

Caltech Labor Consultant Enabled Scott Svonkin’s Alleged Abusive Behavior

Van Nuys/Los Angeles College Screenwriting Professor Faked Writer’s Guild Membership

North Hollywood Neighborhood Council Rep Censors IndyBay!