Investigator's findings shed light on MiraCosta palm probe North County Times

Investigator's findings shed light on MiraCosta palm probe North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News: "Two MiraCosta College administrators illegally conspired to protect a horticulture professor accused of fraud and to retaliate against the employee who made the accusation, according to a confidential investigation summary obtained by the North County Times.

The document helps clear up a year of confusion and controversy at the college over why Vice President Julie Hatoff and vocational Dean Eileen Kraskouskas were disciplined in connection with an alleged employee scheme to illegally grow and sell palm trees on campus for private profit.

When told last week of the conclusions reached by private investigator Robert Price, attorneys for Hatoff and Kraskouskas said the findings are trumped up, baseless and not supported by any evidence.

The controversy at MiraCosta erupted shortly after President Victoria Munoz Richart announced in May 2006 that a whistleblower had revealed the alleged palm tree scheme, and that an outside investigation had confirmed the whistleblower's allegations."