Koreatown Charter School Founder Sentenced for $3.2 Million Heist

LOS ANGELES – Vielka Maritza McFarlane, 56, of Sylmar, is trading the principal’s office for a prison cell. The founder and ex-chief executive officer of Celerity Educational Group was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for conspiring to misappropriate approximately $3.2 million in public education funds. The funds were earmarked for schools in Los Angeles, Compton, and Pasadena, but instead lined McFarlane’s pockets.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner didn’t mince words during sentencing, telling McFarlane, “If you want to help your students, you can teach them that if they make mistakes, they have to pay the price and be responsible for their own actions.” McFarlane pleaded guilty on January 8 to one count of conspiracy to misappropriate and embezzle public funds. She founded Celerity Educational Group in 2004 and held the CEO position until April 2015.

The scheme, spanning from April 2012 to April 2017, involved McFarlane and her co-conspirators falsely certifying compliance with regulations while systematically siphoning off public money. The pilfered funds weren’t used for books, teachers, or classroom supplies. Instead, prosecutors detailed a lavish lifestyle fueled by stolen resources: first-class airfare, luxury shopping sprees in Beverly Hills and Tokyo, expensive meals, and even a trip to Barack Obama’s 2013 presidential inauguration for McFarlane, her family, and associates. They even splurged on customized recreational bicycles.

The greed didn’t stop there. From late 2012 to June 2014, McFarlane diverted approximately $3 million – a significant portion from the U.S. Department of Education – to purchase and renovate an office building in Columbus, Ohio, to support a separate charter school venture. Another $157,957 was funneled into a Canoga Park soundstage and recording studio, rarely used by Celerity students, with a bizarre proposal to exchange studio access for shares in a media-production company.

McFarlane admitted in her plea that the personal expenditures, Ohio property purchase, and studio deal were all unauthorized and violated the rules governing the use of public funds. Prosecutors argued that every dollar spent on personal indulgences was “a dollar less for the underserved yet deserving children of the Celerity Charter Schools and an insult to the hardworking individuals of Los Angeles who pay their taxes.” The investigation remains active, with Grace Canada, another Celerity executive, facing a 23-count federal grand jury indictment alleging conspiracy and wire fraud. Her trial is pending.

This case serves as a stark reminder that public education funds are not a personal piggy bank. Grimy Times will continue to follow the fallout and any further developments in the Celerity Educational Group scandal.