Garcia calls for audit of grants submitted by Cross

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The Cathedral City Republican said she asked the Department ofHousing and Community Development and the Department of Education -which handled the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Programgrant - to search for grants submitted to the state by grant writerJean Cross.
A Web site for Cross' company, located in Paso Robles, toutsgrant-writing services for everything from housing andtransportation to employment development.
"I thought it was necessary that we check because this isn't an 'Ohyou forgot to dot an "i" or cross a "t,"'" Garcia said. "When youlook at the magnitude of what was done to get this grant, you'retalking about altering resolutions. that's quite a scope."
The task force returned the grant to the state in April after theDesert Sands Unified School District notified the CaliforniaDepartment of Education and the task force of allegations of forgedsignatures and falsified memorandum of understandings on theapplication. They also asked the state to investigate.
The state department of education plans to forward the matter tothe state and federal attorneys general, while the RiversideDistrict Attorney's Office has been asked to conduct its owninvestigation.
Garcia, who worked for the city of Coachella some 10 years ago andwrote a few grants while employed there, said she believes sheworked with Cross but never encountered any problems with her orher work.
In her experience as a grant writer, however, Garcia said she hasencountered people who cut corners on grants out of laziness or tomeet deadlines.
Garcia said she became concerned about the returned grant afterdiscovering it would have benefited more than 3,000 kids acrossRiverside County and as far away as Long Beach.
She wants whoever is at fault to be held accountable.
"If the grant writer or anyone else is involved in it we want toprosecute them to the full extent of the law," Garcia said.