Witness tells how charter's documents were doctored
PHILADELPHIA A teacher who was on the boards of two charter schools founded by Dorothy June Brown told a federal court jury Tuesday about how statements and actions came to be attributed to her in meeting minutes even though she had not attended the sessions.
Lisa Cabungcal, who taught at Laboratory Charter School in 2000 and left in 2007, was the fourth former employee and phantom board member to testify in the $6.7 million fraud trial who purportedly approved contracts with management companies Brown controlled.
In sometimes tearful testimony, Cabungcal, who was Agora Cyber Charter School's board president, said she signed many documents in that capacity, including the charter granted by the state Department of Education.
Although she said she had trouble recalling details, Cabungcal said she attended some board meetings, but testified that she never presided over a meeting or voted on any resolutions.
She said she prepared the minutes for the evening meetings, despite not having attended them because she needed to pick up her children by 5 p.m.
When Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Costello Jr. asked Cabungcal how she could take minutes if she had not been at the