SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 61-year-old Irvine man charged with embezzling $3.2 million from a charter school in Santa Ana has been extradited to the U.S. from Spain, prosecutors said today.
Emilio Vazquez was the executive director of Albor Charter School from 2002 to 2006 and was located in Spain after charges were filed in 2009.
The U.S. Department of Justice submitted a request for his extradition in September 2009 that was approved in April 2010, according to Melanie Eustice, the Orange County District Attorney's Office's chief of administration and public affairs.
``While Vazquez was released on bail in Spain, he fled to China and was not surrendered to the United States,'' Eustice said.
Vazquez was deported from China to Spain earlier this year and surrendered to the U.S. Marshals Service pursuant to his extradition order, Eustice said.
Vazquez arrived in Orange County on Friday.
Vazquez was charged on March 3, 2009, with one felony count of misappropriation of public funds, one felony count of forgery, seven felony counts of conflict of interest in a contract, two felony counts of grand theft and sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime over $500,000 and fraud or embezzlement over $500,000, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Vazquez faces a maximum sentence of 19 years and eight months in state prison.
Vazquez is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 22 at the Central Jail in Santa Ana.