After more than a week of jury deliberations, former San Mateo County Community College District Chancellor Ronald Galatolo was found guilty of felony tax evasion and perjury. However, the jury was deadlocked on the remaining charges, leading to a mistrial.
Galatolo was the chancellor of the district from 2001 to 2021, including two years as chancellor emeritus. The district includes the College of San Mateo, Cañada College, and Skyline College.
In 2022, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office charged him with 27 counts of tax evasion, misuse of public funds, perjury, embezzlement, and conflicts of interest.
He was accused of awarding contracts for construction projects to vendors that he had received bribes from, incorrectly reporting a $10,000 donation to fire relief efforts in Santa Rosa on his taxes, and underreporting the prices of luxury cars to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
On Tuesday, after the eighth day of jury deliberations, he was found guilty of eight counts of tax evasion related to a Maui rental property and the $10,000 donation to a fire relief fund that Galatolo wrote off on his taxes as a private donation he made, when it was actually a donation from the college district.
He was convicted of four counts of perjury relating to evading paying registration fees of luxury cars to the DMV and improperly disclosing gifts. He was found not guilty for one count of felony perjury.
The jury did not reach verdicts on the remaining 18 felony charges, which include allegations of misuse of public funds and embezzlement.
On Wednesday, the jury advised Judge Leland Davis that it was “hopelessly deadlocked” on the remaining charges, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Davis declared a mistrial for the remaining 18 charges. The eight guilty verdicts and one not guilty verdict remain valid.
The case will be continued to March 6 for prosecution decisions on the retrial for some or all of the deadlocked counts.
Chuck Smith, Galatolo’s defense attorney, was pleased with the outcome since the guilty verdicts were for charges that were mostly unrelated to Galatolo’s position as chancellor.
“All in all, it was a good result. Not a great result, but a good result,” Smith said. “The eight counts that he was convicted on were primarily personal conduct, unrelated to his position as a chancellor.”
Galatolo remains out of custody on $150,000 bail.
Smith is hoping that the District Attorney’s Office will settle on the eight guilty verdicts and drop the cases for the 18 remaining charges.
“We hope the DA is going to be satisfied with the eight felony charges and we’ll be done,” Smith said. “We have to wait, because that’s a decision the DA has to make before the next court date of March 6.”