Overview
- Federal agents arrested Julie Hanway Molina at her Aliso Viejo home on Thursday after a grand jury returned a four-count wire fraud indictment on Sept. 2 charging her with diverting about $411,761 from a nonprofit that supported an Aliso Niguel High School football team.
- Prosecutors allege the scheme ran from 2023 through November 2025 and included a June 2023 transfer of roughly $131,523 routed through Federal Reserve facilities in New Jersey and Texas to a Santa Ana account to pay a delinquent mortgage.
- The indictment says Molina, who served as the organization’s treasurer, concealed the withdrawals by emailing board members falsified treasurer reports that omitted the unauthorized transfers.
- Molina pleaded not guilty at her initial federal court appearance, was ordered released on bond, and is scheduled for trial in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Nov. 2, 2026; prosecutors have identified a $1.4 million home and other assets they may seek to forfeit.
- The case highlights how volunteer booster clubs operate outside school payrolls and how use of interstate banking channels can trigger federal wire fraud charges while raising questions about oversight of community-run nonprofits.