Parents who once dropped their kids off at a Newark private school are now watching the former principal face a felony case in an Oakland courtroom.
Prosecutors in Alameda County say Victor Dawson, 52, the former owner and principal of a Newark private school, was arraigned this week on a slate of felony charges accusing him of stealing teachers' wages and misusing payroll and retirement deductions. Dawson appeared at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse after the Alameda County District Attorney's Office filed the case.
According to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, Dawson is charged with two counts of felony wage theft, two counts of felony tax evasion, one count of misdemeanor tax evasion, and one count of felony embezzlement, as reported by SFGATE. Prosecutors say the filing follows a 2024 complaint and a civil action seeking restitution for dozens of school employees.
What prosecutors allege
Court records and prosecutors say the criminal complaint alleges that Dawson committed wage theft in 2024 against 47 teachers and other staff members, withholding money that should have appeared in their paychecks. The same complaint says he deducted retirement contributions from six teachers' pay and then used that money for himself, according to KTVU.
Prosecutors also allege Dawson withheld payroll taxes from employees' checks but then failed to file required tax returns and instead used those withholdings for personal expenses, KTVU reported.
An earlier civil judgment against Dawson covers unpaid wages, labor law penalties, and civil fines totaling about $687,986.42, according to prosecutors and filings cited by SFGATE. That judgment helped trigger closer scrutiny from state and local agencies.
How the school unraveled
Parents and teachers started sounding the alarm in 2024, when New Horizons abruptly told families the semester would end early and the school filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to a report. Staff members had already gone months without pay, and the school's utilities and lease were left unpaid before new owners stepped in, according to the East Bay Times.
The campus later reopened under new ownership, and the new leadership has said operations there have stabilized. By the time criminal charges landed, prosecutors noted that Dawson had moved on to other educational work. KTVU reported that he was working as an assistant principal at STEAM Academy at River Islands in Lathrop when the case emerged.
Legal outlook
The current case exposes the defendant to both criminal liability and civil remedies that could add up significantly if convictions or additional judgments follow. Under California law, embezzlement is a so-called wobbler that can be filed as a felony and, in that form, can draw prison terms commonly up to three years, according to legal analyses from Shouse Law.
State tax evasion statutes can also carry prison time and steep fines, depending on the amount involved and the willfulness of the alleged conduct, as outlined in tax fraud resources from EG Attorneys. On top of the criminal side, California's Labor Code provides civil tools such as waiting time penalties, wage statement fines, and other remedies that regulators and prosecutors can use to recover money for workers, according to summaries from Terms.Law.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson has framed the case as a serious breach of trust, saying parents reasonably expect tuition dollars to fund classrooms and teacher salaries, not enrich school owners, the East Bay Times reported. The matter remains pending in Alameda County court, and prosecutors say they intend to pursue restitution for affected staff members.
