The man highly touted as Kevin Johnson's replacement at St. HOPE Public Schools outlined a list of legal and ethical concerns about the operation of the charter schools in an eight-page resignation letter.

Among Rick Maya's claims is that a member of the charter schools board deleted Johnson's e-mails during a federal investigation into the misuse of public funds at St. HOPE Academy. That allegation came as news to the Office of the Inspector General and U.S. attorney's office, both of which were involved in the investigation.

Maya also wrote in the letter, which The Bee obtained through the Public Records Act, that the board of directors is made up of the Sacramento mayor's loyalists, who Maya claims want to oust him for trying to report and correct problems.

Johnson's mayoral spokesman, Steve Maviglio, said Tuesday that Johnson could not comment, citing threatened litigation. But, Maviglio said, "These allegations are unfortunate and untrue."

Maya, a former Bank of America executive, resigned from the St. HOPE Public Schools board of directors on April 9 and is on administrative leave from his position as executive director at St. HOPE. He has not returned repeated phone calls from The Bee.

Maya is one of four board members who have resigned since March. Former board member Robert Trigg, a longtime local educator, wrote in his resignation letter on April 2 that the charter schools are in serious financial trouble and he commended Maya for bringing issues to the board.

Board Chairman Bernard Bowler, a former IBM executive, resigned March 20. His brief resignation letter offered no details and he declined further comment Tuesday.

Board member Lori Mills resigned temporarily from the the charter's board because of her position with the nonprofit St. HOPE Academy, which operates the volunteer Hood Corps and the 40 Acres Art Gallery.

Mills' dual roles created concern that the schools would not be able to receive federal money following a highly publicized investigation of Hood Corps' use of Americorps funds, according to an internal Sacramento City Unified School District memo.

Johnson, St. HOPE Academy and its former executive director, Dana Gonzalez, were found to have misused grant money and volunteers during an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Millions of dollars in economic stimulus funding for the city of Sacramento also appeared to be at risk because Johnson was banned from receiving federal aid as part of the investigation.

Johnson and St. HOPE Academy were removed from the suspension list in April after agreeing to repay half the $847,673 in grants the nonprofit had received over a three-year period.

E-mail breach disputed

Maya alleged in his resignation letter that on Aug. 22, while the academy was under federal subpoena in that investigation, he notified the board that fellow board member and local businessman Sam Oki had accessed St. HOPE's e-mail system and deleted some of Johnson's e-mails.

Maya discovered the breach, he wrote, when his own e-mails also were deleted.

"We had to pay thousands of dollars to recover the information deleted from our e-mail system as a result of this highly inappropriate and potentially unlawful incursion into our e-mail system," Maya's letter said. "We are still unsure whether all of the deleted information has been recovered."

Oki, CFO of a local research and technology company, said Tuesday that he was aware of Maya's allegations, but that they are not true.

"I really can't say a whole lot more," said Oki, who was one of the four original top fundraisers for the St. HOPE Academy, when it was Johnson's after-school enrichment program. "At this point in time, it is a personnel issue."

Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown, whose office negotiated the settlement with St. HOPE, said his office had not seen the letter or heard Maya's allegations.

"There certainly would be an interest here if it appears there may have been a potential obstruction of justice," Brown said.

Call The Bee's Melody Gutierrez, (916) 326-5521. The Bee's Denny Walsh contributed to this report.