‘Gut punch’: Former CapRadio employees react as ex-GM is accused of $1.3M theft
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen carved out time on a regular basis to meet with Capital Public Radio’s general manager Jun Reina.
The meetings allowed Nelsen to feel the pulse of CapRadio, an NPR affiliate whose broadcast licenses have been held by Sacramento State for decades. The former university leader thought Reina was a kind, gentle and genuine person who believed in the mission of public media.
“He cared a lot about the employees,” said Nelsen, who served as university president from 2015 until 2023.
So Nelsen felt jarred and disappointed by the news that Reina had been accused of misappropriating more than $1.3 million from 2016 until 2022 for his personal use, as announced Thursday by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Reina, 60, is accused of concealing his transactions “through deceptive accounting practices, manipulated financial statements and forged documents,” the District Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release.
He faces charges of embezzlement, grand theft and forgery, the District Attorney’s Office said, and he was booked Thursday into the Sacramento County Main Jail after turning himself in. Sheriff’s officials and prosecutors in statements said Reina used the stolen money toward travel, home improvements, school tuition for his children, a new vehicle and other personal expenses.
Reina was released from jail late Thursday after posting $200,000 bail, according to the Sheriff’s Office, and was expected to be arraigned Monday in Sacramento Superior Court.
News of Reina’s arrest brought former CapRadio employees a renewed feeling of sadness over how Reina’s alleged embezzlement brought upheaval to the radio station.
“As someone who poured my heart and career into CapRadio, it’s still hard to reconcile the damage that was done,” said Joe Barr, the broadcaster’s former chief content officer. “People’s livelihoods were affected, the station’s reputation was harmed and important journalism and community service were lost.”
Reina has been under scrutiny after a 2024 forensic examination of CapRadio finances revealed he was linked to expenses worth about $460,000 “without corresponding evidence of expense reports and/or receipts.” The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in January 2024 began probing potential embezzlement at the station.
The suspicious transactions went unnoticed for years by CapRadio and its board, as well as Sacramento State and its auditors, according to former Sacramento Bee reporting.
“He had us all fooled that everything was great,” said Dennis Newhall, a jazz announcer until CapRadio announced layoffs in 2023.
The NPR affiliate sunk into millions of dollars of debt after renting two downtown buildings for its new offices, a plan first publicly announced in 2019, and couldn’t afford the rent and renovations. A crippling financial crisis gripped the radio station and reached its peak in 2023 when 15% of its staff members were laid off. The late Mick Martin, who hosted “Mick Martin’s Blues Party” on CapRadio, and other prominent CapRadio employees were axed, bringing questions of whether the nonprofit broadcaster could survive.
The scope of the crisis more clearly entered the public eye in September 2023 — one month after CapRadio first announced its staff layoffs — when the California State University system released an audit that found widespread financial mismanagement by the nonprofit. Nelsen initiated the audit in 2022, The Bee previously reported.
Internally, CapRadio employees had repeatedly asked Reina and former general manager Rick Eytcheson questions about the strategy to embark on a costly move away from its offices on Sacramento State’s campus on Folsom Boulevard, said Catherine Stifter, a former director of documentary project “The View from Here” and a former news editor of seven years. Eytcheson served as general manager from mid-2000s until he retired in 2020, when Reina took over the general manager position.
The employees trusted managers to ensure a solid infrastructure and success of CapRadio.
But that trust was misplaced, Stifter said.
“To feel that trust has been abused — its kind of a gut punch.”
Reina often listened to employees’ concerns and was viewed as the natural position to take over as general manager in 2020. He first joined CapRadio in 2007 as the chief financial officer, and later became both the CFO and chief operating officer in 2013.
“Jun seemed like a logical choice and he seems to have disappointed everybody who ever had confidence in him,” said Bob Moffitt, a media consultant and former CapRadio reporter.
A Sacramento State spokesperson declined to comment Thursday on Reina’s arrest and the charges he faces.
Nelsen said he was saddened for CapRadio and for all its listeners but hopes Reina’s arrest brings a sense of closure. The broadcaster has weathered dire storms and has proven it can prosper and serve its mission, he said, adding that its service is sacred. CapRadio has said it’s addressed all its financial concerns.
“Even though this extremely unfortunate — and that’s an understatement — situation has happened, at least maybe now, there’s a brighter future ahead,” Nelsen said.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
