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Professor Gets Early Retirement After Planting Illegal Palm Trees

POSTED: 8:35 am PDT April 20, 2007
UPDATED: 8:58 am PDT April 20, 2007

MiraCosta College trustees have approved an early retirement for a horticulture professor who was allegedly responsible for an illegal palm tree growing operation at the school, it was reported Friday.

The unanimous decision to approve the retirement for Alleen Texeira was made Thursday, a day after the college released a 200-page summary of a 17-month investigation into the tree-growing operation, the North County Times reported.

A summary of a private investigator's report alleges that Texeira and a fertilizer salesman illegally used college land, water and labor for eight years to grow and sell palm trees for personal profit, according to the Times.

It was not clear how much profit was made from the alleged operation, or how much MiraCosta water and labor were illegally used. While no criminal charges have been filed against anyone involved in the alleged tree scheme, college President Victoria Munoz Richart said Wednesday that she has been told that the investigation is "moving up the ladder" in the district attorney's office, the Times reported.

College officials would not release any details about the early retirement agreement forged with Texeira, except that it would become effective Friday, the newspaper reported. Texeira, whose annual salary is approximately $100,000, was initially hired by the college in 1995.


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