Boy & Girls Clubs’ ex-director sues over firing

Al Padilla, director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Fe for 27 years before he was fired in 2011, has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit that says his discharge didn’t follow club bylaws and that he was defamed by suggestions he was fired for embezzlement.

Padilla’s state District Court lawsuit says a forensic audit found that there was no conversion of cash receipts to personal use by any club employees, but that he was held responsible for deficiencies in record-keeping at a club satellite office because “his wife (also an employee) was alleged to have been involved.”

He also claims that Nicole Castellano, president of the club’s board at the time Padilla was fired, “falsely stated in a public forum and to several politicians that Al was discharged for embezzlement.”

Castellano couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. An employee at the club, reached by phone, said Roman Abeyta, the club’s current chief professional officer, wasn’t available and no else representing the club responded to the Journal’s request for comment.

Padilla is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Padilla’s firing came after a complaint of possible embezzlement was sent anonymously to state auditor Hector Balderas, with records of expenses and receipts at a satellite office of the Boys and Girls Clubs, and then was passed on to the Attorney General’s Office.

A spokeswoman for the AG’s office said in 2011 that it had determined that any allegations of criminal activity “should be reported to local law enforcement for their review and handling.” Apparently no charges were ever filed in the case

The complaint received by Balderas related to about $9,000 in payments at the Santa Cruz site of the Boys and Girls Clubs, a site once administered by Bernadette Archuleta Padilla, the former director’s wife.

Al Padilla’s suit alleges club board bylaws weren’t followed on several counts in his firing. It says some board members shouldn’t have been allowed to vote because they had too many unexcused absences and that other, qualified board members were improperly excluded from voting.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Fe provides meals, after-school care, health care and other services at its main site on Alto Street and four satellite sites in public housing projects in the city and county. It is a private nonprofit, but most of its budget — which has been as much as $1.8 million in the past — comes from public sources.