Former CapRadio GM’s court case continued until September, no plea entered

Former CapRadio General Manager Jun Reina’s criminal case will be continued for another three months.

The former executive and his lawyer, Mary Ann Bird, made brief appearances Wednesday morning via Zoom in a courtroom at the Sacramento County Main Jail. Reina, wearing a grey vest and blue shirt, appeared to be joining from inside a vehicle.

Prosecutor Dave Bass from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office requested a continuance until Sept. 17 at 8:30 a.m. for further proceedings, which judge David Bonilla granted.

Bird and Bass said they expected Reina to be in-person for that court appearance.

Reina’s third court hearing was as brief as his previous ones, only lasting a few minutes. In April Bird requested a continuance until June, and for her and Reina to join remotely. Reina was not present for that hearing.

Bird also requested her client be allowed to travel for a family vacation from June 6-12. Bonilla granted the requests over prosecutors’ objections that Reina could pose a flight risk.

Reina’s first court appearance was Feb. 2, where he appeared in-person and with his family. He has still not entered a plea to the charges against him which include felony embezzlement, grand theft and forgery.

Background on the case

Reina, identified in court documents as Fidias “Jun” Reina Jr., was hired as CapRadio’s chief financial officer in 2007. He also became the public radio station’s chief operating officer in 2013, and was later promoted to general manager and executive vice president in 2020. He resigned in 2023.

CapRadio experienced layoffs and canceled four music programs in August, shortly after Reina’s resignation. The California State University Chancellor’s office released an audit a month later outlining significant financial mismanagement at CapRadio, which is licensed to Sacramento State. 

The university later commissioned a forensic examination that found more than $760,000 in unsupported payments, more than half of which made to a single station executive identified by CapRadio reporters as Reina. 

The district attorney’s office announced felony charges against the former executive on Jan. 29, 2026. The charges came after a sheriff’s office investigation into Reina that ran from January 2024 to August 2025.

Prosecutors accused Reina of orchestrating a “multi-year scheme" to divert CapRadio funds for personal use between Dec. 6, 2016, and June 12, 2022.  The DA’s office says he misappropriated approximately $1.33 million through unauthorized credit card charges, payments to his personal credit card accounts, and electronic fund transfers from CapRadio’s bank account to his own.

Reina’s forgery charge focuses on an allegedly counterfeit document Reina is accused of producing on Sept. 15, 2022 in response to a request from CSU auditors as part of an annual validation process. This was an allegedly-forged radio tower proposal document, according to records reviewed by CapRadio reporters. 

The DA’s office accuses the former GM of using stolen station funds on lavish personal spending including international travel, home renovations, tuitions for his children and other expenses. CapRadio also accused Reina of misusing station money in a December 2024 civil lawsuit filed in Yolo County.

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by Senior Producer Sarit Laschinsky. It was edited by Editor Sally Longenecker.

Following NPR’s protocol for reporting on itself, no CapRadio corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted or broadcast.

You can read our independent ongoing coverage of financial issues at Capital Public Radio here.

Editor’s note: CapRadio is licensed to Sacramento State, which is also an underwriter.