We obtained inventory records from Santa Clara ValleyMedical Center, which revealed hundreds of items, including pricey medical equipment, have gone missing. Our Investigative Unit combed through stacks of documents to see what was lost and never found. Announcer Valley Medical Center in san jose, or vmc, is the county hospital for santa clara, so its mostly funded by taxpayers, a total of 1. 2 billion each year, or 83 of the hospitals budget. But we discovered vmc and its clinics have a track record of losing track of their own equipment. Records we obtained from Santa Clara County show over the last 5 years, 383 items were reported as missing. Heart monitors, office furniture, microscopes, even an lcd projector all listed as utl, or unable to locate. And the county recorded the total Purchase Price for those items at over 11. 8 million. Paul first of all, i have to say that we take this very seriously. Bigad paul lorenz is the hospitals ceo, and agreed to sit down with us, along with his boss, jeff smith, the county executive for santa clara. Jeff smith we found that we really had a broken inventory system. Bigad these are items that cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and theres no record of where they are. How do you justify that . Jeff you know, i was as you are, and as your viewers are, concerned how much of that 11 million was really because something was misplaced, and how much of it was because of sloppy processes. Bigad what happens if you dont have good recordkeeping . Chuck schutz you lose things. Announcer chuck schutz says its a basic principle you learn as a business owner. His used Electronics Warehouse is 27,000 square feet worth of, well, weird stuff. Thats the name of his business, which Sells Everything from laptop hard drives and highpriced medical equipment to whatever this thing is. Bigad even in the midst of all this clutter, and pardon the phrase here, even some junk, your employees can still find everything on your inventory. Chuck yeah. Bigad so, you can tell us where this is right now . Spencer thompson i can. Bigad we randomly picked this microscope from their online store. Employee Spencer Thompson used the tag number to look up its exact location. Spencer aisle g, bay 6. Announcer and sure enough, he took us right to it. And there it is. But the kind of poor recordkeeping that schutz says would have quickly forced his business to go out of business may have been in place for years at the county hospital in santa clara. Jeff the county, over 10 years of budget cuts, had cut away all of the administrative structure thats needed to do an appropriate inventory. Were talking about hundreds of thousands of items. Bigad do you know if taxpayer dollars could have been wasted because of poor practices at the county hospital . Jeff because we had a system that was not very accurate, we cant say that with 100 accuracy. Announcer smith believes some older items may have been thrown out or donated by vmc staff, who failed to notify the county. Bigad but isnt part of the problem that you actually cant say that for sure . Because the very reason theyre on that list is you have no record of where they are. Jeff well, thats part of the concern. Announcer lorenz also said the hospital found proof that many of the other items that went missing over the past 5 years were actually properly sold or thrown out by the hospital because they were broken or no longer needed. Bigad but just last year, there were items that were only 5 years old or less that cost about 350 thousand. Paul i think ive been very clear that most of those items, if not all the items of more recent, have been located. Bigad after the interview, we asked for a list of those exact items, and found out that county could only account for just 29 pieces of equipment, which means 354 other items remain missing. And that lost equipment cost taxpayers 11. 3 million. Jeff goolsby there was no consistency in the dollars that were missing year to year. Announcer accountant jeff goolsby has spent the last 18 years helping hospitals keep track of equipment. Hes based in Central Florida and has never worked in the bay area. To get his unbiased, expert opinion, we showed him the records we obtained from the hospital. Jeff in years that were in certain cases double the previous year, thats certainly something that i would say warrants an investigation by senior management. Announcer we obtained internal memos from 2009 that show county leaders knew the Medical Center had a large amount of missing items even back then, and provided Valley Medical Center recommendations to improve that vmc has agreed to implement. The county even promised that the missing list would decrease substantially in the coming years. And that was 6 years ago. Jeff its going to take some time to continue to fix it, and its going to take more resources, more attention to detail on a daytoday basis. Announcer two years ago, vmc started attaching these hightech tags to more than 2,700 pieces of equipment so staff can now track their locations. The Medical Center also hired someone to oversee the hospitals inventory, in hopes of cutting down the list of missing items. Paul were down to 70 items on the current list, and we expect that number to continue to drop. Announcer that list of 70 missing items this year is down from the 162 last year. But its still more missing items than were reported in 2013 and 2012. Jeff thats why weve been so vigorously working on changing the process. Bigad Valley Medical Center estimates that by the time some of the items went missing, their value depreciated so much, they were no longer worth anything. But we discovered half of the items went missing within just 10 years of when they were purchased. Announcer a Bay Area CommunityCollege Chancellor questioned over his district expenses, which included creditcard charges for martinis, mojitos, and other alcoholic drinks. Ron i didnt buy mojitos in las vegas, im sorry. Announcer but receipts submitted to the district show otherwise. And thats not the only questions Investigative Reporter vicki nguyen has for the chancellor. College district, ron galatolo. He receives 42,000 students at kenyatta skyline in the college of san mateo. Investigative reporter vicki nguyen started looking into expenses on the chancellors credit card and found questionable spending. And it all started from a tip centering around a sports car the chancellor was spotted driving and storing on campus. Vicki shes a beauty, a replica of a 1950s porsche spyder. These photos, sent to the Investigative Unit, show the car parked in a building on the college of san mateo campus. It appears a temporary dmv registration was taped the windshield. A closer look appears to show the car was sold to the San Mateo CountyCommunity College district. Male the chancellor, the chancellor, he was the one driving the car. Vicki this person asked to be disguised out of fear of retaliation. He says chancellor ron galatolo regularly drove the car, but no one knows why it was stored here. Male you have this porsche just sitting by itself in an abandoned building. Its just somethings up. I mean, maybe this is just the tip of the iceberg. Vicki he was right. We requested a list of the cars owned by the college district. Turns out this car wasnt on that list. We werent able to independently verify the photos, but we tracked the vin on the tag back to one of the districts leased cars, this hyundai sonata. Well get to the car in a moment. But first, we went through 3 years of expenses charged to the districts credit cards and paid for by the public. We found chancellor galatolo, who makes 304 thousand a year, charged hundreds of dollars worth of alcohol during business meals and trips, even though the districts policy clearly says thats prohibited. Female pretty difficult to explain. Vicki lisa keegan served as the state superintendent in arizona for 7 years, and shes the Senior Policy Adviser on education for senator john mccain. She says its a common policy to ban the purchase of booze on a public credit card. That doesnt mean leaders cant purchase their own drink with dinner, or pay for a clients drink. It just cant be with public funds. Lisa keegan i think alcohol is restricted because the public is conflicted about it, and i think thats fair. Vicki many of galatolos receipts were not itemized, which also appears to violate the rules. It was only after we dug up the original receipts that we found more. Two mojitos from the poolside bar in vegas. A 100 bottle of wine plus several glasses of wine during a 400 dinner in san diego. In riverside, a 57 bottle of wine. And beers in the bay area and vietnam. But the biggest receipt we uncovered, a meal with a 978 tab at the mon ami gabi in las vegas, where mr. Galatolo charged 8 french martinis and 8 glasses of wine at a staff dinner for 14. The district also paid for other meals, but galatolo didnt submit detailed receipts, so we dont know whether or not he bought alcohol. We also found the chancellor regularly dines on the district dime at pricey restaurants, including left bank, the vacci, and town. Compare that with expenses we reviewed for other Bay Area College leaders, who have meetings at fastcasual restaurants, even one at mcdonalds. And we found no other records showing those leaders bought booze with public money. Hi, vicki with nbc bay area news. How are you . Ron galatolo very good. Vicki good. Did you charge alcohol to the district credit card . Ron im not quite too sure. Vicki we asked the chancellor for an interview to discuss his expenses. He said hed only talk with us during a live, unedited broadcast, so we agreed. Ron im telling you, it must be a pretty slow news day at nbc bay area as well. Vicki but after two Business Days and no response, we caught up with the chancellor before a public Board Meeting and showed him the receipts we uncovered. Ron i didnt buy mojitos in las vegas, im sorry. Vicki but here they are, two mojitos clearly charged to galatolos room, then submitted to the district for payment. Ron if i bought those, i guarantee you then they were reimbursed. Vicki the chancellor has not produced any proof he reimbursed the district for any of his alcohol purchases. And listen closely. In the span of less than a minute, the chancellor says three different things. First, yes, he understands district rules. Vicki an employee is not authorized to use a procurement card for personal purchases. Ron absolutely. And that isand that is true. And that is true. Vicki then he didnt know what the rules were. Ron i dont know if this is actually our current policy with regard to that as well too. Vicki this policy that was in effect in march of 2014 . Ron well, over 2 years ago. Vicki that is when your purchases were made. Ron im just saying i dont know the timing. Ill look at the timing, and look and see. Vicki and finally, no, he didnt know the policy. Vicki were you aware of this policy before we showed it to you . Ron no, i was not aware of that policy before you showed it to me. Vicki confusing . Not for these students. Male but he can do what he wants. Female i feel like people in power, like, abuse their power. Female he should get fired. Vicki thats up to the board of trustees. They oversee the chancellor. The rules say the card may be revoked if used to buy alcohol. And habitual misuse of the card will subject the employee to discipline. But board president Patricia Miljanich refused to answer our questions, emailing instead to say, quote, all the expenditures made by the chancellor are within the general parameters of what the board expects of the chancellor. I also believe that my colleagues on the board would agree. Lisa if we asked that in a public meeting, would everybody go, oh, sure, you make 300 thousand, but sure, charge us for your bottle of wine at dinner. The public doesnt generally say thats okay. Ron these things are absolutely petty. Vicki galatolo says the meal at the mon ami was a celebration for staff, and he insists he didnt drink. Ron well, i dont know if they bought drinks or not, but i did not buy drinks for myself for consumption. Vicki as for that porsche replica, galatolo said it belongs to a friend. Vicki do you know why there was a registration taped in the windshield that belonged to a district vehicle . Ron no, i dont know anything about that either, im sorry. Vicki does that make any sense to you that ron makes no sense to me whatsoever. I allowed a friend to use the vehicle here while they were getting it actually registered. Male i have to pay for my parking. Vicki how important is it for public leaders, especially of public institutions, for them to be careful and cautious about how they spend public dollars . Lisa nothing is more important probably. Because at the end of the day, we kind of use the way you use money as proxy for your character in the position. Bigad the chancellor says hes proud of his work at the district. You should note this is the same district that just got a 388 million bond to upgrade facilities at the schools. Announcer coming up, its a highpriced hobby, big game hunting. Bigad about how often do you get lions like that . Annmarie i would say probably about one a week. Announcer we investigate how many threatened species end up shipped to the us as trophies. Endangered and threatened and shipped to the United States as animal trophies, and its happening here in the bay area. Were talking about big game hunting, which came into the global spotlight after a minnesota hunter killed a protected lion in zimbabwe named cecil. But we discovered that killing lions for sport is generally allowed, even though populations are at historic lows. Behind these crates are some of the most soughtafter animals in africa. A blue wildebeest, an antelope, even a lion, theyre all hunting trophies, legally shot and killed abroad for sport. Annmarie wheres the skull . Announcer we were granted rare access to join federal wildlife agents as they inspected trophy shipments coming into the port of san francisco. Most are covered in pesticides to keep them from rotting, so the inspectors wear protective masks. Annmarie hes got the buffalo. Announcer annmarie holmes leads the team. Annmarie for the people that want to go kill a lion and bring it home as a trophy, this is what we would see. Its been turned insideout, so you can see across the top where the neck and the head go. And then you have the four feet. Bigad you can actually see the bullet hole right there. Annmarie yes, on that side you can see the bullet hole. Bigad about how often do you get lions like this . Annmarie i would say probably about one a week. Announcer we obtained more than 25,000 pages worth of federal records from the us fish and Wildlife Service, and discovered at least 1. 2 million sporthunted trophies had been imported into the United States over the past 15 years. That includes 4,900 elephants, which the us considers threatened; more than 6,000 leopards, also threatened; 513 rhinos, even more vulnerable since theyre listed as endangered; and more than 7,200 lions. The federal government proposed listing them as threatened back in october of last year. But since then, 601 lions were killed abroad for sport and imported into the us as trophies, all legally. Bigad so, the fact that it may be endangered or threatened doesnt necessarily mean that it cant be hunted and brought back into the us as a trophy . Annmarie correct. It just means that youre going to have a lot more paperwork and go through a lot more steps to be able to get those permits to bring it in. Announcer endangered and threatened animals are shipped to the us almost every other day. Its us policy to approve those shipments only if the foreign country allowing the hunting also has a Conservation Program in place to help strengthen that animals overall population. Some wildlife experts see it as a bizarre balancing act, while others view sport hunting as a financial tool to preserve wildlife. Killing a single lion can cost hunters up to 71,000 dollars. Across africa, sport hunting is estimated to bring in more than 200 million each year. David and its the trafficking more than the hunting thats the big issue. Announcer david hayes is a former deputy secretary for the department of the interior, and for 6 years oversaw the us fish and Wildlife Service and its duties in regulating the import of sporthunted trophies under the clinton and obama administrations. David if the funding that is used for sport hunting is then plowed back into protection of the habitat, then that can be a net benefit. Bigad have you found that money is always going to where its intended to . David well, thats a major question. Its tough because theres some fish and wildlife biologists sitting here in the United States, making decisions about whats going on over in africa. Announcer hayes says poachers capitalize on the limited oversight by routinely using sport hunting as a front to be able to kill wildlife and sell it on the black market. Last year, the Us Government banned sporthunted elephant trophies from zimbabwe and tanzania. David it made that decision in part because they couldnt tell where the money was going. There was no sport hunting involved. It was essentially a massacre of elephants that was occurring. Bigad but with a limited staff, is it possible they could be missing other infractions that are happening . David oh, certainly, its certainly possible, yes. Sure. Michael stutton gives us all a bad name. Announcer Michael Sutton is a former federal wildlife agent and past president of the california fish announcer Michael Sutton is a formand game commission. Agent bigad how often do you think some of these sporthunted trophies are coming into the us illegally . Michael i think it happens all the time. Bigad sutton is an avid hunter for food, but is now calling for a ban on hunting for trophies. Michael ordinarily, its not even a wildlife inspector that looks at those trophies. It may be just a customs inspector, who looks and then makes sure they have the proper paperwork, and then they just come in. Theres really very little scrutiny of these animals coming in at all. Bigad coming up, could big game hunting actually help some animals thrive . We investigate the claim from some scientists and Trophy Hunters when we come back. I was walking home. Just picked us up two breakfast croissants for four bucks, when this bear attacked. With one swipe, it devoured one of the croissants. Then jack showed up and took care of the beast, so i could escape. And thats what happened to your breakfast croissant. And yours . It survived. Share it with yourself. Freshly cracked egg with ham and bacon, or sausage, get two breakfast croissants for four bucks. singing i just cant wait to meet you, sweet child youre on the way, im filled with expectation, and youre growing everyday. instrumental bigad trophyhunting supporters say the benefits extend far beyond just the thrill of the kill. Heres that part of the story. Jeffrey vaselow so, ill soak this overnight to rehydrate it so its stretchy and pliable. Bigad jeffrey vaselow makes a living trying to bring back the dead. Jeffrey it has emotion, its alive. Bigad hes a taxidermist just outside of san francisco, and has been mounting animal trophies for over 40 years. Hes also a Trophy Hunter himself, and says the value hunting puts on animals means more money for wildlife reservations to breed more animals. Jeffrey hunting protects these populations, maintains the populations. Without hunting, they wouldtheyll disappear. Announcer some scientists agree, and believe killing weaker, older, and more aggressive animals can actually help a species thrive. But hunters cant always identify those animals. In africa, only 20,000 lions are left. Over the past decade, us hunters killed 760 lions. And about 13 of those trophies entered the us through the port of san francisco. Bigad are inspectors able to check every sporthunted trophy that comes through here . Annmarie no, not even close. Id say at least 50 maybe. Theres only four wildlife inspectors for the whole port of san francisco, oakland, and san jose, so we have to use our time wisely. Announcer but with some of the animals considered threatened or even endangered, some question whether killing wildlife truly is the best way to protect it. Bigad since our investigation first aired, the federal government has issued new guidelines aimed at restricting the number of trophyhunting permits that are issued, including those for threatened and endangered animals. And just recently, the government officially placed lions under the protection of the endangered species act. Now, if you have a story for us, call our tip line at 888996tips, or send an email to theunit nbcbayarea. Com. We thank you for watching. Youre invited to join us regularly right here on nbc bay area. Why . Because we investigate. [music] [music] [music] cc by aberdeen captioning 18006886621 www. Abercap. Com is the new oj movie playing fair with the key players. Welcome to access hollywood im liz hernandez. People versus o. J. Simpson premieres tuesday. I spoke with the cast, john travolta, plays Robert Shapiro y y creator of the legal dream team. Did you ever have a conversation . No, he wrote me a beautiful letter. Happy i was playing him. Other than that. I did not. How do you think he will feel about the portrayal of him . I dont know. I dont know how anyone will feel about any portrayals. I will be curious myself. I talked to him. I told him i had nothing to hide. Did you reach out to o. J. For the role . No, no. Played him at the height of his popularity. Now he is in his 60s. Incarcerated for a while. I know what that does to a mans spirit. Breaks a man. I didnt want that to creep into the performance. Throw the gun out the window. The bronco chase and trial, were any indication, fxs crime story anthology, the people versus o. J. Simpson will have curious viewers. Question is will the players pour trailed be among them. Do you hope he watches the