REAL STEAL: EMBEZZLER'S ASSETS UP FOR BIDS // CRIME: A '64 Rolls. A golden piano. A fax machine. They're all on sale at Stephen Wagner's place.

DATE                  05/12/93
NEWSPAPER             THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SECTION               NEWS
EDITION               MORNING
PAGE                  a01
STORY LENGTH          9 INCHES
HEADLINE              REAL STEAL: EMBEZZLER'S ASSETS UP FOR BIDS   // 
                         CRIME: A '64 Rolls. A golden piano. A fax machine. 
                         They're all on sale at Stephen Wagner's place.
BYLINE/CREDIT          DAN FROOMKIN:The Orange County Register
SUBJECT TERMS         OC:SCHOOLS:OFFICIALS:MONEY:THEFT:SALES

   Wanna buy a bathrobe lined in beaver fur -- cheap? One with great
  novelty value?
     Or perhaps you'd just like to gloat.
     You're cordially invited to what could be one of the more
  bizarre and amusing auctions in Orange County history.
     Less than a year ago, Newport-Mesa Unified School District
  Finance Director Stephen A. Wagner was living large in his
  million-dollar home, having embezzled $4 million from district
  coffers.
     But Wagner is now in jail awaiting sentencing, and as part of an
  uphill effort to make restitution, bankruptcy trustee Ted Albert
  will sell Wagner's motley collection of assets to the highest
  bidders at 1 p.m. May 26. To attend, a $1,000 refundable deposit
  must be paid at the door.
     The site: the home itself -- 1301 Galaxy Drive in Newport Beach.
     The items for sale: a gold-plated grand piano, Wagner's high
  school ring, his wife's wedding ring, a 3-foot vase, 60 pieces of
  Baccarat crystal, Wagner's fax machine, some Salvador Dali
  lithographs, a 1964 Rolls-Royce.
     And much, much more.
     The Wagners were known -- even in Newport Beach -- for their
  excesses. And there will be oodles of fur coats up for grabs. In
  fact, Albert just discovered eight more in storage that "the
  Wagners sort of forgot to tell me that they had."
     Albert also just got hold of a 2 1/2-pound emerald belonging to
  Wagner. But he says it isn't worth much and will "probably go more
  for curiosity value than anything else."
     The bad news for Newport-Mesa taxpayers is that the auction is
  expected to take in only about $100,000, not even enough to make a
  dent in the $4 million Wagner has admitted stealing.