Fugitive Embezzler of Student Funds Is Captured

Escapee Michael Bang, 26, also known as Michael Humbert, was recaptured in Houston early Thursday, two weeks after he was transferred from jail to a San Diego work-release program and disappeared, the district attorney’s office said.

Bang, former president of the Grossmont Community College student body, had been serving a one-year sentence after pleading guilty to embezzling thousands of dollars in student funds for a 1987 spending spree in Beverly Hills, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Sally Williams.

Bang, now in Houston’s Harris County Jail, was traced by investigator Greg Peters and is scheduled for an extradition hearing Thursday, Williams said.

She said her office will ask the court here to revoke Bang’s probation and send him to prison for the maximum grand-theft sentence of three years.

Of three others allegedly involved in the scheme, fellow student officer Larry Humpal is serving his sentence during the summers while he goes to the University of Southern California, Williams said. The two other defendants are to be sentenced this month.