Report says Wickenburg school official wrongly got free dirt

PHOENIX (AP) — State watchdog officials say a former Wickenburg school district official illegally hit pay dirt _ up to 700 truckloads of it _ from a district-owned excavation site and then used it for his own property. The Auditor General’s Office said in a report Thursday a grand jury indicted William Moran, former operations director for the Wickenburg Unified School District, with conflict of interest and other crimes. The office said it conducted an investigation and presented findings to the Attorney General’s Office after the district alleged financial misconduct by Moran, who resigned in 2018 when questioned by the district superintendent. Court records did not list an attorney for Moran who could speak for him.