Corey Bruins, Former President of OB Town Council, Faces Felony Charges

Looks like Corey Bruins, the former president of the Ocean Beach Town Council, is in very big trouble. The DA’s Office filed felony charges in Superior Court on March 6, 2025, and at his arraignment on March 31, Bruins plead not guilty.

He is currently out on his own recognizance. By one account, Bruins has an upcoming preliminary hearing sometime in May 2025. According to the Superior Court website, Bruins’ case number is CD307110.

Bruins, as OB observers and local activists know, was forced to resign as OBTC president in January 2024, throwing the Town Council into turmoil and crisis.

As the Rag reported then:

The immediate upshot, as interim president Cameron Reid explained in the statement he read to the some 60 people in the audience, is that president Corey Bruins has been ousted and that the group’s financial accounts have been turned over to an independent auditor. The former treasurer, Connor Harrington, has also resigned. (See full BOD statement below.)

Apparently — and the details are still somewhat murky — President Bruins treated the OBTC as his own club and was the only one with access to its financial accounts — and most Board members, whether too inexperienced or too intimidated or too persuaded by Bruins, remained quiet and didn’t raise issues or questions for nearly a two-year period that Bruins reigned.

Bruins was first elected to the board of the Ocean Beach Town Council in 2015 and became president in July 2021.

More Background

To recall the earlier history, former OBTC President Mark Winkie was replaced by Bruins in July 2021 after Winkie sent an email taking responsibility for what was described as a personal indiscretion. Just 7 hours later – and without any offers to meet and discuss it — Mark was sent a letter, signed by 10 of the 14 other board members, asking for his resignation. He quickly complied. Two board members resigned in protest of the process for Winkie’s removal. Plus, the Rag called for Bruins’ resignation as president.

Former OBTC President Mark Winkie told the Monthly:

“That’s what everyone wants to know. How there was just one person, the president, with access to the accounts and there was zero oversight on that? And more importantly, how was that just the normal operational configuration of the council and no one questioned it? … Just having one person responsible for handling the money without any oversight; not only is that against the bylaws, that’s just a really foolish way to run a nonprofit. They’re just asking for trouble.”

More details

• the discovery was made because the IRS filings for nonprofits, known as “990s” because of the form number, were needed to complete the grant application. There were no current filings, and the June deadline was missed.
• Under pressure, Bruins acknowledged the delinquencies at the June OBTC meeting, when many board members first heard of the issue.
• Yet, Bruins presented a plan to bring the filings up to date, and reassured other concerned board members.\
• It also was discovered that the Ocean Beach Community Foundation had not filed 990s for two years. That issue was subsequently resolved.
• In September, the board learned that Connor Harrington, the then OBTC treasurer, did not have access to the various Town Council bank accounts. Harrington resigned from the post in October.
• Harrington was replaced as treasurer by Jenny Brengelman, but she ran into obstacles getting access to the accounts. US Bank’s acquisition of Union Bank, where OBTC accounts were held, led to more delays.

OB residents and the organizations who were impacted by this fraudster deserve justice.