Audit released on “alleged intrusion” by Board deputies

Following his termination as head of the County’s Department of Regional Planning, former director Bruce McClendon stated publicly that his firing was in retaliation for protesting what he alleged was improper influence over his department by the board and its staff. The county commissioned an independent audit by Harvey M. Rose Associates to investigate McClendon’s charges.

The Rose report examined eight specific allegations, finding five of them “not substantiated” and three “not substantiated, with qualifications.” The full report may be found on the County Auditor-Controller’s site, here.

Posted 2/26/10

Keeping scammers on the run

The case may be over, but L.A. County’s real estate fraud investigators are still plenty busy.

Last week, a federal judge sentenced five defendants—including two who drew double-digit prison terms—in a $13 million real-estate fraud case in which the FBI and federal prosecutors received key assistance from investigators of the Real Estate Fraud and Identity Theft unit of the county Department of Consumer Affairs.

Pulling together property and loan records for dozens of fraudulent home-loan transactions, the county investigators “provided invaluable information and assistance” to federal prosecutors, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

That assistance helped put Martha Rodriguez, of Downey, and Ed Seung Ok, of Huntington Beach, in prison for 10 and 15 years respectively, following guilty pleas on mail fraud and money laundering charges.

The Silvernet scam, named for Rodriguez’s real-estate firm, ran between 2003 and 2005 and it involved convincing owners of homes in default to sign over their home’s title to a “co-signer” with better credit so they could get a new, bigger mortgage on the house. But instead of giving the new loan to the family, Rodriguez and Ok pocketed most of the proceeds themselves, defrauding the banks and leaving the homeowner with no title, mortgage or right to their home.

Now that the case is over, the fraud unit is beginning to help about 30 victims of the scam pick up the pieces by, among other things, helping the victims negotiate with lenders to regain title of their homes.

“We’re telling people if you are still in this mess, we want to work with you to determine what your best options are,” Acting Consumer Affairs Director Rigo Reyes said. (Click here to learn more about the department’s homeowner services.)

Helping federal prosecutors is a small part of the work of the five-person anti-fraud team, headed by supervising investigator Dawnnesha Smith. In some cases, the investigators resolve complaints through negotiation. In cases that look criminal, investigators refer cases for prosecution to the district or city attorneys’ offices.

Since the collapse of the real-estate market, the sheer volume of complaints has spiked dramatically. “We’re seeing at least double the number of cases since 2007,” up to about 300 real-estate-related complaints each month, Smith said. In addition, the unit recently took over investigations of credit-card theft and other identity fraud.

Hoping to protect the public against scams, Smith said, “we do a lot of work explaining real-estate fraud in speaking engagements.”

The unit’s work is drawing attention from county officials. Reyes and Smith learned Wednesday that the unit won a 2009 SUPERSTARS! Award from the county for “service excellence and organizational effectiveness.” The members are scheduled to be honored at the May 11 meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

The Rodriguez-Ok prosecutions represented the first time the county investigators had teamed up with federal authorities. Since then, they’ve participated in another case, helping federal prosecutors investigate a $1 million real-estate scam in East Los Angeles that resulted in the 2009 conviction of Juan Rangel on charges that he bribed a bank manager so he could stash huge cash payments in his bank account.

Smith’s team is now busy chasing “foreclosure consultants” who prey on homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages. The scammers charge up-front fees ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 with the promise that they will renegotiate the owner’s mortgage with the bank. Then they’d run off with the money, leaving bewildered homeowners in even deeper trouble than before.

Smith said her investigators have learned of a new scam that exploits public skepticism about banks. “We’ve noticed companies sending out notices saying ‘Your lender is under investigation. Call us to modify your loan’,” Smith said, adding of the new schemes: “It’s ever evolving, and we have to stay ahead of it.”

Posted 2/25/10

Supervisors to consider probation department oversight plan

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, March 2, will take up Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s motion to scrutinize the Probation Department’s internal affairs and child-abuse investigations and report back in 90 days with findings. After former Chief Probation Officer Robert Taylor’s retirement and the naming of an interim director until newly appointed CPO Donald H. Blevins assumes his duties in April, Yaroslavsky thought the time was right to borrow the established in-house expertise of the Office of Independent Review to review Probation Department operations. In 2001, the Board created the OIR, today comprising Chief Attorney Mike Gennaco and five other attorneys, to monitor the Sheriff’s Department and investigate allegations of officer misconduct.

Posted 2/25/10

In the fitness zone at El Cariso Park

This week, the County’s popular El Cariso Park in Sylmar will have something new to offer its visitors: a new Fitness Zone, an outdoor gym facility made possible through a joint program with the Trust for Public Land, a private non-profit conservation agency that offers seed money and partners with public agencies to promote healthy exercise options in public parks. A total of 21 Fitness Zones have been installed in County parks to date. Fitness Zones help park visitors get and stay fit with easy to use cardio, strength training, and flexibility equipment.

The dedication is set for Thursday, March 4 at 10 a.m.

Posted 2/25/10

A place for kids to chill at the courthouse

Court appointments can be stressful for anyone. But kids whose parents have business at the San Fernando Courthouse will soon be able to take the edge off a little in a brand-new Children’s Waiting Room that Supervisor Yaroslavsky, judges and local attorneys will formally open this week.

Kids ranging from toddlers to early teens can enjoy themselves under the watchful supervision of professional child-care providers weekday mornings and afternoons while parents or caregivers do their legal business. The waiting room is the ninth in the County’s court system, made possible through Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s Third District office, the Los Angeles Superior Court, the San Fernando Valley Bar Association and its Attorney Referral Service and the Valley Community Legal Foundation.

The dedication takes place at 10 a.m. Friday, March 5.

Posted 2/25/10

Next Page »