Honeycutt gets a lawyer, Cox to rely on state

C. Steven Cox and Tad Honeycutt wait and listen in Victorville Superior Court Friday morning.

I will try to show that while Honeycutt was taking money from the Charter Schools he was using his developer connections and campaign contributors to buy and sell properties with that same money.The chart above shows the money transfers between the charter schools and the "company" that Honeycutt was running. Somewhere around $3.5 million dollars of tax dollars was moved from schools into EASC's accounts over 22 months with nothing to show for it.

  And show the link between the indictments and the CCA audit version of events. The screenshot below is from the indictments.Each $6,750 dollar check has 2 felony counts filed on them. First is the Grand Theft charge and the next count is Misappropriation of Public Funds. These are the counts that Cox and Honeycutt are charged together.

The screenshot below is from the audit that contained the 4 payments of $6,750 from the Charter Schools accounts to Honeycutt's Maniaque business. These are the $6,750 checks in the indictment above.

Around the same time Honeycutt was dealing with Frontier Homes and others in questionable real estate deals that were never disclosed on the form 700's that are required of all elected officials.All were in 2004.

 TAD HONEYCUTT AKA MANIAQUE DEVELOPMENT LLC

In reviewing real estate records involving some of the local developers and City Councilman Tad Honeycutt, I found what I believe are improper business deals between these parties in light of the decisions that would be made by Tad Honeycutt as a council member. 

PARCEL #0397-181-09 AND PARCEL #0397-181-10
Tad Honeycutt, Maniaque Development LLC purchased APN 0397-181-09/10 on April 20, 2004 document #2004-291746 transfer tax $352.00.  Maniaque Development LLC received a real estate loan from Frontier Homes to purchase this property, document #2004-328425.

Maniaque Development LLC then sold APN 0397-181-10 on August 18, 2004 to Ziad Janadi document #2004-599138 transfer tax $341.00. Maniaque Development LLC then sold APN 0397-181-09 on August 18, 2004 to Ziad Janadi document #2004-597599 transfer tax $341.00.  Maniaque Development LLC then carried back a Deed of Trust in the amount of $210,000.00 to Ziad Janadi document #2004-599139. 

Within 4 months Maniaque Development LLC had almost doubled the profit from the sale of this property made about $300,000.00 profit.  This loan, real estate purchase and beneficial interest in the deed of trust were not reported on Tad Honeycutt's economic interest statements. 

PARCEL #0397-181-18
Document #2004-327853 Grant Deed where Brentwood Mortgage, Inc. transferred  APN 0357-571-41 to Maniaque Development, LLC on May 11, 2004 transfer tax shows as $55.35. This transaction should be investigated as this was a substantial piece of land and $55.35 transfer tax indicates that there was little money involved in the deal.  Sun Reporter Jeff Horowitz told me that the transfer tax shown on the deed was not correct.  First American Title carried an all-inclusive Deed of Trust and Assignment of Rents in the amount of $88,000.00 document #2004-327854.  It appears that First American Title loaned Maniaque Development LLC more than the purchase price of the property.

Council majority calls on Honeycutt to resign post

Three out of four colleagues say his presence will hurt the city

By HILLARY BORRUD Staff Writer  9-20-07

    HESPERIA — It could take months or years until the felony charges against City Councilman Tad Honeycutt are resolved but on Wednesday night, three of Honeycutt’s four colleagues on the Hesperia City Council told him he should resign.
    Speaking at the end of Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Councilman Thurston “Smitty” Smith said that he was concerned about Honeycutt’s statement last Friday that he would remain on the council.
    “Mr. Honeycutt, I honestly believe that your continued presence on the City Council is not in the best interest of this community and will, in fact, interfere with the planned progress of our city,” Smith said, reading from a prepared statement.
    “You have served for more than one term. It is now time for you to step down and make way for a new direction,” he said.
    Mayor Pro Tem Mike Leonard, who spoke next, said he seconded Smith’s remarks, and Mayor Rita Vogler said that a resignation from Honeycutt would not be an admission of guilt.
    “Your challenges are our challenges, and what happens to you affects us,” she said. Vogler said that she informed Honeycutt beforehand of her planned statement.
    For his part, Honeycutt said after the meeting that calls on him to resign would not hurt his working relationship with the rest of the council.
    He had considered how his decision to remain would impact the community, Honeycutt said, and he wouldn’t have stayed on as councilman if he were unable to work with the rest of the council.
    Wednesday was the first time Honeycutt returned to the City Council dais since his indictment and arrest on Sept. 4 on more than 30 charges stemming from the defunct California Charter Academy.
    This included 15 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds, 15 counts of grand theft, three counts of tax evasion and one count of filing a false tax return.
    Honeycutt posted bail, which was set at $500,000, on the same day as the last City Council meeting on Sept. 5, and other council members remained unsure until the last minute about whether he would appear. At that meeting, Honeycutt was a no-show.
    Vogler had initially said that the decision about whether to resign was up to Honeycutt, but in a Sept. 14 interview with the Daily Press, she said his decision would hurt the city and she would have done things differently.
    When a City Council member resigns, the remaining council has three options: they can leave the position vacant until the next election, appoint a replacement or call a special election.
    A councilman must vacate his seat if he is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony.

Council members call on Honeycutt to resign

Honeycutt: ''I have done nothing wrong''

By BEAU YARBROUGH

Staff Writer

September 19, 2007 - 8:47PM

Councilman Tad Honeycutt appeared at a Hesperia City Council meeting for the first time since he was indicted by the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office, and was promptly asked to leave by three of his fellow members.

Honeycutt was indicted on September 4 and charged with 15 counts of Misappropriation of Public Funds, 15 counts of Grand Theft, three counts of failure to file a state tax return and a single count filing a false tax return. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

The charges stem from an investigation into the operation of California Charter Academy, once the state's largest chain of charter schools, which shut down in 2004. CCA founder C. Steven Cox was also indicted and faces up to 64 years in prison.

Although he was free on $500,000 bail at the time, Honeycutt missed the September 5 meeting of the Hesperia City Council. Wednesday night, though, fellow council members got their first chance to directly address their colleague in the wake of his indictment.

"Mr. Honeycutt, I honestly believe that your continued presence on the city council is not in the best interest of this community," Councilman Thurston "Smitty" Smith said during the council members' comments portion of the meeting, "And will, in fact, interfere with the planned progress of our city. You have served for more than one term. It is now time for you to step down and make way for a new direction."

"I would have to second Councilman Smitty's motion," Councilman Mike Leonard agreed.

But Honeycutt, who had announced his intention to stay on in office at a September 14 court appearance, was not budging.

"I have done nothing wrong and intend to clear my name," he said. "I do not intend to resign."

"I formally request that you reconsider your decision," Mayor Rita Vogler said. "Your challenges are our challenges and what's happening to you affects all of us.

"It's not that I believe that resigning is an admission of guilt. I don't believe that one bit."

Honeycutt, a two-term councilman and former mayor, is up for reelection in 2008. Even prior to the indictments, he had not been expected to run for a third term in office.

The next meeting of the Hesperia City Council will held on October 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Hesperia City Hall.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.

 The judge in Honeycutt's case recused himself and now it is in Judge Margaret Powers court.

The Hesperia public trust issues that seem to have been lost in the shuffle are concerning Tad Honeycutts actions while on the Hesperia City Council. Were the citizens of Hesperia harmed and were our tax dollars misappropriated while Honeycutt was making deals as Mayor or Councilman?  The parcel map above is the 25 acres of City owned land that was sold to Frontier Homes while Tad Honeycutt was borrowing money from Frontier Homes. (See the Resorter Honeycutt Story page) The 7 webpages below this one  (in the index to the left) are all concerning possible conflict of interest deals by Honeycutt while on the Hesperia City Council. Most of them were not reported on Honeycutts disclosure of financial interests forms required by all elected officials. The Frontier Homes loan was not reported. All of these possible violations of law need to be investigated by the Public Integrity Unit of the San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office. The people of Hesperia and the public interest need to be protected along with the State of California schools.

 

This is the infamous Honeycutt letter to the editors- the Daily Press and Hesperia Star. Where Honeycutt warned us about people who question the building industry..and explained to us the facts of life as the Mayor of Hesperia.

 

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Voices: Growth, quality of life, and something for nothing

By TAD HONEYCUTT

 

 

March 20, 2007 - 11:48AM 

(This story originally appeared in the Hesperia Star Tuesday, March 28, 2006)

It wasn’t all that long ago that High Desert residents had to pack up the family and drive 45-minutes down the hill to do anything but our most basic shopping. Fortunately, those days have long since passed. Now, instead of going to the shopping centers and theaters down the hill, those retail, dining and entertainment opportunities have, literally, come to our neighborhoods.

Interestingly, the developers of those shopping centers and restaurants have selected our community because of the growing population and the extensive homebuilding that is occurring throughout the Victor Valley. While different folks have different attitudes about growth, the economic impacts are undeniable.

When new homes are built to accommodate our growing population, dramatic economic activity and spending is generated right here, where we are able to keep the tax revenues local and benefit directly from them.

Last summer, noted economist Dr. John Husing quantified the economic impact of residential homebuilding in San Bernardino County and the numbers are staggering. He reported that overall, homebuilders generated more than $4 billion in economic impact and more than 70,000 jobs in San Bernardino County in 2004. Also, the retail development and economic impact that follows housing contributed more than $75 million in sales and property tax revenues to our communities. This is the tax revenue that paves our roads and funds our infrastructure.

When I go out and talk with my neighbors, many assume that when a new school is built, roads are paved, or a new park is constructed, that the money comes out of some kind of magic money pot somewhere in the city or Sacramento and Washington DC. But there is no such thing as something for nothing. While many revenue streams can help fund local infrastructure, one of the largest and most critical (and most often overlooked) is the money provided by residential developers when they pull housing permits, not to mention the fact that new “customers” are the people who are moving into all those new homes. Those new “customers” are the reason the new shopping centers and entertainment opportunities are coming here, which in turn gives us greater sales tax revenue to pay for all the roads that you and I don’t want to be taxed to pay for.

Many of the best things about living in the High Desert are supported by the tax revenue, impact fees and other conditions of approval placed upon residential development by city officials to insure that developers pay their fair share. According to a recent analysis by the Building Industry Association, San Bernardino County Homebuilders paid more than half a billion dollars, yes that is billion, “with a B”, in 2004 to build parks, roads, school buildings, storm drains, and fund vital public services like police and fire departments. Without these fees, we would have little ability to provide the services our growing community needs.

As our community continues to grow, local elected leaders must be mindful to protect the quality of life that we enjoy throughout the region. But we must also resist the urge to take steps that could threaten the industries that help support our quality of life.

Occasionally, we hear proposals in neighboring cities to increase fees or taxes that homebuilders pay or other policies to strictly limit new residential construction. Both offer only short-term benefits if at all.

For one, investment capital is increasingly mobile in today’s global market. That means that, while once investment money tended to focus around a specific geographic region, this is no longer the case. Rapid increases in fees and taxes will only drive residential construction and the investment capital behind it into other regions that will gladly accept the economic growth. This will mean less quality of life revenue for our community.

Similarly, placing artificial limits on the number of houses that can be built in our community, while intended to protect our quality of life, would actually harm it. Without the new revenues generated through residential construction to fund park expansion, police services, and road improvements, a greater percentage of this burden would be placed on existing residents because, like I said before, there is no such thing as something for nothing.

Keeping a healthy homebuilding industry, and strong local economy with good paying local jobs, is critical to protecting our quality of life and helping keep taxes low. Fortunately, the High Desert enjoys both of those today.

Here’s to keeping it that way.

Tad Honeycutt is the mayor of the city of Hesperia.

 

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Honeycutt says he won’t resign

Mayor Rita Vogler says she sees no benefit in his staying as councilman

By RYAN ORR Staff Writer

    VICTORVILLE — Hesperia City Councilman Tad Honeycutt said Friday that he is not planning to resign from his position as an elected official.
    Honeycutt is facing 20 years in prison if convicted on misappropriation of funds charges stemming from the now-defunct California Charter Academy.
    “Obviously, I’m considering what’s in the best interest of the city,” Honeycutt said. “I do not plan on resigning from the City Council. The more I see this case go on, the more injustice I see going on.”
    Hesperia Mayor Rita Vogler said she received a call from Honeycutt on Friday morning learning of his plans and sees no benefit to the community in Honeycutt remaining on the council.
    “As mayor of the city, I believe his decision will definitely hurt the city,” said Vogler. “Resigning is not in any way an admission of guilt.”
    Vogler said she told Honeycutt that with the allegations against him, if he is innocent, he should be spending all of his time on himself.
    “His action was not what I expected,” Vo gler said. “I would have done things differently.”
Ryan Orr may be reached at 951-6277 or rorr@vvdailypress.com.

 

Honeycutt still with no attorney

By RYAN ORR Staff Writer

    VICTORVILLE — Hesperia Councilman Tad Honeycutt made his second appearance in court Friday, still without the means to hire an attorney.
    Honeycutt requested a continuance to Nov. 2 and said he has attorneys Grover Porter and Steven Harmon lined up to work on the case together as soon as he can get the money together.
    Honeycutt is charged with 15 counts of misappropriation of funds, 15 counts of g rand theft, three counts of tax evasion and one count of filing a false t a x re t u r n . He could face 20 years in prison if convicted.
    The charges stem from the failed California Charter Academy and sister companies, which Honeycutt was involved in.
    The founder of CCA, C. Steven Cox, confirmed that he would use public defender Geoff Canty for his defense.
    “I have no other option,” he said.
    Cox was indicted on 113 charges including misappropriation of funds and grand theft. He could face 64 years in jail if convicted.
    As a result of the charges, the District Attorney’s office froze all accounts and assets of the two men, who in all are accused of misspending $5.5 million.
    Cox made bail on Sept. 9 with the help of friends and family, and Honeycutt had been out on bail since Sept. 5, the day after the indictments were announced.
    Honeycutt’s request was granted, and he will confirm counsel on Nov. 2.
Ryan Orr may be reached at 951-6277 or rorr@vvdailypress.com.

White-collar crime statute freezes Honeycutt's, Cox's assets

At the end of the set of indictments issued September 4 against Councilman Tad Honeycutt and California Charter Academy founder C. Steven Cox, there's an additional provision, after all 117 counts are listed.

Citing California Penal Code 186.11, the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office alleges that, in addition to charges of fraud, misappropriation of public funds, filing a false tax return and failure to file false tax returns, the two men are to be charged with the state's aggravated white-collar crime enhancement.

The enhancement does two things: First, it can add up to five years in prison for Cox and Honeycutt, should they be convicted. In the meantime, it freezes their financial assets.

"The purpose of 186.11 is to make sure that they don't dissipate assets that will be [needed] for restitution," Deputy District Attorney Michael Fermin, the lead prosecutor in the case, said Wednesday. "That's what the statute's about: [freezing the assets] before they have the chance to spend everything."

Cox and Honeycutt are accused of misappropriating $5.5 million in the indictments handed down earlier this month. In an April 2005 audit of CCA commissioned by the California Department of Education, auditors alleged the misappropriation could total as much as $23 million.

"I think that the problem is that when the government attaches your assets, it's really exerting a tremendous amount of power and authority over you," said Mark Shoup, supervising public defender in the Victorville courthouse. "Normally, we reserve that kind of action to something where there's been a full judicial process.

"What [the prosecution is] doing is legal, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's illegal, I'm saying it's unfair," he said. "The assumption that whatever assets the defendant has, he got them illegally. ... We presume innocence in this country, and this statute doesn't presume that."

The aggravated white-collar crime enhancement is a relatively new provision in the penal code, having first gone into effect on July 1, 2005. In the two years since then, it has withstood challenges.

"To the extent that it's been challenged constitutionally, it's been upheld," Shoup said.

The freezing of Cox's and Honeycutt's assets complicated bail and complicates defense for the two men. Cox remained in jail for several days after Honeycutt was released.

At trial, Cox will be represented by public defender Geoff Canty, with Shoup assisting on the case. Thursday, Honeycutt said he was speaking with defense attorneys and attempting to arrange funding for his legal costs. Both Cox and Honeycutt were due in court Friday morning for a confirmation of counsel hearing.

The aggravated white-collar crime enhancement makes allowances for legal fees and living expenses.

"There's some provision for legal defense" in the statute, Fermin said.

"The court, in making its orders, may consider a defendant's request for the release of a portion of the property affected by this section in order to pay reasonable legal fees in connection with the criminal proceeding," California Penal Code 186.11 reads in part. "Any necessary and appropriate living expenses pending trial and sentencing, and for the purpose of posting bail."

"They both bailed out, so they're both people of means," Fermin said. Cox was being held on a $1 million bail and Honeycutt's bail was half that.

"I'm just saying that I think it's unfair," Shoup said. "There's been no proof that it's been obtained in a fraudulent manner. ... There's been no trial and certainly [Cox and Honeycutt haven't] been convicted of anything."

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.

For a look back at Honeycutts local fundraising and who he was politically connected to at the time

(This story originally appeared in the Hesperia Star Tuesday, February 7, 2006)

With no reelection campaign in sight for two-and-a-half more years, Mayor Tad Honeycutt’s election committee raised more than $64,000 in December, more than his entire reelection campaign in 2004 cost.

In the state-mandated campaign disclosure statement released on January 31, the Friends of Tad Honeycutt committee collected $64,556 in donations between July 1 and December 31 of 2005, with the majority of the donations coming from a December 1 fund-raiser in Victorville.

As with his 2004 election campaign, most of Honeycutt’s biggest contributors were related to the building industry.

He received $1,000 or larger donations from American Housing Group of Victorville; Artisan Home Builders of Apple Valley; Artisan Real Estate of Apple Valley; Blue Rose Concrete Contractors of Fontana; Brentwood Mortgage of Victorville; Brown & Honeycutt Truss Systems (a company formerly owned by his family); Campbell Concrete of California of Riverside; Centex Homes of Corona; Davis Brothers Framing of Rancho Cucamonga; the Gonzales Painting Corporation of San Bernardino; Granite Springs, LLC, of Newport Beach; Hy-Tech Tile of Riverside; the Lewis Investment Company of Upland; Oak Valley Management of Oak Hills; Rancho Las Flores LLC; Vincent Pone Plastering of Lancaster; Service Rock Products of Victorville; Tanamera Residential of Rancho Cucamonga; Robert Tarango, the owner of Chicago Title and Tri Star Plumbing of Leona Valley.

The biggest check came from Frontier Homes of Ontario, which donated $10,000 to his campaign.

He also received $5,000 from Best Way Disposal (the corporation name for Advance Disposal Company), $1,000 from HDC Group of Apple Valley and $1,000 from Desert Valley Hospital.

In December, following his fund-raiser, Honeycutt said he expected to bring in approximately $80,000.

“I just haven’t collected it all,” Honeycutt said Friday. “There’s always a certain amount that takes a while to come in.”

In 2004, Honeycutt raised $61,737 for his successful reelection campaign.

Although his next time on the ballot for the Hesperia City Council won’t come until 2008, Honeycutt said part of the motivation for raising money was looking ahead to November 4, 2008.

“If you have a lot of money in your campaign account, less people want to run against you. So it’s a form of security,” he said.

In the meantime, coffers full of campaign contributions give him the ability to spend money on political causes - one of the few ways he can legally use campaign donations in an off-year. And Honeycutt has already done so, giving $3,300 to fellow Hesperian Anthony Adams, who is vying for the Republican nomination for the 59th Assembly District. Incumbent Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy will be stepping down at the end of the year due to term limits.

“It benefits Hesperia and me politically to have a team of people that are friendly towards Hesperia elected. Anthony is one of that team. Bill [Postmus] is another of that team.” Postmus, currently the 1st District County Supervisor, is running for County Assessor in June. Honeycutt said he will be making a donation to Postmus’ campaign. “For me, it’s going to be very important who’s elected in the next cycle.”

Honeycutt is also taking a page out of Postmus’ playbook with this political largesse.

“How Bill’s influential is because he raises everybody else money. … I’m just applying the same sort of principles on a local level.”

Other councilmembers’ fund raising

Councilman Jim Lindley, who is up for reelection this year, filed his campaign disclosure forms due to illness, but said he collected no donations during the reporting period, but did make a $500 contribution to Adams out of his previously collected war chest.

“I support Anthony for assembly. I think he’s the best choice. This is one of the legitimate uses of campaign funds,” Lindley said. “I’ve also endorsed him.”

Lindley will be holding a fund-raiser for Adams at his home in March. As for his own candidacy, he said it’s not something he needs to start raising money for just yet.

“The season is young,” Lindley said. “Most of the money that’s raised for city council campaigns in the High Desert is raised in the last three months.”

And that’s if he runs at all. Right now, it comes down to whether the Ranchero underpass and certain economic development projects look like they are well underway by the time he has to decide this summer.

“If we don’t get some key projects off the ground in a timely manner, then I would run again,” Lindley said. “You want to see these things get finished. It was terrific when the Main Street interchange was finished, but now that it’s open, no one gives it a second thought.”

Likewise, Councilwoman Rita Vogler, who is also up for reelection this year, collected nothing in 2005 and won’t yet commit to her name being on the ballot in November.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve been giving it a lot of very, very serious thought. It has to be right for Rita. … I’ll have four years experience, so I’ll know completely what’s expected of me. It’s a huge commitment and a lot to think about.”

But she vowed that, if she ran, she wouldn’t be collecting money on the scale that Honeycutt has.
“Should I decide to run, you know, I wouldn’t plan on doing a lot of fund raising. It’s against my beliefs.”

The one incumbent who would commit to running in 2006 was Mayor Pro Tem Ed Pack, whose campaign committee is currently closed.

“I’m running, yes, sir,” Pack said. “I will have a fund-raiser in March or April. I will open my committee then.”

Councilman Mike Leonard, who would also be up for reelection in 2008 along with Honeycutt, received no donations in 2005, according to filed records. Leonard has previously stated he would be a one-term councilman.

And as for Honeycutt, if things go according to his plan, his fellow politicians haven’t seen anything yet.

“I’m going to have another fund-raiser this summer, which will be much bigger,” Honeycutt laughed.