Postmus Charged With Grand Theft- Perjury -Drugs

Ex-S.B. County Assessor Postmus, former aide charged

12:25 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 21, 2009

By IMRAN GHORI and DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
The Press-Enterprise

PDF: Read the complaint against Bill Postmus

SAN BERNARDINO - Bill Postmus, the former San Bernardino County assessor who resigned amid allegations he ran a political machine at taxpayer expense, has been charged with nine felony counts of drug offenses, perjury and grand theft, and one misdemeanor.

Postmus appeared in court this morning, when he and his attorney, Stephen Levine, learned of the charges.

At Levine's request, a judge delayed Postmus' arraignment until Thursday morning. At an arraignment, a defendant typically enters a plea.

"He's made every court appearance," Levine told San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael Dest. "He's not a danger to society."

Postmus faces two counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for unlawful use, two counts of grand theft, four counts of misappropriation of public funds and one count of perjury. The controlled substances are alleged to have been methamphetamine and ecstasy, according to the complaint.

The perjury count relates to his alleged failure to disclose receipt of a $12,000 cashier's check on a statement of economic interest, the complaint alleges.

Greg Eyler, a former taxpayer advocate for the assessor's office, was charged with one count of grand theft and one count of public officer crime.

Eyler is also a former field representative for San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane. He was operations director for the county Republican Party when Postmus was chairman.

Postmus, who had served six years on the County Board of Supervisors before winning election as assessor in 2006, resigned in February.

He was arrested Jan. 15 after district attorney's investigators found what they said was possible methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia while serving a search warrant at Postmus' Rancho Cucamonga home.

Investigators searched the home, Postmus' office and other locations as part of an investigation that began in August 2007, looking into possible misuse of public resources for political activity in the assessor's office.

John Hueston, a former federal prosecutor hired by the county to look into allegations of abuse in the assessor's office, released a report in May alleging widespread timecard fraud and conspiracy by Postmus to use the position to further his political goals.

The county is suing Postmus in a civil suit against him and five others connected to the assessor's office, including Eyler. The county wants to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars for work that in internal investigation concluded they were paid for but never did.

The San Bernardino County grand jury issued a report earlier this month supporting a recommendation by county Supervisor Neil Derry to establish an ethics commission.

The report also suggested that the county revise its code of ethics to include a provision prohibiting a public official from using his or her office for personal gain. The current code does not address the abuse of office issues raised in investigations of the assessor's office, the report stated.

Jim Erwin, a former assistant assessor for Postmus and former chief of staff for Derry, is scheduled to appear before a judge Friday in connection with eight felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of false or forged documents he faces related to gifts he received from a developer. He pleaded not guilty in May.

Felony charges against another assistant assessor, Adam Aleman, were reduced last month when he agreed to testify against others in Postmus' office. It was not disclosed whether he agreed to testify against Postmus.

Aleman pleaded no contest to four felony counts, which have been reduced to misdemeanors. They carry a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman Rex Gutierrez, a former intergovernmental affairs officer for the assessor's office from March 2007 to December 2008, was charged in May with grand theft and misappropriation of public funds. He was accused in documents supporting an arrest warrant of doing political or city work during county work hours.

The assessor's office has more than 230 employees and a $21 million annual operating budget. Its primary role is establishing property values to determine how much residents and business owners pay in taxes.

Reach Imran Ghori at 951-368-9558 or ighori@PE.com

Reach Darrell R. Santschi at 951-368-9484 or dsantschi@PE.com

Desecration of Public Service

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, July 23, 2009
CASSIE MACDUFF

Sad to say, corruption has been virtually business-as-usual in the top echelons of San Bernardino County government for more than two decades.

In 1984, future CAO Harry Mays swooped into a county auction of a plane seized for nonpayment of taxes and, with the help of the tax collector, gaveled down another bidder so Mays could buy the plane at a bargain.

The grand jury issued a mild rebuke and let it go at that. In hindsight, perhaps that set the stage for the escalating series of abuses that has followed.

After Mays retired in 1994, he and his successor were involved in a bribery-kickback scandal uncovered by the FBI in 1999 that landed six men, including Mays, in prison.

In the same era, then-county Supervisor Jerry Eaves, once called the king of San Bernardino County, used his influence to help buddies, retaliate against foes and enjoy free travel at the expense of people who needed his votes.

But Eaves was a piker compared to Bill Postmus and his cadre of political appointees who took over the assessor's office in 2007.

Postmus, who resigned Feb. 6, had his secretary use a county credit card to pay for airfare for himself and a friend to attend a Bush-Cheney PAC conference in Austin, Texas, an affidavit filed in support of his arrest warrant says.

Postmus used his county credit card to buy gas for a trip to Aspen, Colo., the affidavit says, and to buy a wireless air card for the assessor's computer, which investigators later found contained not county business but 3,000 downloaded pornographic images.

Postmus seemed to regard elected office as his personal playpen. He routinely had an aide wash his car and clean his house, and told underlings he needed to show up for work only two days a year.

Aides told investigators Postmus showed signs of drug addiction, even after one stint in rehab. An aide reportedly found drug paraphernalia in his county car.

After the grand jury blasted Postmus in 2008 for padding his staff with unnecessary, unqualified people, he took a "medical leave" during which investigators tailed him and the aide to Victoria Gardens, where they ate at a nice restaurant, window-shopped and bought the AT&T air card.

But that's just the beginning of Postmus' -- and his underlings' -- desecration of the concept of public service.

A former Postmus aide told investigators that when he relayed employees' complaints about the "executive staff" aides' political work and poor attendance, the assessor turned a deaf ear.

The fine men hired for Postmus' "executive staff" also had no compunction about collecting county paychecks without earning them.

Greg Eyler was a taxpayer advocate who rarely came to work while a backlog of 120 emails from taxpayers seeking help sat waiting.

Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Rex Gutierrez, Postmus' intergovernmental officer, came in late, left early and spent time in the office doing political work and city business, the aides told investigators.

Eyler and Gutierrez have been charged with timecard fraud.

Postmus' arraignment Thursday on the public corruption charges marked the culmination of an investigation that burst into public view in April 2008 when investigators raided the assessor's office, seizing evidence.

What happens next is not going to be pretty.

Postmus appears poised to take down with him as many people on the fifth floor of the County Government Building as he can, alleging that they sanctioned political activity on county time, too.

He has said he looks forward to forcing them to give testimony under oath.

Cassie MacDuff can be reached at 951-368-9470 or cmacduff@PE.com

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