Hat tip to daytrip for sending this in, more details on the corruption case from the latimes.com:
A former Los Angeles County property appraiser was taken into custody in Oregon on Monday, accused of falsifying documents and unlawfully lowering property values by $172 million on multimillion-dollar homes and businesses.
Scott Schenter, 49, allegedly secured campaign contributions from the owners for Assessor John Noguez, authorities said.
“The magnitude of Schenter’s suspected betrayal of public trust is almost inconceivable,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said in a prepared statement. “We believe his actions are not isolated.”
Schenter, who resigned in lieu of termination in January 2011 after a supervisor discovered his alleged misconduct, was charged on 60 felony counts for falsifying records. He was taken into custody at his father’s home about noon by U.S. marshals, authorities said
Prosecutors say they don’t know when Schenter will be extradited to Los Angeles.
Schenter told The Times last month that he secretly and improperly lowered property values to reduce the owners’ tax bills. He said he did it in the hope that the wealthy property owners would donate to Noguez. Schenter also said Noguez offered him a promotion and, along with several top aides, had applied “brutal” pressure to raise campaign funds.
Through a spokesman, Noguez has denied offering Schenter a promotion, instructing him to lower the values of the Westside properties or asking him to approach the owners for contributions.
Noguez acknowledged, however, that he asked Schenter to “check the status” of some of the properties. He has also admitted asking Schenter to help raise money for his campaign.
On Monday, Noguez’s attorney, Michael Proctor, said his client “intends to remain cooperative with this investigation. While I cannot comment directly on the new charges today, I remain convinced that as the facts come out, people will understand that he has conducted his affairs in conformity with the law.”
Cooley has identified Noguez as a primary target of the broader influence-peddling investigation, which began last year. Also under scrutiny are several high-ranking assessor’s office employees and Noguez campaign contributors, including tax consultant Ramin Salari.
Salari’s clients dominated the list of property owners who received improper tax breaks from Schenter. Salari has denied any wrongdoing.
Last week, Cooley publicly urged Noguez to resign after warning that indictments are imminent. Noguez has also denied any wrongdoing and said he has no intention of stepping down.
In addition to Schenter’s alleged crimes, Cooley said investigators were reviewing between 100 and 200 transactions in which top Noguez aides lowered assessed property values — often for generous contributors — despite appraisals done by assessor’s office staff showing the values should be higher.
In April, Cooley’s investigators searched Noguez’s home and office. They also searched the offices of top aides Mark McNeil and Andrew Stephens, the two men Noguez appointed to oversee reductions shortly after his election in November 2010.
Investigators also searched Salari’s Phoenix-area home and business and two Internet service providers.
Before his resignation in 2011, Schenter had worked in the assessor’s office for more than 20 years, mostly appraising properties on the Westside. He was suspended in 2009 for violating the office’s code of ethics, records show, but the documents reveal no details about the case.
In his April interview with The Times, Schenter said Noguez had promised him a promotion in the summer of 2010 when Noguez was a high-ranking assessor’s office executive running for the agency’s top job.After that, Schenter said, the pressure to raise money for the campaign was constant and “brutal.” Although he contributed $1,000 himself and got friends to give money, he said Noguez would call him “to say ‘Hey, Scott, we need more people; we’re way behind in donations.’”
Schenter said McNeil and Stephens also “kept coming at him in terms of wanting campaign contributions.”
McNeil has denied discussing contributions with Schenter or doing anything improper, but he told The Times in April that Noguez “might have” asked him to keep an eye on appeals from prominent donors. Stephens could not be reached for comment.
This lady threatened to sue me for publishing her story when this first came out:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/winchester-husband-convicted-of-defrauding-bank/article_65bc4446-d31f-545c-8cef-80e0a5c4d8d4.html
A jury Monday found a former San Diego police officer guilty of defrauding a bank by stripping his and his wife’s foreclosed home in Winchester of virtually all its fixtures and attempting to sell them.
The verdict in the house-trashing case against Robert Conrad Acosta, 40, came three days after the jury found his 36-year-old wife, Monique Evette Acosta, guilty on the same charges of cheating the bank and causing losses and damage of more than $65,000.
Each faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Judge Mark Mandio at Southwest Justice Center allowed the Acostas to remain out of custody on bail until their sentencing, which is scheduled for July 20.
Apparently incensed that they were getting booted from the home on Via Laguna, the Acostas tore the house apart, taking nearly everything of value and leaving the property in shambles.
Jurors saw a video and photographs taken after the family’s departure June 14, 2010, that showed piles of rubble, empty doorways where doors were removed, damaged rock facings, spray-painted walls, tile grouting saturated with black hair dye and loose wires sticking from walls from which light fixtures had been taken. The kitchen literally was gutted for everything of worth, including the granite counter tops.
The swimming pool was filed with cypress trees that the Acostas apparently had cut down and dumped there along with other debris.
The Acostas contended they had a right to take the items from the house because they had purchased them. However, the deed of trust that ran with the outstanding loan on the property prohibited the removal of permanent fixtures regardless of who installed them, according to evidence presented at trial.
Investigators discovered Robert Acosta had advertised many of the items for sale on the online marketplace Craigslist and the couple were arrested.
(Hat tip to AL)
This turd will look good in Orange.
Hopefully, he will serve time with some of those he ‘interfaced’ with when he was trusted with a badge and a firearm.
Convicts looove cops in the joint.
May he and his wife get in jail everything coming to them and then some more of that, and then a little more.
When released, he can always go to work at the NAR and give them some ‘pointers’.
Thanks to jtr for this heartwarming story.
Jim, Monique Evette Acosta threatened you? What a piece of work… On her license, the DRE has failed to note her conviction, or is it OK for a RE Salesperson to be convicted of a felony? DRE does note the address on her license is ‘unreliable’ and since she has no broker affiliation, she cannot work. Maybe she’ll find a broker in the big house to reinstate her license for the next four years: http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?License_id=01442814
Nice to see some prosecutions. Anyone else saddened by how small time most of these crooks are? Geez, at least steal enough to buy a greek island and populate it with supermodels!
“Anyone else saddened by how small time most of these crooks are? Geez, at least steal enough to buy a greek island and populate it with supermodels!”
If you’re smart you steal enough so that you can buy the best lawyers/give the right campaign contributions and not get prosecuted. Mozillo is still laughing his way to the bank.
Thanks for the heartwarming stories Jim! It’s nice to see some of these thieves pay a price for being lowlifes. Is the Acosta house the one where they left a pile of wet clothes and towels on the floor to cause mold/floor collapse?
I really wish Steve Cooley would have won the election for State AG.