11:04 PM PST on Friday, January 15, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

A former top official with the San Bernardino County assessor’s office got his job through a major developer’s influence and used that connection to avoid work, investigators testified Friday.

The testimony was presented in a preliminary hearing for Rex Gutierrez, one of five former assessor’s officials arrested as part of a corruption investigation of the office under former Assessor Bill Postmus, who also is facing felony charges.

The hearing was continued until Jan. 29, when more testimony will be heard and a judge will decide whether Gutierrez should stand trial.

Gutierrez, a Rancho Cucamonga councilman, is charged with grand theft and misappropriation of public funds. The two felony charges carry a sentence of up to four years in prison.

Four investigators with the district attorney’s office testified, describing their interviews with several current and former assessor’s employees. Those employees said Gutierrez rarely showed up at the office and when he did he was heard conducting Rancho Cucamonga city business.

Gutierrez told co-workers he got his job as an intergovernmental affairs officer because of Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, who interceded on his behalf with Postmus, the investigators said.

Burum has denied any wrongdoing.

After Postmus’ job interview with Gutierrez, Postmus immediately called Burum to inform him he had hired Gutierrez at the top pay he could authorize, former assistant assessor Adam Aleman told Morey Weiss, a senior investigator with the district attorney’s office.

When Aleman was having problems with Gutierrez’s work, Postmus told him he would need to talk to Burum first, Weiss said. Aleman prepared a memo with talking points about Gutierrez for Postmus to present to Burum, he said.

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