BY DUANE W. GANG and IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITERS
dgang@pe.com | ighori@pe.com
Federal agents descended upon Riverside and San Bernardino counties on Thursday, serving search warrants on nine locations with ties to the Colonies Partners corruption probe.
Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service agents carted away computers, dozens of boxes of documents and other evidence from homes and businesses in five cities. Locations included the home and office of a former state senator and the offices of a Riverside public relations firm.
It is unclear exactly what the FBI and IRS agents sought, since the affidavits in support of the search warrants remain under seal.
But the locations searched all have ties to people involved in the state and local investigation of San Bernardino County’s $102 million settlement with developer Colonies Partners. Local prosecutors say the settlement was obtained through a conspiracy of bribery and extortion. The defendants face more than 20 charges in total.
The federal investigation is separate, and state and local authorities were not involved in Thursday’s searches, according to officials with knowledge of the investigations.
Federal agents searched Diversified Pacific in Rancho Cucamonga. Jeff Burum, co-managing member of Colonies Partners, helped start the company.
Defense attorneys who have seen the warrants said Thursday that federal agents are seeking information similar to that used by local and state prosecutors in building their case.
A host of reasons could have prompted the FBI and IRS to get involved, said Loyola law professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor.
Local authorities could have referred the matter to them, or federal officials may also see a bigger case or felt the current prosecution has not been sufficient, Levenson said.
“The feds have more resources and experience in pursuing these types of cases,” she said.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos declined to comment.
The federal agents searched:
The home of Jeff Burum, co-managing member of Colonies Partners, and his office at Diversified Pacific, a development company he helped start. National Community Renaissance, a nonprofit housing company he founded, also was searched. All three are in Rancho Cucamonga. Burum faces charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting conflict of interest in the state case. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
The Fontana home and business of former state Sen. Jim Brulte. Brulte is a partner with California Strategies, a Sacramento-based government and public affairs firm.
Brulte served in the Legislature from 1990 through 2004 and led Republican caucuses in both houses. He worked for Colonies during the settlement talks in 2004 and 2005. He has not been charged with a crime.
The Riverside business of Patrick O’Reilly. O’Reilly owns O’Reilly Public Relations and worked with Burum during the settlement negotiations. O’Reilly has not been charged with a crime but was an unnamed, uncharged co-conspirator in a February 2010 case related to the Colonies case.
The Rancho Cucamonga home of Paul Biane, a former two-term San Bernardino County supervisor. Biane voted for the $102 million settlement in November 2006. In the state case, he faces seven felony charges including bribery and perjury and has pleaded not guilty.
The Highland home of Jim Erwin, a former assistant assessor and former chief of staff to Supervisor Neil Derry. Erwin was a consultant for Colonies Partners at the time of the settlement. He faces 16 felony state charges and has pleaded not guilty.
The Hesperia home of Mark Kirk, the former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt. Ovitt voted for the settlement. Local prosecutors say Kirk secretly controlled a political action committee that received $100,000 from Colonies. Kirk faces seven state charges and has pleaded not guilty.
‘No Wrongdoing’
In May, a San Bernardino County grand jury returned a 29-count indictment against Burum, Biane, Erwin and Kirk. Since then, the four have pleaded not guilty and were successful in getting a number of charges dismissed.
Burum’s attorney, Stephen Larson, said it’s difficult to know the exact nature of the investigation until they see the affidavit, but the warrant appears to indicate that “it’s certainly related in large measure to the allegations raised in the state case.”
“We actually welcome the involvement of the FBI and federal authorities in this case,” Larson said. “We believe that once they thoroughly investigate this case they will find there was absolutely no wrongdoing by any of the subjects of the investigation, including Mr. Burum.”
Paul Grech, an attorney for Kirk, said his client has done nothing wrong.
“The subject matter of the search warrant is the same subject matter that we have been litigating in court, in which we have been getting charges thrown out of court,” Grech said.
To read entire story, click here.
FBI, IRS. No AG, no DA- all the signs of what everyone in San Bernardino County knew all along- RAMOS IS THE BIGGEST CROOK of all, and guilty of selective prosecution AT ALL COST. Why did Matt Brown and others get off the hook?
The FBI and IRS would have a field day and hit the jack pot if they raided DA Mike Ramos home. And they should, AT ALL COST ALSO.
billyjackattack ; Your right about the judges, all of them !
Wonder how long before the other does are charged now. Nothing like our friends at the FBI to bring a bit of sun shine on a rainy day. I guess the A.G.’s office is finely getting the clue that the people they serve are not as stupid as they think. If you look at who was originally charged with the crimes you have to laugh because none of them actually had enough power to commit all the crimes against the tax payers that were committed. With the exception of Paul Biane and Postmus. Come on the chief of staff getting charged but not the supervisor that was a complete joke. The chief of staff follow the orders of their bosses to a tee or pay dearly for not complying with their bosses orders. The funnier thing is that the guys that actually got the big bucks haven’t even been touched in any of this. I know for a fact that this new search warrant wasn’t just for the Colonies Partners corruption probe it is so they can prosecute for other misuse of federal public funds. It’s only going to be a short time before you see indictments for other board of supervisors and a couple more chief of staff’s, and some field reps to. With the statute of limitations on the Colonies Partners corruption probe coming to a head they have to find other things to hold the other guys responsible for. I wouldn’t be surprised if Erwin, Kirk,and Burum receive a sweet plea deal to take down O’Reilly, Ovitt, Richards, PonTell, Mitzelfelt, Mr.C.E.O. and others that have gotten sweetheart deals over the past few years to misappropriate federal funding not just associated with the Colonies Partners. Isn’t funny that Burum would be charged but not his partners and while Mr. Burum is going through court on charges against him his other partners are still receiving massive amounts of tax payer’s money for land development projects, money pit air port projects, low income housing projects, the vision project and so on. How long did the board of supervisors really think they could keep things quiet for when buying the silence of other co-conspirators. Then you throw in the ruining of small businesses that the county again was given federal funding to help preserve and causing harm to our Counties economy with bail out money for roads and improvements and the money is gone and not accounted for and nothing is fixed and we have cities like Victorville completely in the red for no reason other than the lining of personal pockets of politicians it tends to piss off the Federal Government when they want to tax us more for it and the people are saying no more taxes and cut your own wages and leave us alone because we have no more money. It’s funny how quickly the A.G.’s office can work when there are up coming election and the public is sick of getting screwed over and over again and has made it clear if actions aren’t taken then they won’t be in office to continue to cause harm. Some of the board of supervisors continue to say the federal government is taking money away from our county but why should they continue to give our county money when it is not being used for the purpose that it was given for. We have a bunch of idiots that have no clue on how to manage money spending more than we have on things we don’t need just to keep their friends and family financially comfortable while the rest of us suffer and try to pick up the slack. Nothing is going to change until our County leaders start treating our County like an actual business and not a personal piggy bank. It’s time to clean house. What our County needs is honest business people that know how to run successful businesses to clean up this mess they have created and a good start would be to clean out some of the supervisors on fifth floor like Ovitt, Mitzelfelt, Rutherford and their useless staff, the C.E.O. and his whole staff and some other upper management that continues to make a disaster of our available funds. Our problem isn’t our hourly County employees they keep getting screwed like the tax payers, it’s all of the high end lazy, greedy, selfish salary employees making bank to steal from the rest of us. We spend more money covering up the dirty deeds, and screw ups being committed by some of our supervisors than it would cost to fix mistakes as they come up. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to correct these problems, it just takes common sense, honest actions and accountability.
I heard Erwin bragging that he was tight with the Feds. What happened? I guess the he wasn’t giving enough dirt to them. I hope Berum gives Erwin a raise to keep him quiet. Where is Erwin working now? Probably in one of Berums companies.
When are the Feds going to look into the judges on the Colonies case? Judge Pete Norrell was always hanging out at Red Hill Country Club with Berum and the west end boys drinking and talking the case over. Norrell was always drunk and carrying on about the Colonies case and the corruption scandal. He’d brag about his son the FBI agent who knew everything about the corruption investigation. He was a major asshole. Everyone thought he was on the take with Berum.
When your case falls apart, call in the IRS.
This is clearly a fresh set of eyes looking into the money trail for possible evasion of tax.
billyjackattack: Sorry I got a big long winded on this one. I just find it hard to believe that Burum could be the big master mind behind this whole thing. I just can’t seem to see it that way. There are a lot more people that had a lot more to gain then Burum. And again he has several partners and not one of them have been indicted. Nor does Burum actually have the power to make things happen at Government level. That was all done from the inside by high ranking government employees. There’s a list on about 40 or so partners to the Colonies Partners if you would like I can post the viewable link. I was shocked when I saw some the people on that list.
Can you say PLEA BARGAIN?
Traci, please do.
Gee, I hope they don’t find anything bad about Neil Derry on Erwin’s computer. Of course not, he is a straight shooter. He was forced to plead guilty even though he was innocent. I dunno who to believe any more. Some one told me they are all crooks and our government is corrupt from top to bottom. Yikes, I had hoped for better.
http://www.sbsun.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=4388602
Name of Artical in pdf form is: Prominet names among partners 9/24/2006
“You need adobe reader to open and to view.”
Judy Richards,Dan Richards,Kellie Burum,Jeffery Burum, Doug Gorgen, Blenda Wright, Andrew Wright, John Bunkers, James Poppen, Nancy Cowie, Lonnie Priester, Sally Crebs, Raymond Crebs, Glenda Rech, Jack Rech, Catherine Cripe, Gary Cripe, Kay Redlin, Carl Redlin, Julie Cunningham, John Seymour Jr., Doug Froehlke, Robert Sorosky, Ken Sorosky, Edward Hopson, David Junkin, Ira Norris, Sebastiano Sterpa, Deloris Lipkowski, Larry Lipkowski, John Sultze, Matreyek Trust, Roland Troxel, Earl Minnis, Diane Tucci, Richard Tucci, Annabel Mize, Tony Mize, Philip Ulrich.
*There’s another list that has some of the silent partners on it at another site.*
It is pretty obvious that the FBI has no favorites, unlike Ramos. That explains the Brulte search, and the search of O’Reilly who have both been untouched (at least recently). Ramos has favorites, the FBI has none, which begs the question…Is this about Colonies? Or is it about an out of control prosecutor that is being investigated for malicious or false prosecution?
Makeyou adouchebag: The DA already searched all those computers. Don’t you think the corrupt DA would have charged Derry with something real if he could have. Go Ristow go!
Billy it clearly appears your pal Ramos is not the shining star at this point either!!!! whoa AMEN. I bet that’s part of the problem too!!
Colonies Partners.
http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/rose/news/2006/9-20-06%20San%20Bernardino%20County%20Sun.pdf
Most names are unknown to me, except not surprised to See John Seymour Jr. listed.
Well thanks billy for the clarification that Ramos is not your pal. My apologies I thought for sure you were cutting his lawn. LOL!!!!
YES I will agree with you 100% on the last line of your comment. I am 100% happy the feds are moving forward.
Ramos has plenty of mud on his shoes.
Billy…you speak of the westside boys…any comment on the eastenders? I
I once again suggest that readers of the blog contact…trineday publishing for a FREE copy of “THE LAST CIRCLE” by Cheri Seymour, at 1 800 556 2012. Mention truthseekSBC,with a San Bernadino or Riversde county address…and your copy will be on is way.
This expose’ on the historical ties of corruption between local,state and federal agencies,many names we are all familiar with.
These papers were prepared in 1996 for a senate investigtion,and have been updated as new developments warrant…did I mention the book is Free…so no excuses for being ignorant on these facts!
billyjackattack: I agree with on Burum, How ever I find it so very interesting that Steve PonTell a partner and consultant of Diversified Pacific, La Jolla Institute, Burke Consulting, National Community Renaissance, Planning Center,California Strategies,and many, many, many, many, many, more. Yet He has yet to be named in anything. PonTell’s hands are so far in the County cookie jar of public funds it’s unreal! He is right in there with Burum, and Dan Richards but keeps coming out smelling like a rose as Ovitt and Devil-Roe continue to feed him tax payers money for little to no work actually preformed! PonTell and Richards were also Burum’s partners in setting up all the programs to funnel the money for the corrupt government officials. The funny thing is the whole board of supervisors was even given information on PonTell defrauding Freddy Mac and the Hispanic community of low housing and the board continues to allow him unearned federal money. It should be interesting to see if the FEDS are looking for what most of us already know. The only thing Mr.PonTell is good at is being a very clever word smith. So Burum get’s indicted and Richards gets a job with fish and game and PonTell gets every available contract of value for the county and tell me that doesn’t sound like a major bribe/pay off. Sounds to me like the FBI may not be as stupid as the Board of Supervisors thinks they are. The fact that Ramos didn’t even investigate those connections does not make the D.A.’s office look very bright either!
Ms, Doreenb Boxer was cozy with Mike Ramos and Brulte, So, did she tip off Brulte or was she feeding info about him to Mike RAMOS the FBI should question her, bet ya they get a mouthfull,
AntiCorruptionUnit: I think Ramos has a lot more then just mud on his shoes and it’s coming to light as we speak. The charging only non friends and his so called investigations and prosecution is getting more and more obvious. He has got to be scared out of his mind at this time!
jS: I also think you are hitting the nail on the head.
billyjackattack: If I remember right there is a judge on the above list of partners and so his his wife.
TruthseekerSBC: You are right on excuses for being ignorant on any of the facts. How ever the facts seem to be ignored out of ignorance on a regular basis in San Bernardino. That whole money keeping mouths shut game. Let’s see if the money is worth it when jail time come into play.
I am inclined to believe that the FBI/IRS investigations are all connected.
Lets start with David Lewis…. Rumor was that he was wearing a wire for somebody! FBI/IRS?
The Upland Mayor and gang…. The first publicly announced involvement of the FBI/IRS. Note the connection of one of the Colonies members family being charged with the Upland corruption gang…
Now the Colonies… This is an expensive investigation. Already one going on in Upland, and now another in SB County… Makes me wonder what they learned from David Lewis and JP and the Upland gang…
Remember, when one realizes that he or she is going to prison, they will try to make a plea to reduce their sentence… They sing like a canary…
You can put money that scumbag Deveraux is behind a lot of this. Him and his patron Ovitt. The day is coming for Devilreaux and his minion the Whoremonger.
amingo: Yes you can put money on the scumbag Derveraux and his boss Ovitt. Their time is coming near. The list is longer then just the two of them…
Yes Tracy, Brulte should have been a wake up call for those who have paid attention to the Colonies from the start. Ramos tried to make too many people a WITNESS in this case, those he wanted to protect for whatever reason.
His failure to charge Matt Brown, Gary Ovitt, or at least serve search warrants on them told a story. It’s clear Brulte was treated like a casual witness who was just standing on the corner unaware a crime was being committed. LOL!!!
I guess one can argue that, but I’d love to hear everyone’s explanation on how Brulte fits in now? I hope I won’t hear how complex the case was and evidence was just discovered. That crap is getting old.
Ramos should have waited to charge anyone with a crime until he had all his ducks in a row. The defendants weren’t going anywhere, so time was on his side. Ramos jumped on the first opportunity to arrest a few, then down the road arrest them again for his photo ops session.
Now you take the ARMC scandal, the POST scandal, see who the main players are in those incidents and how Ramos handle it, you have a pretty clear picture Ramos is no corruption fighter. He is fighting to protect Josie Gonzales and Rod Hoops and company.
Both the ARMC and POST scandal should be viewed with equal importance when looking at Mike Ramos as some type of saint or hero.
The POST scandal is of equal importance because it involves many HIGH ranking Sheriff’s officials.
A $102 million dollar loss to local taxpayers is a very important issue, so is the fact two of our top law enforcement officials are crooks and abuse their power.
I don’t believe for a second Mike Ramos asked the FBI for help. I think the FBI said enough is enough across the board with EVERYTHING that is going on and stepped in. I hear they are not done yet.
This County needs to be under the watchful eye of the Federal Courts just like LAPD was for 10 years.
You can’t have a DA or Sheriff allow their friends to get away with crimes and prosecute those you don’t like.
We will see, it’s going to be entertaining no matter what your view is.
Hey Mikey, SAY HELLO TO MR. RICO (none of this would have been possible without your policy of “selective prostitution” of authority and the public resources at your disposal, a true enabler of corruption).
One big question still remains, how will Governator Moonbeam try to save face when his political ally and fellow attorney buddy is IMPLICATED OR INDICTED BY A FEDERAL GRAND JURY for involvement in the BIGGEST CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN THE HISTORY OF CA?!
AntiCorruptionUnit: I know for a fact that Ramos never wanted or asked for the FBI to stick their noises into the illegal activities of the County. How ever when you have complaint after complaint filed with nothing being done. Now we have the IRS looking to and that my friends is sweet! I also definitively agree that the $102 million dollar loss to local taxpayers is a very important issue, how ever that was just the start of stealing major amounts of funds. Since that time we can magnify the amount by 2 to keep all the persons involved both quiet as well as happy. Matt Brown, Gary Ovitt, Josie Gonzales, Rod Hoops, Mike Ramos, MItzelfelt, Patrick O’Reilly, Dan Richards, Steve PonTell, Ruth Stringer, Greg Deveraux, Mark Uffer, DAvid Wart, Jim Brulte, Mark Dowling, Now Governor Jerry Brown, oh and let’s not forget good old Jerry Lewis have got to be loosing a lot of sleep these days as the hour of accountability is drawing near. The Colonies case has been prosecuted in the worse possible way since day one. Ramos blew it with his selectable prosecution and unwillingness to use all submitted evidence and to put said evidence into play. But what could any of us expect when Ramos has had his hand in the cookie jar since the very beginning and the only thing he has ever been worried about is getting his piece of the pie.
WTH, well said for sure. No one wants an outside agency involved in this type of corruption, guys like Ramos and Hoops can’t control everything.
If in doubt think of Floyd Tidwell. He was prosecuted only because outside agencies were aware of what happened, they were there, they saw the situation first hand. Oops, can’t keep that a secret. That case was still a sham though in the final outcome.
Now take the POST scandal. Remember what Hoops first statement to the press was? Then what happened several months later? Who is handling that scandal, Ramos and Hoops. Neither of them two still understand many of their own employees ratted them out and still are.
Oh YES I’d love to hear what moonbeam has to say on this? HOW about the new AG too? I wonder if she was mis-informed like many others?
Let’s hope Ramos get’s tagged with an obstruction of justice sometime soon?? I don’t think Barack Obama will be awarding Mike Ramos with the Best DA of the year award.
billy, OoF is one of the colonies folks. Always has been. If you followed the papers he would appear from time to time and explain how the investigation is politcally charged etc. NOT Burum’s lawyer, one of his PR guys.
Observer is probably on that list (is that u Tony?) and no, Traci is a small business person that the County put out of business, and who has been harassed and retaliated against by the County (incl. from the Administrator of iePolitics Gilbert) for years now. The Devil’s Evil (Inland) Empire is crumbling. Now we’re all going to see the real connections soon enough.
Billyjackattack:
I lived in Upland for many years, and met several of the listed partners at various functions. For example, I have met Jeff Burum and Ray Crebs. To say that I know them would be a major stretch. I also once bought a car at Mark Christopher Chevrolet.
ACU and LSW:
I am not on the “list,” and am not involved in The Colonies. I have stated on the record many times that I support the maximum punishment for any of the defendants who are found guilty. Would one of Jeff Burum’s “PR guys” make that statement?
Billyjackattack: I am on a quest for justice. Not only for me and my girls that continue to get hurt by the corruption within our Cointy government. I have seen Mr. Ramos be ordered to prosecute but because it involved his friends he ignored the orders. My major beef with Ramos is that it was his job to protect me and my children and he failed to do so,and by doing that he pretty much painted a giant target on our backs for harassment,retaliation and to terrorized by certain elected/ county employees for about three years now. I also believe that he is one of the biggest thief’s in our local government. I have had to do a lot of research in law and gain knowledge on how the County departments and procedures of the County are suppose to work my own to be able to fight for my kids and myself. My hope is in doing what I do that I may be able to help other small business owners and families from ever having to endure what we have had to endure. My mission is to hold the corrupt elected officials in our County responsible for what they are doing. I’m not very liked by over elected officials as I am constantly in their faces exposing their dirty deeds. That’s ok with me because with friends like them who needs enemies. lol I make some upset because I don’t care if I’m politically correct in how I say things and some because I don’t really care if people like or believe what I have to say or not. In any case I believe in our justice system and I believe that sometime in the real near feature a lot of these scumbags will and are going to be charged/indicted. Not only in mine and my kids case but with a few other high profile corruption cases and I’m not talking about any of the already indicted names that we are already have. There are more that are coming and I know this for a fact and they are coming soon. I bet that Ovitt, Mtzelfelt, PonTell, Dan Richards, Bill Jensen, Ruth Stringer, Dawn Sikes Greg Deveraux, Mark Uffer, Robert Eland, David Wart, Jim Brulte, Mark Dowling, MR. Ramos, David Zook, Bob Smith, Ms. Norwiki Jesse Florez a few others are getting very little sleep at this time because they are going to have a lot to answer for before long.
billyjackattack: There’s a lot of people that don’t see eye to with me on political views and I’m fine with that. I think that’s one of the wonderful things about being American! I feel that we all need to start voting American meaning voting for who is going to do the best job. Not because they are a Republican, Democratic, Tea Party, Independent, Libertarian, Conservative or what ever other groups are on the ballet. All the political parties continue to do is point the fingers and it’s not our fault game and that is one tired game. The County has tried to keep my story out of the major papers. How ever a reporter by the name of Gail Fry wrote about my story in the SBC Sentinel. She is an awesome writer and did a very good story. The problem with our local papers is they get a vast majority of their funding via County so when stories are not flattering to the County they have a way of getting shot down before they are ever even heard. I even got told one time by the daily press that my story couldn’t be ran because it was to political. You can find out a lot about me by going through the county web page to the board of supervisors meetings and listening to public commits for over the last two years. You can find out about a lot of the corruption that way to. I have spoke not only about my story, but I have spoken on behalf of other small businesses, families having problems, illegal contracts being given unlawfully, our senior citizens being taken advantage of, misappropriation of discretionary funds,and ways to reform our County. I’m not the only one doing things like this to help our community there are about 6 of us that do this on a regular basis to try to make a difference. Act is also out there doing this to. I am not looking for sympathies in any fashion. I am looking for reform and justice for all of us. Our Country was founded by small businesses and our board of supervisors are closing down our mom and pop companies quicker than a blink of an eye. It has got to stop. The Federal Governments gave our board of Supervisors millions of dollars to help keep the doors open to our small businesses and instead of using that money for that purpose they misappropriated the money and gave it to major companies and left us all high and dry. Like Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the buss to gain the rights of our African Women a long time ago, I will not be kicked against the curb any longer as I have the right to own a Business just like anybody else! I worked hard for it and I earned everything that me and my children had!
ich auch :
What is the A?
ich auch :
Was ist der A
Was ist los, dummkopf ?
Repairman: You do notice that the Feds lost interest after BILL POSTMUS stated to the FBI, on the record, that there was no bribery from the colonies? You saw that right? You can read AND write? You are proving that the Ramos Campaign is in a complete meltdown and unable to deal with the fact that the fat lady (Boy) is about to sing…and it ain’t a bird song!
Well Well:
If believing that makes you feel better, if that fantasy helps you sleep at night, if it calms your stomach, continue to live in your dream.
tiny stevie blunder:
Nur sehen, wenn ich etwas imbacil bekommen konnte zu beantworten.
Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
I mean, what you say is fundamental and all. But imagine if you added some great pictures
or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent
but with images and clips, this site could certainly be one of the greatest in its niche.
Awesome blog!
The problem with all that glitter and tech is that is will get too overwhelming to the senses, most people glancing at this blog are already too busy and just want to peak in.
That’s the allure here, the news is SIMPLE, SHORT, SWEET and to the point.
Although it’s nice to see Admin.’s creative pictures.