Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/20/2012 12:11:17 PM PDT

A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Friday lifted bail for four defendants in the Colonies Partners corruption scandal, freeing them from having to pay an annual bond premium as the one-year anniversary of their arrest nears.

On behalf of defendant and Colonies’co-managing partner Jeff Burum, attorney Stephen Larson said Burum poses no flight risk and has abided by the terms of his bail since posting bond on the $10 million bail days after his arrest last May.

Larson also spoke on behalf of the other three defendants – former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt. Their attorneys joined Larson in his motion.

“We believe it’s appropriate to release them on their own recognizance,” Larson told Judge Michael A. Smith. He said requiring each defendant to continue paying the annual bond premiums would pose financial hardship on them.

Prosecutors did not oppose the move on condition the defendants continued to abide by the travel restrictions previously imposed upon them by the court. They are not allowed to leave the country while their case is being adjudicated and must notify prosecutors if they plan to leave the state.

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Published: 20 April 2012 11:42 AM

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge agreed Friday to lift bail for three former county officials and a developer facing corruption charges.

Judge Michael Smith agreed to allow the four men to remain free on their own recognizance as the case continues to remain in the pre-trial stage almost a year after the defendants were indicted.

Last May, a grand jury charged Colonies Partners co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, with conspiracy and bribery-related charges.

They are accused of taking part in a conspiracy that led to a $102 million settlement paid by the county to Burum’s company in November 2006.

Burum’s defense attorney Stephen Larson argued that the defendants have proven they are not a flight risk with their regular appearances in court over the past year.

“These defendants have demonstrated they are very vigorously dedicated to staying here and proving their innocence,” he said.

To read entire story, click here.

Ryan Carter, Staff Writer
Created: 03/28/2012 07:23:04 PM PDT

Attorneys for developer Colonies Partners LP are seeking dismissal of a civil lawsuit that would force the developer to pay back a $102 million legal settlement to taxpayers.

Two citizens groups filed the lawsuit in February, arguing that an ongoing investigation into the settlement – which has resulted in four indictments and a guilty plea by a former county supervisor – voids the settlement and that the money should be returned to taxpayers.

In his reply to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Colonies attorney Stephen Larson contended the citizens groups – the Inland Oversight Committee and Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development – do not have standing to file the lawsuit, that their legal argument is flawed and that the statute of limitations has lapsed.

“Plaintiff’s complaint fails because it is legally unsupported and untimely on its face,” Larson wrote in the reply.

The citizens groups’ lawsuit argues, essentially, that because the settlement was tainted by corruption, its proceeds should be returned to taxpayers.

Last May, a grand jury indicted Colonies co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane and former supervisorial chiefs of staff Mark Kirk and Jim Erwin. State and local prosecutors allege the four conspired to secure the settlement and that campaign contributions to political action committees secretly controlled the three supervisors who approved the settlement were, in fact, bribes.

Former Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus, who voted with Biane and Supervisor Gary Ovitt to approve the settlement, has pled guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges and is cooperating with prosecutors in return for a lighter sentence.

In a December interview with federal investigators, Postmus said that there was no specific agreement with Colonies for campaign contributions prior to settling the land-use lawsuit, though he acknowledged that Burum had promised future political support in the event the case was settled.

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BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com

Published: 16 March 2012 08:03 PM

Attorneys for Colonies case figure Jeffrey Burum have filed a motion that seeks to force prosecutors to hand over all material that could include evidence helpful to Burum in his defense.

The motion is necessary, defense attorney Stephen G. Larson said in the document, because he believes there is evidence that the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office has not been handing over all such material in a timely way to the defense, despite several requests to do so.

He said prosecutors have “engaged in what appears to the defense as a game of ‘cat and mouse.’“

The Colonies case focuses on a $102-million settlement the county paid Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners in November 2006. Prosecutors contend the deal was a result of bribery and extortion.

Colonies co-managing partner Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, face conspiracy and bribery-related charges.

In his motion, Larson pointed out the defense’s receipt in early January of the transcript of an Oct. 14, 2011 FBI interview with key prosecution witness, former County Supervisor Bill Postmus. In the transcript, Postmus described his continued addiction to methamphetamine during his settlement negotiations over his role in the case; it also revealed that Postmus doubted the truthfulness of another prosecution witness, Adam Aleman.

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By Joe Nelson
Created: 03/16/2012 10:56:10 AM PDT

Defense attorneys in a far-reaching San Bernardino County corruption case are seeking a court order to compel prosecutors to provide information on communications they have had with two key defendants in the case.

Attorney Stephen Larson, attorney for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, filed a motion Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court alleging prosecutors have been nonresponsive and holding out.

During a brief hearing this morning in San Bernardino Superior Court, Judge Michael A. Smith set a new date of April 20 to hear Larson’s motion. Attorneys for the other three defendants joined in Larson’s motion.

It’s a dramatic turn of events since last month, when attorneys on both sides, i.e. Larson and prosecutor Lewis Cope, said the discovery process has been “very productive” and was wrapping up. The discovery process is when attorneys for both sides share with one another information they have gathered and plan to use at trial.

Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, have all been charged in the case, which alleges they conspired with former Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus in 2006 to secure a $102 million settlement for Rancho Cucamonga investor consortium Colonies Partners LP in exchange for bribes. All four defendants deny any wrongdoing. Burum is a co-managing partner for Colonies Partners.

The Colonies settlement ended nearly five years of heated legal battle over who was responsible for building and paying for a 67-acre flood control basin at Colonies’ 434-acre residential and commercial development, Colonies Crossroads and Colonies at San Antonio, respectively, in Upland.

Postmus and former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman, as part of their plea agreements with prosecutors, agreed to testify against the four defendants truthfully at trial in exchange for reduced charges. Postmus is also former county Assessor, and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to multiple charges in a companion corruption case alleging he abused his position as Assessor, using his office to bolster his political career. Aleman was also convicted in that case.

Following his arrest in June 2008, Aleman came forward with information he said he had on the Colonies’ settlement, which launched the criminal investigation into the settlement.

Postmus, a self-admitted methamphetamine addict, entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in march 2011, agreeing to violate no laws. His plea agreement also stipulated he would be subject to commitment to a state Department of Corrections drug rehabilitation program if he was found to be abusing drugs.

In his motion, Larson argues the prosecution’s case turns on the testimony of Postmus and Aleman. But during an October interview with federal prosecutors and an FBI agent, Postmus admitted he was heavily addicted to methamphetamine during the Colonies settlement negotiations in 2006, and that he used the drug almost daily, characterizing the period as the peak of his addiction. He also said he had used methamphetamine a “couple dozen times” in 2011.

“He continued using methamphetamine after his arrest and conviction – during the entire period he has been cooperating with authorities in the Colonies investigation and prosecution,” Larson said in his motion.

To read entire story, click here.

Postmus

By Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/10/2012 03:03:31 PM PST

An admission by former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus to federal authorities that he used methamphetamine dozens of times in 2011 has a defense attorney in a far-reaching county corruption case questioning the tactics of prosecutors.

The admission came during an Oct. 14 interview with assistant U.S. attorneys Jerry Behnke and Joseph Widman and FBI agent Jonathan Zeitlin, when Postmus told the trio what he knew about an alleged corruption scandal state and local prosecutors are calling the biggest in county history.

It raises the question of whether Postmus may have violated a plea agreement he struck with state and local prosecutors in March 2011, which stipulated he was to violate no laws and could be committed to a state corrections drug rehabilitation program if he were found to be abusing drugs.

“Mr. Postmus’ admitted, extensive use of drugs both during and after the settlement negotiations, as well as during the period that he has been cooperating with and supervised by the prosecutors in this case, raises disturbing questions about his reliability and the conduct of the prosecution,” said Stephen Larson, attorney for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, a defendant in the corruption case.

Prosecutors allege a $102 million settlement between the county and Burum’s Rancho Cucamonga investor consortium Colonies Partners LP was tainted by bribery and extortion. The settlement, approved by the Board of Supervisors on a 3-2 vote on Nov. 28, 2006, ended a contentious land-rights lawsuit over who was responsible for building and paying for a flood-control basin at the Colonies’ 434-acre residential and commercial development, Colonies at San Antonio and Colonies Crossroads, respectively, in Upland.

In May, four people were indicted on multiple charges of criminal conspiracy, bribery and conflict of interest, among other charges, in connection with the Colonies case: Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for county Supervisor Gary Ovitt. All four deny any wrongdoing.

Under a proffer agreement, Postmus, who said he has struggled with methamphetamine addiction since the end of his first term as a county supervisor in 2004, told Behnke, Widman and Zeitlin what he knew about the alleged bribery case.

A proffer agreement, also referred to as a “queen for a day” letter, is a written agreement between federal prosecutors and individuals under criminal investigation that allows them to tell the government about their knowledge of crimes, with the supposed assurance that what they say will not be used against them in any later criminal proceedings.

When Behnke asked Postmus if he could recall the last time he used drugs, Postmus said it was the early part of 2011, when he purchased some methamphetamines to use by himself at home, according to the interview transcript.

During his testimony before a criminal grand jury in April, Postmus told Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope he had been drug free for more than nine months. Zeitlin noted in a cover letter included in the October interview transcript that Postmus, in the six months prior to the interview, admitted to using methamphetamine roughly a “couple dozen times.”

Originally a defendant and faced with multiple felony charges in the Colonies case and a companion corruption case alleging he abused his elected position as county assessor, Postmus in March 2011 entered into a plea agreement with state and local prosecutors. He agreed to cooperate in the Colonies investigation and prosecution and to testify against the four defendants at trial in exchange for reduced charges.

At the time of his plea agreement, Postmus was facing three separate felony drug charges and multiple felony charges in the Colonies and Assessor’s Office criminal cases.

Postmus remains out of custody on his own recognizance.

Prosecutors decline to comment on the case, but believe their evidence is solid.

“In order to protect the integrity of the case and each defendant’s right to a fair trial, we are required to continue to reserve our comments for the courtroom,” said Christopher Lee, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.

In his cover letter included in the October interview transcript, Zeitlin also noted that during the first half of the interview, Postmus appeared “nervous and reserved,” doodling shapes on a notepad. After returning from a break, Postmus appeared visibly more animated and relaxed,” and his answers to questions provided significant detail and was far more conversational in tone.

Larson declined to comment on why Zeitlin may have felt that information was important to note.

“The significance of that information will be presented in the courtroom,” Larson said.

To read entire story, click here.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/16/2012 04:26:55 PM PST

The trajectory of a sweeping San Bernardino County corruption case hinges on how a state appellate court rules.

In October, the state Attorney General’s Office appealed an August ruling by San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Brian McCarville, who dismissed five of seven felony charges against Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum and one felony count of misappropriation of public funds for each of the three other defendants: former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

Prosecutors allege the county’s $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga investor group Colonies Partners LP, of which Burum is a co-managing partner, was tainted by bribery, blackmail and extortion.

Burum is accused of paying a total of $400,000 in bribes to the three defendants and former county Assessor and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus in exchange for their votes in favor of the settlement or influencing it.

Prosecutors say the alleged bribes were funneled into phony political action committees controlled by the supervisors who voted in favor of the settlement – Postmus, Biane and Ovitt – or members of their staffs. The political action committees, prosecutors say, were used to conceal the alleged bribes.

All four defendants deny any wrongdoing.

In March, Postmus, who was chairman of the Board of Supervisors at the time of the landmark Colonies settlement in November 2006, pleaded guilty to 15 felonies in connection with the Colonies scandal and another at the Assessor’s Office in which he was accused of abusing his elected office for political gain.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Postmus admitted to taking a $100,000 bribe from Burum in exchange for his vote approving the settlement, which ended a nearly 5-year land rights dispute over flood-control improvements at the Colonies’ 434-acre residential and commercial development, Colonies at San Antonio and Colonies Crossroads, respectively, in Upland.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Postmus has agreed to testify against the four defendants in exchange for reduced charges.

Burum’s attorney, Stephen Larson, has also appealed McCarville’s ruling, only he is arguing McCarville erred by not dismissing all charges against Burum.

A key argument made by Larson is that state and local prosecutors have improperly charged Burum with crimes geared for public officials.

Both appeals were filed with the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside.

Rejection of the prosecution’s appeal would decimate its case against Burum.

Granting Larson’s appeal would end the case against Burum altogether, unless prosecutors decide to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Or the appellate court could deny Larson’s appeal and grant the prosecution’s, restoring the indictment to its original form and putting prosecutors back on solid ground.

Prosecutors have repeatedly declined to comment publicly on the case.

“Any discussion about the intricacies of the upcoming appellate court decision certainly could reveal evidentiary and legal strategies that are appropriate for prosecutors to keep to themselves,” said Christoper Lee, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office, in an email. “Additionally, we do not want to be arguing or discussing information that should more properly be presented to the judge in the courtroom.”

To read entire story, click here.

Cook

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/15/2012 12:14:24 PM PST

Legislation that aims to discourage corruption by elected officials’ staff members by denying them public pension benefits if they’re criminally convicted has been introduced by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa.

Specifically, AB 1653 would prevent any member of an elected official’s staff from receiving a pension if they are convicted of bribery, embezzlement or other offenses arising from official duties as a public employee.

Additionally, his AB 1654 requires that corrupt staff members be barred from holding employment at any government agency for five years after the conviction.

“It’s outrageous that corrupt staffers could continue receiving tens of thousands of dollars each year in pension or salary benefits after being convicted of felonies stemming from their time as a public employee,” Cook said. “Those who violate the public’s trust have no business living or retiring at taxpayer expense. My legislation will put an end to convicted felons receiving big paydays from taxpayers.”

Recent San Bernardino County scandals, including the Colonies case, helped inspire the legislation introduced Monday and underscore the inadequacy of state laws on staff-level corruption, according to Cook.

In April, the county Grand Jury indicted Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

The four are accused of various charges including bribery and conflict of interest in connection with the county’s $102 million legal settlement with the investor group Colonies Partners LP in November 2006.

All four deny the allegations”Obviously, the big one we’re looking at is the Colonies case,” said Tim Intyre, Cook’s legislative director. “There are several former chiefs of staff who have not been convicted yet, but if they are convicted, they would still receive a huge pension.”

Bill Postmus

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 13 February 2012 09:50 PM

In an FBI interview former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus said he did not view a $100,000 campaign contribution from Colonies Partners as a bribe even though he expected to receive funds following a lawsuit settlement.

Defense attorneys are expected to use the interview, in which Postmus also admits to extensive drug use and a relapse last year, to undermine his credibility in the corruption case surrounding the $102 million settlement with the Rancho Cucamonga developer.

Postmus, who entered into a plea deal with prosecutors last March, was a key witness in criminal grand jury proceedings that resulted in bribery and conspiracy related charges against Jeff Burum, co-managing partner of Colonies, former Supervisor Paul Biane, Jim Erwin, former assistant assessor, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

Prosecutors allege that the November 2006 settlement was a result of bribes, paid by Burum in the form of $400,000 in campaign contributions to committees controlled by Postmus, Biane, Erwin and Kirk. The county approved the settlement following a four-year legal battle with Colonies over flood-control easements on the company’s 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland.

Burum, Biane, Erwin and Kirk have pleaded not guilty.

Postmus was questioned by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Widman and FBI Special Agent Jonathan Zeitlin at the FBI’s Riverside office in October. Postmus was accompanied by his attorney, Stephen Levine. A 24-page transcript of the interview was recently obtained by The Press-Enterprise.

As part of his deal with the district attorney and state attorney general’s offices, Postmus pleaded guilty to 15 felonies but in exchange for his testimony he will be sentenced on only three counts — conspiring to accept a bribe, conflict of interest and misappropriation of public funds.

‘DID NOT HAPPEN’

In the FBI interview, Postmus said prior to the settlement there was no discussion of Burum contributing the specific amount of $100,000 to two political action committees Postmus says he controlled and he didn’t learn of them until a couple of months after the agreement.

Postmus said he did not see it as a bribe, in terms of “discussing it ahead of time and saying if you do this, you know, if you vote for this I will give you this. With respect to the $100,000, that did not happen.”

But Postmus also said that Burum pressed him on several occasions to get the lawsuit settled and he expected “Jeff would take care of me” when it came to support for future political races or a job with a nonprofit housing company Burum was involved with.

Burum, who was a regular donor to political campaigns in the county, had stopped providing contributions in 2006 when negotiations over the settlement were at their height, and would tell him “we need to get this behind us,” Postmus said.

“I never felt it as a quid pro quo per se but it was very clear that afterwards there would be campaign contributions,” Postmus said.

In his grand jury testimony, the alleged deal is described in stronger terms. Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope asked Postmus if Burum essentially promised to “set you up for life.” Postmus replies yes, saying “that was the motivation.”

However, in his grand jury testimony, Postmus also stated that he had no discussions of the contribution with Burum beforehand. He was not questioned as to whether he considered the money a bribe.

Rajan Maline, an attorney for Erwin, said Postmus’ comments cast doubt on the heart of the prosecution case, that the contributions from Burum were bribes.

“It’s becoming very clear that at this point there was never any bribe and that’s the foundation of their case and that foundation is crumbling,” Maline said.

Stephen Larson, an attorney for Burum, declined to comment on the Postmus interview but offered a brief statement defending his client.

“As the evidence continues to unfold it becomes increasingly clear that Jeff Burum is innocent of all charges that have been brought but that the charges themselves should not have been filed to begin with,” he said.

District attorney’s spokesman Chris Lee said he could not comment.

To read entire story, click here.

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 10 February 2012 07:59 PM

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Colonies corruption case continued to haggle over evidence in San Bernardino County Superior Court Friday, with both sides saying they are continuing to make progress in turning over documents as part of the discovery process.

The county’s flood control district handed over documents from the arbitration proceedings in the Colonies lawsuit against the county, but at the county’s request Judge Michael Smith issued a protective order. Jerome Friedberg, an attorney for the county, said the documents are confidential and the order allows the documents to be used only as part of the criminal case.

The $102 million settlement the county paid Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners in November 2006 is the subject of a criminal case in which prosecutors contend the deal was a result of bribery and extortion.

Colonies co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, face conspiracy and bribery-related charges. Only Biane appeared in court Friday as part of a status conference. Smith had waived their appearance at a previous hearing last month.

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Postmus

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/08/2012 06:05:39 PM PST

In an October interview with federal authorities, former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus said he did not consider a $100,000 campaign contribution from Colonies Partners LP a bribe.

Postmus’ statement, from an interview transcript obtained by The Sun, appears to contradict his guilty plea to charges of conspiracy and bribery in state court, where prosecutors contend campaign contributions to political action committees were part of a conspiracy by Colonies to secure a huge settlement to a land-rights dispute with the county.

In an interview with FBI Agent Jonathan Zeitlin and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jerry Behnke and Joseph Widman, Postmus admitted that he continues to struggle with his methamphetamine addiction and had taken the drug a “couple dozen times” in 2011. In addition, Postmus said the peak of his drug use was in 2006 and 2007, roughly the time of the Colonies’ $102 million settlement and Postmus’s transition into the Assessor’s Office, according to the interview transcript.

Defense attorneys have made it clear that Postmus’s drug abuse will be a key issue in arguing his credibility as a witness for the prosecution.

Postmus’s testimony before a criminal Grand Jury in April helped state and local prosecutors indict Colonies’ co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

The four are accused of conspiring, along with Postmus, to secure the settlement, in Colonies’ favor, in exchange for bribes and political favors. All four deny any wrongdoing.

At the time of the county’s landmark settlement with Colonies investor group, which ended more than four years of litigation over flood control easements at Colonies’ 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland, Postmus was chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and was preparing to enter his newly elected post as county Assessor.

In March, Postmus pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive bribes and for asking for and receiving bribes. He has agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against the four defendants at trial in exchange for reduced charges. His plea bargain, however, does not apply to the federal investigation, which remains pending.

“There’s no quid pro quo for talking to the federal government,” said Postmus’s attorney Stephen Levine. “It’s not covered by his plea bargain, although it goes towards his plea bargain because it’s cooperation.”

Though prosecutors allege Burum bribed Postmus and the other defendants with $100,000 contributions to political action committees the defendants allegedly controlled, Postmus told federal officials he wasn’t made aware of the $100,000 contribution until after the settlement. He said either Jim Erwin or former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman, through Erwin, informed him that Colonies wanted to contribute the money in January or February of 2007, two and three months after the settlement.

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SAN BERNARDINO – An attorney has filed a lawsuit seeking reimbursement for taxpayers of the $102 million settlement made by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in 2006 with Rancho Cucamonga-based developers Colonies Partners LP.

Cory Briggs filed the suit in San Bernardino County Court on Monday on behalf of two non-profit groups, the Inland Oversight Committee and Citizens for Responsible Equitable Environmental Development, and presented it to the county Board of Supervisors during the regular meeting on Tuesday.

“I invited the board to adopt a resolution that the county is going to cooperate in our lawsuit and not fight it,” Briggs said.

“And so now the ball is in the county’s court. Do they want to stand up and defend an illegal contract and screw the taxpayers for $102 million plus interest, or do they want to right the wrong and help us get the money back from the developer and give it back to the taxpayers?”

The lawsuit alleges that because former Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus pleaded guilty in March to taking bribes while attempting to reach the settlement with the Colonies, he violated California Government Code, Section 1090.

Code 1090 says that public officials “shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members.”

The settlement ended litigation over who was responsible for paying for flood-control improvements at the developer’s 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland.

“Bill Postmus pleaded guilty of violating Code 1090 and the Supreme Court has said that a violation of Section 1090 required the beneficiary to return all the money,” Briggs said. “So the developer has to give back the $102 million.”

Colonies co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt and former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin were indicted in May on felony conspiracy, bribery and conflict of interest charges.

To read entire story, click here.

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 06 January 2012 11:19 AM

Defense attorneys in the Colonies corruption case announced in court Friday morning they are seeking records from an influential union representing public safety employees.

Attorneys are also seeking additional records from the county flood control district concerning its four-year legal battle with Colonies Partners.

They filed subpoenas seeking the documents from the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association and the county, but Judge Michael Smith delayed making any decision after attorneys said they are continuing to discuss agreements to get the material.

The documents were sought as part of the Colonies bribery case.

Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, face conspiracy and bribery-related charges.

Prosecutors have alleged that a $102 million settlement the county approved in November 2006 with Burum’s company, Colonies Partners, was a result of bribery and extortion.

Erwin’s attorney, Rajan Maline, filed the motion seeking records from SEBA detailing its involvement in the November 2006 campaign for Measure P, a pay increase and term limit measure that Biane championed.

To read entire story, click here.

SAN BERNARDINO – Defense attorneys in a San Bernardino County corruption case are requesting documents from a public safety labor union they believe will help refute allegations of blackmail against a Rancho Cucamonga developer and the union’s former president.

The attorneys are also seeking from the county’s Flood Control District documents from its nearly five-year legal battle with Rancho Cucamonga-based Colonies Partners LP. Colonies’ co-managing partner Jeff Burum filed a civil lawsuit against the county in March 2002, alleging the county refused to pay for flood control improvements on property owned by Colonies Partners’.

The requests were addressed Friday by lawyers for four defendants in the alleged corruption case – Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt – during proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court.

The four men have been charged with multiple felonies, including conspiracy and conflict of interest stemming from the county’s landmark $102 million settlement with Colonies Partners in November 2006.

The documents sought from the Safety Employees Benefit Association, or SEBA, include voter guides and other records that defense attorneys believe show the union’s support for Measure P – a ballot initiative aimed at bringing term limits and pay raises to county supervisors.

Defense lawyers want the SEBA documents so they can refute Grand Jury testimony, which alleged that Burum influenced Biane to support the lawsuit settlement by creating a campaign to oppose Biane’s Measure P initiative.

At the time, Erwin was the president of SEBA. Erwin’s attorney, Rajan Maline, said Friday that SEBA’s support for Measure P was never in question.

“We want those records to show the unwavering support for Measure P,” Maline said later, outside of court.

In Burum’s lawsuit against the county, he alleged the county abandoned its 70-year-old flood control easements on property owned by Colonies Partners’, a consortium of 22 investors who paid into the 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland. Burum argued that the county forced Colonies to pay for a 67-acre flood control basin that should be the county’s responsiblity.

Prosecutors allege Burum and the three other defendants conspired together for the county to settle the lawsuit for $102 million. They allege the settlement was tainted by blackmail and bribery.

Among the allegations: Burum, in late 2006, bankrolled a campaign against Biane’s Measure P that would limit term limits for supervisors to three and increase their salaries by roughly 50 percent.

To read entire story, click here.

By Mark Gutglueck
Friday, January 6, 2012

Questions continue to dog the second highest ranking member of the county auditor-controller/treasurer-tax collector’s office with regard to the role he and a political action committee he controlled played in illegally passing through and laundering money for those convicted of or charged with participation in a bribery and extortion conspiracy.

At issue is how Matt Brown, a former member of the Republican Central Committee and the one-time chief of staff to former Second District San Bernardino County supervisor Paul Biane, has been able to avoid being criminally charged after he became entangled in a set of circumstances that led to the indictment of Biane, as well as another former member of the board of supervisors, Bill Postmus, together with the chief of staff to another supervisor, a one-time county employee union president and the businessman accused of bribing them.

Brown was moved into the position of assistant county auditor-controller in 2010 by county treasurer/auditor-controller Larry Walker. Brown is also the founder/principal of two political action committees, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans and the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association.

In 2006, Brown, who was then supervisor Biane’s senior staff member, founded a political action committee (PAC) to assist Biane and other members of Biane’s political circle in distributing money to politicians they supported. That PAC, known as the San Bernardino County Young Republicans, has been alleged by the California Attorney General’s Office and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office to have been used as a vehicle to launder bribes and kickbacks to Biane.

During the first year of its existence, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC had raised $7,500. In November 2006, Biane joined with his then-colleagues on the board of supervisors, Bill Postmus and Gary Ovitt, to approve a $102 million payout to Rancho Cucamonga-based Colonies Partners to settle a lawsuit that company had brought against the county over flood control issues at the Colonies at San Antonio residential subdivision and Colonies Crossroads commercial subdivision projects in northeast Upland. Supervisors Josie Gonzales and Dennis Hansberger opposed that settlement.

Campaign finance records show that the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC, received a $100,000 check from Colonies Partners, L.P. on June 17, 2007. In two separate indictments, one returned by a criminal grand jury in February 2010 against Postmus and his one time political associate Jim Erwin and in another indictment returned in May 2011 against Biane, Erwin, Colonies Partners managing principal Jeff Burum and the former chief of staff to supervisor Ovitt, Mark Kirk, it was alleged that Biane actually controlled the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC through Brown and that the $100,000 donation was a quid pro quo paid in exchange for Biane’s vote to approve the settlement. Also delineated in the February 2010 indictment were five unindicted co-conspirators identified as John Does 1 through 5, who are identifiable through information contained elsewhere in the public record including the superseding May 2011 indictment as Colonies Partners managing principals Burum and Dan Richards; Colonies Partners public relations consultant Patrick O’Reilly; Kirk; and Biane. According to prosecutors, Postmus controlled two political action committees, the Inland Empire PAC and the Conservatives For A Republican Majority PAC, which each received separate $50,000 donations from the Colonies Partners principals which were also bribes. Erwin’s Committee For Effective Government PAC likewise received a $100,000 donation from Burum and Richards that was a bribe, according to prosecutors; and Kirk’s Alliance For Ethical Government PAC received a $100,000 contribution from Burum and Richards that was also a bribe, per the indictment.

Postmus last March pleaded guilty to the five felonies alleged against him in the February 2010 indictment, including conspiracy, one count of accepting a bribe, one count of conflict of interest, and one count of misappropriation of funds.

Postmus in April was the star witness before the second grand jury which indicted Burum, Biane and Kirk and reindicted Erwin. Erwin, who served as assistant assessor under Postmus after the latter was elected to that post in 2006 and took office in 2007, continues to maintain his innocence on the charges stemming from that case, including conspiracy, two counts of corrupt influencing, two counts of offering a bribe, two counts of extortion, one count of misappropriation of public funds and one count of forgery. Biane, Kirk and Burum maintain their innocence. As of yet, no charges have been filed against Richards or O’Reilly.

The indictments allege that Burum in 2006, with the assistance of Erwin and O’Reilly, had brochures prepared which purported that Postmus, who was then the chairman of the board of supervisors as well as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee and was running for county assessor, was a homosexual who was addicted to methamphetamine, and that Biane, who was then the vice chair of both the board of supervisors and the Republican Central Committee and at that time engaged in an election campaign, was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Burum’s company, the Colonies Partners, had filed a lawsuit against the county in 2002 over flood control issues at the companies Colonies at San Antonio development in northeast Upland. Ultimately, Burum withheld the mailing of those brochures. It was three weeks after the November 2006 election, in which Postmus and Biane were elected and reelected, that the board of supervisors voted 3-2 to confer the $102 million settlement on the Colonies Partners. The indictments allege that the series of $100,000 donations to the political action committees founded and controlled by Postmus, Brown, Kirk and Erwin were in fact quid pro quos — bribes — paid in exchange for the approval of the settlement. Prosecutors allege that Biane, through Brown, secretly controlled the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC.

The Sentinel is informed that a complaint has been filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission citing a PAC founded by Brown in 2008, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association, which is separate from the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC alluded to in the indictments. According to well placed sources, both the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association and the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC were involved in the activity now under further investigation.

On March 17, 2008, Brown formed the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC and named J.M. Olchawa as the PAC’s treasurer. Both Brown and Olchawa are residents of Grand Terrace. Olchawa endowed the PAC with its first operating capital in the form of a $100 contribution. Less than a month later, on April 9, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC contributed $40,000, which had apparently originated with the $100,000 contribution from the Colonies Partners the previous year, to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. The following month, on May 29, 2008, one of the political action committees controlled by Postmus, the Inland Empire PAC, infused the San Bernardino County Taxpayers PAC with $3,000 and the month after that, on June 2, 2008, with another $2,000. That $5,000, too, had apparently been originally provided by the Colonies Partners.

In the less than two month period between the $40,000 contribution from Brown’s own Young Republicans PAC on April 9 and Postmus’ Inland Empire PAC’s $2,000 donation on June 2, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC received a substantial amount of money in the form of both contributions and loans, all from other political figures. On April 25, 2008, the Committee to Elect Paul Biane gave the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC a $15,000 contribution. On April 29, 2008 the Committee to Elect Dick Larsen provided the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC with a $10,000 loan. Larsen was then the county treasurer. On May 5, 2008 the Committee to Elect Gary C. Ovitt made a $15,000 contribution to Brown’s San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. That money may have originated with the Colonies Partners before being provided to Kirk’s Alliance For Ethical Government PAC and then being provided to Ovitt. On May 9, 2008, the Josie Gonzales for Supervisor campaign provided a $15,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers PAC. On May 16, 2008, Bill Emmerson for Assembly 2008 made a $5,000 contribution to Brown’s recently formed PAC. The same day, the San Bernardino Public Employees Association PAC provided Brown’s PAC with a $10,000 contribution. On May 23, 2008, the Committee to Elect Gary C. Ovitt provided Brown’s PAC with a $10,000 loan. On May 27, 2008, the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee made a $25,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC. The next day, May 28, the Paul Cook for Assembly 2008 Committee provided Brown’s PAC with a $5,000 loan. The same day, the Committee to Elect Paul Biane

made a $10,000 loan to Brown’s PAC. On May 29, Bill Emmerson for Assembly 2008 made a $5,000 contribution to the PAC and on June 2, 2008, the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee made a $15,000 contribution to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC.

The lion’s share of the money Brown’s PAC took in was used to fund Hansberger’s effort to be reelected as county Third District supervisor that year. According to campaign disclosure documents, the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC on May 18 provided the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee with $57,030.70 and on June 30, 2008, more than three weeks after Hansberger had lost the election to Neil Derry on June 3, Brown’s PAC gave the Hansberger for Supervisor Committee $100,920.29.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is now investigating the lack of any subsequent accounting for the $35, 000.00 in loans made to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC by the Larsen, Ovitt, Cook and Biane campaign committees. All references to those loans disappeared from subsequent campaign filing statements made on behalf of the PAC by Olchawa. The loans in question appear to be outstanding. No explicit reference to repayments to any of the lending parties can be found in any of the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC’s financial disclosure statements. While the online filing made by the Committee to Elect Gary Ovitt shows an outstanding loan of $10,000 to the San Bernardino County Taxpayers Association PAC committee as of 12/31/2010, online filings for the other lending parties were not immediately available. There is no indication in any available documentation showing any of the loans were repaid.

The lack of repayment, and lack of accounting of the still existent outstanding loans or failure to note the loans were forgiven is alleged to be multiple violations of the Political Reform Act. Moreover, the lack of notation of the loans might suggest that the funds received by the committee during the 2008 electioneering season from the Larsen, Cook and Biane campaigns were being laundered for Hansberger, according to the complaint received by the FPPC.

Another issue in the complaint and the follow-up FPPC investigation is the connection between the PAC and the Hansberger Campaign, which contributed money to the PAC and was also the major beneficiary of the PAC’s expenditures. In this way, money provided to Brown’s PAC is suspected of having been used to attack Derry without adequate disclosure of the origin of that money. Those mailers sent out attacking Derry did not disclose that Hansberger’s campaign was involved in funding them.

Many familiar with Brown’s role in the Colonies matter have questioned why prosecutors did not seek and obtain from the grand jury an indictment of Brown. The indictment itself describes how the political action committee he founded and controlled served as a laundering vehicle through which bribes allegedly provided by Burum were passed, action virtually indistinguishable from that engaged in by the indicted Kirk, another chief of staff to a board member who voted to approve the Colonies settlement.

Brown was one of 45 witnesses who testified before the grand jury this spring before it handed down the indictment naming Burum, Biane, Kirk and Erwin. In that testimony Brown said SEBA, the sheriff’s deputies union that Erwin once headed, had promised to provide, but then failed to come through with, backing for a countywide measure Biane was sponsoring in 2006 to boost the pay for county supervisors. An examination of campaign reporting documents and other material, however, indicates that SEBA in fact did support the Biane-backed proposal, known as Measure P, which passed, resulting in an immediate $22,000 annual increase to supervisors’ salaries. Prosecutors declined to say whether Brown’s misstatement of fact before the grand jury constituted perjury. No charges have been filed against him.

A possible explanation of how it is that Brown has avoided prosecution on several counts is that he has been working as an informant for the district attorney’s office. It is known that beginning in 2009, Brown began wearing a “wire,” that is, a hidden electronic audio device at work while he was serving in the capacity of Biane’s chief of staff. Reportedly, the target of this effort was Biane himself. To date, no incriminating statements by Biane on any of those tapes have surfaced or been produced by the prosecution, despite requests by defense attorneys for their production. Transcripts of some of those conversations have been turned over to defense attorneys.

At some point in the spring of 2010, Biane became aware that his chief-of-staff was seeking to entrap him. There ensued strained relations between the two and Brown was put on paid leave after he filed a claim in which he alleged he was being harassed. Brown was then transferred to the county treasurer/auditor-controller office under Larry Walker.

Walker installed Brown as his second-in-command, i.e. as the assistant auditor-controller. In so doing, Walker ousted his longtime assistant and close associate Betsy Starbuck, who was ignominiously sacked after having served more than twenty years as Walker’s right hand woman, both when Walker was Fourth District supervisor, the position he held before he ran for auditor-controller, and as auditor controller.

The displacement of Starbuck, who after more than eight years in the position of assistant auditor-controller practically ran the division, to accommodate the inexperienced Brown has sparked a widespread belief in the halls of the county that the move was imposed on Walker by county chief executive officer Greg Devereaux and district attorney Mike Ramos as part of an effort to protect a witness seen as crucial to the prosecution of the Colonies settlement criminal case. Collectively and individually, Walker, Brown, Devereaux and Ramos were unwilling to comment on the matter.

By Mark Gutgleuck
Friday, January 6, 2012
Originally Published: Friday, December 30, 2011

As of earlier this week, former state assemblyman Brett Granlund had actively avoided several attempts to serve him with a subpoena relating to the Colonies Settlement case.

Well informed sources have told the Sentinel that lawyers for the defendants in the Colonies case want to question Granlund with regard to his knowledge about several aspects of the criminal prosecution of former county supervisor Paul Biane, former Fourth Supervisorial District chief-of-staff Mark Kirk, former sheriff’s deputy union president Jim Erwin and Rancho Cucamonga-based developer Jeff Burum.

In May, Biane, Erwin, Kirk and Burum were named in a 29-count indictment charging them with conspiracy, bribery and extortion related to what prosecutors allege was an effort to improperly settle for a $102 million payout a lawsuit Burum’s company, Colonies Partners, had brought against the county over flood control issues at its development project in northeast Upland. In November 2006, Biane, who was then the county’s Second District supervisor, Fourth District supervisor Gary Ovitt and then-First District supervisor Bill Postmus voted to approve that settlement in a 3-2 vote opposed by then-supervisor Dennis Hansberger and supervisor Josie Gonzales.

Postmus, who along with Erwin was previously charged with conspiracy and bribery in conjunction with his vote on the $102 million settlement, in March pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving bribes, conspiracy and conflict of interest, and agreed to turn state’s evidence. In April, he was the star witness before the grand jury that indicted Biane, Burum and Kirk and reindicted Erwin.

Prosecutors’ allege Burum, together with Erwin, who was once the president of the county’s sheriff’s deputies’ union and was then working as a consultant to the Colonies Partners, prior to the November 2006 vote threatened to carry out an informational campaign involving mailers revealing Postmus’ homosexuality and use of illegal drugs and Biane’s insolvency, but ultimately refrained from the distribution of the information. These “threatening, menacing, commanding or coercing” acts, constituted extortion, the prosecution alleges. After the vote, Burum provided two political action committees controlled by former supervisor Bill Postmus with separate $50,000 checks, a political action committee controlled by Erwin with a $100,000 check, a political action committee created by Kirk with a $100,000 check, and a political action committee founded by Biane’s chief-of-staff Matt Brown, but which prosecutors claim was secretly controlled by Biane, with a check for $100,000. Those checks constituted bribes, prosecutors maintain. Prosecutors allege that Kirk influenced Ovitt’s vote. Kirk at that time was Ovitt’s chief of staff.

Defense attorneys, who are now seeking to obtain information to compromise the credibility of Postmus, are interested in obtaining from Granlund documents related to his communication with individuals close to the district attorney as well as the district attorney directly or indirectly and information bearing upon the motivation driving the prosecution. Granlund was once a powerful player in Republican politics in San Bernardino County, as was Postmus. Granlund has close ties to former supervisor Dennis Hansberger, Hansberger’s one-time chief of staff Jim Rissmiller, district attorney Mike Ramos and others within Ramos’s political circle. Reportedly, Granlund served as a go-between in discussions involving the district attorney’s office and Postmus in the months leading up to Postmus’ decision to turn state’s evidence. Both Hansberger and Rissmiller testified before the grand jury that indicted Biane, Burum, Erwin and Kirk.

Sources tell the Sentinel that a private investigator and process server working for one defendant’s legal team has sought to make contact with Granlund to serve him with a subpoena. As of early this week, that effort has not succeeded and in recent days, Granlund has gone to ever more extreme effort to avoid being served, refusing to answer knocks upon his door and using other tactics to evade the process server. Efforts to locate him at Platinum Advisors, the Sacramento-based lobbying firm that employs him, were thwarted when employees claimed that Granlund does not work out of that office.

In conversations he assumed to be confidential with friends and associates in San Bernardino County and the state capitol, Granlund has expressed anger with the defense’s efforts to “drag” him into the matter and he expressed concern that the questions he might be subjected to could raise issues problematic to him personally and professionally.

From left, Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, developer Jeff Burum, former assistant assessor Jim Erwin, and former supervisor Paul Biane, at an August court appearance.(STAN LIM/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 31 December 2011 05:39 PM

A panel of California appellate judges could soon be deciding how, and possibly if, the Colonies corruption case will proceed to trial.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Riverside is considering an appeal filed by the San Bernardino County district attorney and state attorney general offices seeking to restore charges that were dismissed in August against Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, former Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

The court completed briefings from prosecutors and defense attorneys on the appeal last month and also agreed to consider writs of mandate filed by the defense seeking to have more charges dismissed against the four. A decision is expected in the next few months.

The defendants will be returning to San Bernardino County Superior Court on Jan. 6 for a status hearing but the main focus now is at the appellate level. Except for discovery issues, further proceedings in the case have been suspended pending the outcome of the appeal.

Prosecutors have argued that the lower court erred in dismissing five of the seven counts against Burum and one count each against Biane, Erwin and Kirk from the original 29-count indictment that a grand jury returned in May.

The defendants are accused of taking part in a scheme to net Burum’s company, Colonies Partners, a $102 million legal settlement. Prosecutors allege the deal, approved by the Board of Supervisors in November 2006, was a result of extortion and $400,000 in bribes by Burum and intermediaries acting on his behalf. The settlement ended a lengthy legal battle over flood-control improvements on a Colonies’ development in Upland.

To read entire story, click here.

From left to right: Colonies scandal defendants Jeff Burum, Mark Kirk, Jim Erwin, and Paul Biane stand during a motion to delay their arraignment hearing in a San Bernardino Superior Courtroom

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 12/30/2011 11:37:49 AM PST

Investigations into corruption in San Bernardino County advanced in fits and starts over the past year.

Prosecutors gained ground when former Supvervisor-turned-Assessor Bill Postmus agreed in March to plead guilty to bribery, conflict of interest and misappropriation of public funds and to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

His testimony bolstered the case and resulted in charges against Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum and three other former county officials – former county Supervisor Paul Biane and former supervisorial chiefs of staff Mark Kirk and Jim Erwin – related to the county’s $102 million legal settlement with Colonies Partners LP in 2006.

A few months later, in August, Judge Brian McCarville dealt investigators a major blow when he dismissed five of the seven felony charges filed against Burum, citing insufficient evidence or prosecutorial error.

McCarville also dropped one charge of misappropriation of public funds against each of the other defendants.

Prosecutors have appealed McCarville’s August dismissal of the charges, while Burum’s attorney, Stephen Larson, has appealed McCarville’s upholding of the two remaining charges against Burum.

“Frankly, the last seven months have been very difficult for Jeff Burum and his family,” Larson said. “Jeff’s been accused of crimes he did not commit. We’ve known that from the start, and now it’s becoming increasingly clear to the community as the evidence and prosecution’s tactics come to light.”

State and local prosecutors maintain their case is on solid ground.

“We continue to be confident in the facts of this case, and in order to protect the integrity of the case and each defendant’s right to a fair trial, it would be inappropriate to comment any further,” District Attorney’s officials said in a statement earlier this month.

Just weeks after McCarville dismissed the charges against Burum and the other defendants in the Colonies’ case, FBI and IRS agents served search warrants at the homes and businesses of the four Colonies’ defendants and other figures tied to the investigation, including the Fontana home and business of former state Sen. Jim Brulte and the Riverside office of publicist Patrick O’Reilly.

O’Reilly’s attorney, Bill Lehman, said he was told by the FBI that O’Reilly is a witness, not a suspect, in the investigation.

Federal agents sought evidence of bribery, extortion or fraud, including “cash in an amount or concealed in such a manner as to indicate it is proceeds of criminal activity” according to one of the search warrants.

The momentum of the investigation this year seems to stem from information provided to investigators by Postmus, who pleaded guilty in March to 15 felonies tied to scandals at the Assessor’s Office and the county’s 2006 settlement with Colonies.

The settlement ended nearly five years of heated legal battle over who was responsible for paying for flood control improvements at the developer’s 434-acre Colonies at San Antonio residential and Colonies Crossroads retail center in Upland.

To read entire story, click here.

Friday, December 9, 2011 – 04:30 p.m.

The California Court of Appeal has now entered the fray on the Colonies case.

The 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 2 has accepted Writs of Mandate filed by defendants James Erwin, Mark Kirk and Jeffrey Burum to have additional charges dismissed.

This afternoon the court issued an order to consolidate the writs with the Attorney General’s appeal of Judge Brian McCarville’s previous dismissal of some of the charges.

An order to show cause as to why additional charges against Erwin, Kirk and Burum should not be dismissed has been issued to the Attorney General/District Attorney.

Both have been given 25 days to respond.

Of course the court could always rule in favor of the State. But today’s developments are a good sign for the defense.

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Eyler

Mike Cruz and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 12/09/2011 12:50:39 PM PST

Greg Eyler
SAN BERNARDINO – Gregory Eyler, a former taxpayer advocate for the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office, pleaded no contest Friday to an allegation that he drew pay from the county for work he never performed.

Under a plea bargain with prosecutors, Eyler, 35, pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of presenting a fraudulent claim. He was initially charged in July 2009 with felony grand theft and public officer crimes.

Prosecutors alleged Eyler was given the job, which paid $130,000 annually, by his boyfriend and then newly elected Assessor Bill Postmus. But Eyler seldom showed up for work and when he did, his work product was minimal, they said.

Under the conditions of his plea agreement, Eyler will serve 120 days on a home-monitoring program, to be completed by July, and serve one year of felony probation.

“(Plea) discussions have always been a part of the process as this case has gone on, but it hadn’t gotten to the point of being resolved until today,” prosecutor Lewis Cope said.

Eyler initially faced a maximum of three years in prison.

He was charged in 2009 along with Postmus, who faced greater culpability in the crimes. Postmus faced additional charges of misappropriation of public funds, perjury and drug possession.

Postmus pleaded guilty in March to the charges in the Assessor’s Office case and a separate scandal relating to the county’s $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga investor consortium Colonies Partners LP in November 2006. Postmus served as chairman of the Board of Supervisors at the time of the settlement.

Prosecutors allege the county’s settlement with Colonies was tainted by bribery and extortion, and that Colonies’ co-managing partner Jeff Burum offered Postmus $100,000 in exchange for Postmus’ vote in favor of the settlement.

Burum and the other three defendants in the Colonies’ case – former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, deny any wrongdoing and are fighting the charges.

To read entire story, click here.

A defendant in the Colonies corruption case wins the unsealing of comments from a different grand jury

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 29 November 2011 09:29 AM

A San Bernardino County judge on Tuesday ordered the grand jury testimony of a former county official unsealed as part of a government corruption case.

Superior Court Judge Michael Smith agreed to release the testimony after a request by defense attorney Stephen Larson, who argued in a motion that it may include evidence helpful to his client, Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum.

In May, a criminal grand jury indicted Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, on conspiracy and bribery related charges. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors have alleged that a $102 million settlement the county approved in November 2006 with Burum’s company, Colonies Partners, was the result of bribery and extortion.

James Lindley, who worked for the county for five years, most recently as public health director until he was fired in March 2010, testified before a separate civil grand jury in April, at the same time the criminal grand jury convened.

Lindley’s testimony was not presented to the criminal grand jury, but Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope summarized some of his comments to the panel toward the end of the proceedings — a decision questioned by defense attorneys.

“Mr. Burum is anxious to obtain all of the discovery and all of the grand jury testimony,” Larson said. “We continue to believe once all of the evidence is out in the open it will be clear that Mr. Burum did nothing wrong.”

Prosecutors did not object to the request to unseal the testimony. Cope said under state law only the presiding judge can unseal grand jury testimony so that it’s available to attorneys on both sides. In this case, Smith said Presiding Judge Douglas Elwell relayed to him that he had reviewed the testimony and gave Smith the authority to have it released.

Lindley’s testimony became an issue because of a comment attributed to him by Dennis Wagner, a former county counsel. Wagner testified that Lindley told him he had overhead Burum say he had golfed with one of the judges who heard the Colonies civil case.

To read entire story, click here.

A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered that the Grand Jury testimony of a former county official be unsealed.

Judge Michael A. Smith ordered the release of transcripts of testimony given by Jim Lindley, the county’s former public health director and former director of purchasing, before the county’s civil Grand Jury on April 21.

Defense attorney Stephen Larson requested the transcripts. He is defending Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum in a corruption case.

Burum and three former county officials are accused of conspiring to expedite a legal settlement between the county and Rancho Cucamonga investor group Colonies Partners LP, of which Burum is a co-managing partner, in exchange for bribes.

To read entire story, click here.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 – 01:30 p.m.

The Sun / Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspapers has convicted the four defendants in the case surrounding the $120 million Colonies settlement.

The papers ran a story Tuesday titled ‘Prisoner realignment may affect Colonies case’. The article, by reporter Joe Nelson, centers on the impact prison realignment may have on the potential sentences that defendants Jeff Burum, Jim Erwin, Mark Kirk and Paul Biane may face.

Yes, they actually did!

Even though no trial has occurred and no plea bargains have been realized in the case.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office appears to have gleefully participated in the appalling hypothetical smear story.

All defendants stand accused, not convicted.

Maybe for tomorrow Nelson can pen a story on the defendants violating their parole.

Another par for the course for editor Frank Pine’s newspapers.

Published: 29 November 2011 09:29 AM

A San Bernardino County judged ordered the grand jury testimony of a former county official unsealed as part of a corruption case.

James Lindley, a former legislative affairs and public health director, testified before a grand jury earlier this year. A separate criminal grand jury indicted a developer and three former county officials on conspiracy and bribery-related charges.

Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt, face charges in the case.

To read entire story, click here.

A new law meant to reduce California’s prison population raises questions as to whether four defendants in a sweeping San Bernardino County corruption case would serve time in prison if convicted.

Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum and three former county officials stand charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and other offenses in connection with the county’s $102million settlement with Rancho Cucamonga investor group Colonies Partners LP in 2006. Burum is a co-managing partner of Colonies Partners.

State and local prosecutors allege Burum conspired with the other defendants in a bribery scheme to secure the landmark settlement in Colonies’ favor in exchange for bribes.

Also charged are former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

All four defendants deny any wrongdoing, and five of seven counts against Burum have already been dismissed.

State and local prosecutors have appealed San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Brian McCarville’s dismissal of the charges. The appeal is pending in a state appellate court in Riverside.

While the Colonies case has been called the “biggest corruption scandal in county history,” there are different schools of thought on how the Public Safety Realignment Plan, or Assembly Bill 109, will factor into whether or not the Colonies defendants, if convicted, would actually serve any time in prison.

Laurie Levenson, a professor of law at Loyola Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said she could not comment specifically on the Colonies case.

In general terms, Levenson said AB 109, while not a get-out-of-jail-free card, will make it less likely for white-collar criminals to spend any appreciable time in custody.

“I think the courts will be reluctant to put the less dangerous defendants into custody,” Levenson said.

The realignment plan, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in April, shifts responsibility for parolee monitoring from the state to county probation departments. The law, which went into effect Oct. 1, also redefined which inmates serve time in prison as opposed to county jail.

Under the realignment plan, nonviolent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders would be eligible to carry out their sentences in a county jail. Judges also have the option of sentencing offenders to home detention and electronic monitoring.

Assistant District Attorney Dennis Christy, who heads the Public Integrity Unit of the District Attorney’s Office, said AB 109 would not change the sentencing scheme for the Colonies defendants.

The state has a lengthy list of criminal offenses that would still qualify for a state prison sentence under the realignment plan. Among the offenses are accepting bribes, misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest – all offenses the four Colonies’ defendants currently face.

Christy said the Legislature recently expanded its list to include even more government corruption crimes that mandate offenders be sent to state prison rather than serve their sentences in county jails.

To read entire story, click here.

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/12/2011 06:12:51 AM PST

The ways money flowed to candidates and political action committees and alleged acts of blackmail are detailed in search warrants in San Bernardino County’s $102 million legal settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP in November 2006.

The warrants, released last week, also describe what led authorities to suspect a county supervisor’s former chief of staff of criminal activity before he became a witness for the prosecution.

The settlement ended nearly five years of legal battle over flood-control easements at Colonies’ 434-acre residential and commercial development in Upland.

In May, state and local prosecutors charged Colonies co-managing partner Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, with criminal conspiracy, conflict of interest and other charges in a corruption case they are calling the biggest in county history.

The four are accused of conspiring to facilitate the historic settlement, in the developer’s favor, in exchange for bribes and political favors. All four deny any wrongdoing.

PAC contributions

Within a year of the settlement, Colonies Partners contributed a total of $400,000 to five political action committees prosecutors say were controlled by the three supervisors who voted in favor of the settlement – Bill Postmus, Biane and Ovitt – or members of their staff.

Three of the political action committees – Alliance for Ethical Government, San Bernardino County Young Republicans and the Committee for Effective Government – each received $100,000 contributions from Colonies. Kirk controlled the Alliance for Ethical Government PAC, Biane’s chief of staff Matt Brown, the San Bernardino County Young Republicans PAC, and Erwin, the Committee for Effective Government PAC, prosecutors allege.

Postmus controlled the Inland Empire PAC and Conservatives for a Republican Majority PAC, each of which received $50,000 contributions from Colonies following the settlement.

In March, Postmus, who is also the former county assessor, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the Colonies case and a separate case in which he admitted to running a political operation out of the Assessor’s Office at taxpayer expense. As part of a plea bargain, he has agreed to turn state’s evidence in exchange for reduced charges.

Postmus’ longtime aide and protege, Adam Aleman, pleaded no contest in June 2008 to felony charges related to the Assessor’s Office scandal, including falsifying minutes to executive meetings for the Grand Jury and destroying evidence in the investigation, i.e. the hard drive of a county-owned laptop computer.

Aleman has also agreed to testify against defendants in the Colonies’ and Assessor’s Office cases as part of a plea bargain. He approached investigators five months after his arrest saying he had information about the controversial Colonies settlement.

Money trail

Within a year of receiving the contributions from Colonies Partners, money flowed from the PACs to political campaigns and activities directly related to those who controlled the PACs, according to the search warrants.

Brown’s PAC doled out more than $11,000 to Biane’s campaign for supervisor. More than $11,000 was doled out to Brown’s campaign for the Republican Central Committee, and more than $2,600 in expenditures were taken from the PAC for fundraising events and travel and lodging expenses for Brown and his wife, according to the warrants.

Kirk’s Alliance for Ethical Government contributed $10,000 to Gary Ovitt’s campaign for supervisor and $3,200 to Ovitt’s campaign for Republican Central Committee. In addition, five contributions totaling more than $1,700 were made to the campaign of Ovitt’s wife, Sue Ovitt, for a spot on the Republican Central Committee, and 11 contributions totaling more than $7,000 were made to Kirk’s campaign for the Central Committee.

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RIVERSIDE – A federal judge seemed poised to rule that federal agents did not violate the civil rights of Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum when they served search warrants at his home and office in September.

During a two-hour hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court, Judge S. James Otero heard arguments from Burum’s attorney, Stephen G. Larson, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry A. Behnke over whether federal prosecutors should be able to retain documents and other information seized during the Sept. 15 raid.

There is no deadline or estimated amount of time for Otero to deliver a decision, lawyers said. All they can do is wait for an email alert from the court that a ruling is available.

In the meantime, federal prosecutors are proceeding with their investigation of Burum and other three others in connection with the 2006 lawsuit settlement between San Bernardino County and Colonies Partners.

Former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, the former chief of staff for county Supervisor Gary Ovitt, also are challenging FBI searches of their property, court records indicate.

Larson alleges the warrants that FBI and IRS agents served at Burum’s home and office were overly broad and vague, and that agents were essentially on a fishing expedition. He also alleges agents acted in callous disregard for Burum’s civil rights, lying in a search warrant affidavit that Larson had condoned a search of his office and had escorted agents during the office walk-through.

Despite a declaration by FBI Agent Jonathan Zeitlin that agents did not search Larson’s office without Larson present, Larson said in a court motion that a surveillance video showed agents entering his office, and one agent went through his desk drawers.

Otero saw things differently.

“This appears to be simple human error,” Otero said during Thursday’s hearing. “A mistake does not become a significant error unless it’s not corrected.”

He based his opinion on declarations made by Zeitlin and FBI Special Agent Anthony Montero, in which Montero admitted that Zeitlin had given him the affidavit for vetting and that Montero signed off on it, overlooking the information indicating that Larson condoned the walk-through of his office and was present during it.

Behnke said the government takes such matters seriously.

“And the government apologizes for the mistake that was made,” Behnke said. He said nothing was seized from Larson’s office and law library, which are housed in the Diversified Pacific building on Civic Center Drive in Rancho Cucamonga. Burum founded Diversified Pacific in the 1990s, and roughly four dozen other businesses that Burum has a vested interest in are housed in the same building.

Larson disputed Otero’s argument that federal officials had appropriately corrected their error.

“Only once they received the video surveillance did they say, `Oh, it was a mistake,”‘ Larson said.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/09/2011 05:33:36 PM PST

An attorney for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum said federal officials on Wednesday returned all materials seized from Burum’s home and office during an FBI raid on Sept. 15.

“I can confirm that, pursuant to the stipulation between the parties and the subsequent order by the federal judge, the FBI has returned all materials that it seized at Mr. Burum’s residence and business offices,” Burum’s attorney Stephen Larson said.

Larson argued in federal court in the days following the raid that agents violated Burum’s civil rights when they erroneously declared in a search warrant affidavit they did a walk-through of Larson’s office, in Larson’s presence and with his consent, during the search.

In response, federal agents admitted to the error, chalking it up to an oversight, but stood by the integrity of their search.

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BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 08 November 2011 10:05 AM

Search warrants released as part of a San Bernardino County corruption case detail how the four-year investigation grew from reports of political gifts to allegations of a far-reaching conspiracy involving several top county officials and a prominent developer.

The warrants were ordered unsealed by Judge Michael Smith on Friday as part of the criminal proceedings against Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane, former assistant assessor Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff to Supervisor Gary Ovitt. They face bribery and conspiracy-related charges for their alleged roles in a November 2006 legal settlement between Colonies Partners, Burum’s firm, and the county.

The 11 search warrants, covering the period from December 2008 to October 2010, were provided by prosecutors to defense attorneys last month. Six of the warrants were made available Friday with four more provided Tuesday.

One of the search warrants, from Aug. 4, 2009, remained unavailable. A court clerk said court officials were unable to locate the document as of Tuesday and are continuing to search for it.

The documents provide a glimpse into how the case began as an investigation into political dealings by former Assessor Bill Postmus and gifts Erwin received from Burum. They also describe the crucial role played by Adam Aleman, a longtime confidante of Postmus, as a confidential informant and the different tangents explored by district attorney’s investigators as the case grew.

Aleman, a former assistant assessor, pleaded guilty in July 2009 to vandalism, theft, destroying public documents and filing a false claim as part of a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for his cooperation, those felony charges could be reduced to misdemeanors when he is sentenced.

The first search warrant — from Dec. 2, 2008 — shows that Aleman cooperated with prosecutors as early as November 2008 when he met with Hollis Randles, a senior district attorney’s investigator, three times and told him about gifts Erwin received from Burum.

Erwin faces multiple perjury charges over allegations he failed to report a $12,750 Rolex watch, a private jet trip to New York and Washington, DC, plus dining, lodging and entertainment expenses paid for by Burum during the January 2007 trip.

Aleman told Randles that Burum took Erwin on the trip and gave him the watch as a gift for his help in facilitating the $102million settlement with Colonies, reached after a five-year legal battle over flood control easements at the firm’s Upland housing and commercial development.

Prosecutors contend that that the settlement was a result of bribery and extortion and that Colonies funneled $400,000 to political action committees controlled by Biane, Erwin, Postmus and Kirk as payment for yes votes on the settlement.

A January 2009 search warrant is the first indication that investigators were looking into the settlement and the contributions made to the political action committees. A subsequent search warrant, from March 2009, goes into more detail and is the first to raise the allegations that the contributions were bribes and recommend criminal charges against Burum, Biane, Erwin, Kirk and Postmus.

That March, Erwin was arrested on charges related to the gifts he received. Postmus had been arrested on drug charges in January 2009. It wasn’t until February 2010 that prosecutors charged them with bribery and conspiracy charges related to the settlement.

Aleman is the source of many of the allegations in the search warrants but the criminal charges against him are not mentioned in the first warrant, an omission that Erwin’s attorney, Rajan Maline, called troubling.

“What’s significant to me about the search warrant is the lack of information given to the magistrate,” Maline said.

He said it raises questions about the legality of the search warrants and may be the subject of a future court motion by him and other defense attorneys.

District attorney’s spokesman Chris Lee declined to comment on the issue.

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Joe Nelson, The (San Bernardino County) Sun
Created: 11/07/2011 06:53:01 PM PST

The remaining search warrants served in a sweeping corruption probe involving a legal settlement between the county and a Rancho Cucamonga developer were released Monday.

The warrants were served between Dec. 2, 2008 and Oct. 22, 2010, in an investigation into the county’s landmark $102 million settlement with Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners LP in November 2006. They detail contributions made by the developer to political action committees following the settlement, as well as land deals involving former Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus and his business partner, John “Dino” DeFazio, who faces separate criminal charges for allegedly lying to a grand jury.

Former County Assistant Assessor of Support Adam Aleman provided the information to district attorney investigators as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

Aleman told investigators that Postmus, while serving as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, conspired with Colonies’ co-managing partners Jeff Burum to steer the settlement the developer’s way in exchange for bribes and political favors.

The settlement ended nearly five years of heated legal battle over flood-control easements at the developer’s 434-acre Colonies at San Antonio residential and Colonies Crossroads commercial development in Upland.

Burum, former county Supervisor Paul Biane; former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin; and Mark Kirk, former chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and conflict of interest, among other charges. They deny any wrongdoing.

A judge has dismissed five of seven counts against Burum, including bribery.

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