Posted on 12/29/2004 6:37:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records from 12 current and former San Diego city officials in a criminal investigation of the city's pension fund and financial disclosures, documents released Wednesday show.
The U.S. Justice Department asked for a trove of documents on pension underfunding and possible conflicts of interest on the pension board. The demand for e-mails, phone logs, minutes of board meetings, contracts and other records extends back to 1996, the year that the city decided to cut contributions to its pension plan and, at the same time, increase retirement benefits.
The disclosures come less than two weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed seven current and former city officials in a separate civil investigation of the pension fund. The SEC ordered City Manager Lamont Ewell to produce the same documents sought by the Justice Department.
The Justice Department subpoenas, issued Feb. 13, order the officials to produce the documents for a federal grand jury by March 11. The subpoenas were made public Wednesday by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who began his own investigation of the pension fund shortly after taking office this month.
It was unclear whether any of the 12 people who were subpoenaed were or are suspected of wrongdoing. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego didn't respond to telephone messages.
Casey Gwinn, who was city attorney for eight years until term limits forced him from office, said investigators assured him that he was not a target of the probe and that he was asked to produce the documents only because he was a custodian of official records. He added that the documents weren't delivered until months after the March 11 deadline.
Other officials who were ordered to produce records include Michael Uberuaga, who resigned as city manager in March and his replacement, Ewell, who was assistant city manager at the time.
An attorney for Uberuaga didn't respond to a message and Ewell was unavailable to comment, according to a spokeswoman. Last week, in response to the SEC subpoena, Ewell pledged to cooperate and said it "makes perfect sense that the highest ranking official be asked to provide testimony."
George Loveland, senior deputy city manager, also was subpoenaed, as were three deputy city managers, Bruce Herring, Patricia Frazier and Ray Arellano.
"I've cooperated up to this point and expect to continue to cooperate," said Herring. He said the other deputies were on vacation and unavailable to comment.
Others named - Cathy Lexin, human resources director; Mary Vattimo, city treasurer; Terri Webster, acting city auditor - didn't respond to messages Wednesday. Les Girard, an assistant city attorney, was on vacation and unavailable to comment, according to a spokeswoman.
The Justice Department also sought documents from Ron Saathoff, president of the firefighters' union local and a pension board member. He declined to comment through a spokesman, Johnny Perkins.
The city and its pension board have been criticized for failing to reveal both the depth of its troubles and potential conflicts of interest by pension board members who agreed to allow the city to cut its contributions to the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System, which has a deficit of $1.17 billion.
San Diego has been unable to sell bonds since September 2003, when an outside attorney raised questions about the city's disclosure practices and forced the city to shelve an offering of sewer bonds.
So how many scams/scandals do we have going on in California now?
Perata, Shelley, San Diego pension.... I know I'm forgetting some here.
I can't keep track!
How soon can they come to Houston?
at state or local level 8-?
a bunch.. :-)
I guess I meant both. It seems some of these are rising to a pretty serious level.
What a mess when the state's line of command goes from AS to Cruz to Perata. Incredible.
The Hahn PR thingy in LA, the San Diego pensions, the san jose city hall censured councilman, shmelley&HAVA and PeRata d'BulletTaxman..
We are blessed ... :-D
I'm hoping for the "reelected" mayor to be indicted.
San Diego has had its share of "fun" news lately. Perfect for a newzjunkey, huh?
I read about the Cheetah's thing some time ago, but didn't follow it. I just read about Lewis' death. Gruesome stuff for only being 37.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.