Consumer Protection

LOS ANGELES — Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a $1.1 million judgment against longtime Los Angeles attorney Mitchell Roth after he conned 2,000 desperate homeowners into paying him thousands of dollars to file “frivolous and phony” lawsuits that didn’t reduce a penny of mortgage debt for a single client.

“Roth promised foreclosure relief through aggressive litigation, but the frivolous and phony lawsuits he filed instead left 2,000 desperate homeowners in even greater debt,” Brown said. “This settlement forces Roth to pay $1.1 million and prohibits him from ever again preying on new victims.”

In 2008, Roth, a seasoned Los Angeles attorney, joined with Nevada-based United First, Inc. and the company’s owner, Paul Noe, to provide foreclosure relief services to homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. Noe, who was previously convicted of wire fraud and the subject of a 2004 Department of Insurance Cease and Desist Order, operated the company and handled client solicitations, while Roth provided legal services.

Homeowners were told that if they worked with United First and hired Roth to pursue their cases in court, they could lower or eliminate their mortgage debt and save their homes.

United First charged homeowners some $1,800 in up-front fees, plus at least $1,250 each month, and 50 percent of the cash value of any settlement. If a homeowner’s debt was eliminated altogether, the homeowner was required to pay United First 80 percent of the value of the home.

After collecting up-front fees, Roth filed lawsuits on behalf of homeowners, pushing a novel legal argument that a borrower’s loan could be deemed invalid because the mortgages had been sold so many times on Wall Street that the lender could not demonstrate who owned it.

Once the lawsuit was filed, Roth did next to nothing to advance the case and often failed to make required court filings, respond to legal motions, comply with court deadlines or appear at court hearings. Instead, Roth tried to extend the lawsuits as long as possible to collect additional monthly fees from clients.

This approach did not generate a single victory in court and did not lower or eliminate the mortgage debt for a single one of the 2,000 homeowners who hired Roth and United First.

Brown filed suit last July, alleging that Roth, Noe and United First engaged in unfair competition, made untrue and misleading statements and violated California’s credit counseling and foreclosure consultant laws.

The settlement announced today requires Roth to pay $1 million in restitution to defrauded homeowners plus $125,000 in penalties, and prohibits him from ever engaging in similar conduct in the future.

Roth was admitted to the California State Bar in 1977 and resigned in April 2009, after the State Bar ordered his law firm closed.

Brown’s office continues to litigate the case against Noe and United First.

Homeowners who were defrauded by Roth and United First, or victimized by any other foreclosure rescue scam, should contact Brown’s office at 1-800-952-5225 or file a complaint online at: www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php.

Homeowners can also file a complaint against a lawyer, a legal specialist or a company purporting to operate as a law firm with the State Bar by calling 1-800-843-9053 or visiting www.calbar.ca.gov.

United First customers who are eligible for a refund will be contacted by mail.

By law, all individuals and businesses offering mortgage-foreclosure consulting, loan modification and foreclosure-assistance services must register with Brown’s office and post a $100,000 bond. It is also illegal for loan modification consultants and businesses to charge up-front fees for their services.

Non-profit housing counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provide free help to homeowners. To find a counselor in your area, call 1-800-569-4287.

Brown has sought court orders to shut down more than 30 fraudulent foreclosure-relief companies and has brought criminal charges and obtained lengthy prison sentences for dozens of deceptive loan modification consultants.

For more information on Brown’s action against loan modification fraud visit: http://ag.ca.gov/loanmod.

Copies of Brown’s original complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, and the settlement announced today are attached.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today filed a $34 million lawsuit against television’s “Tax Lady Roni Deutch” for orchestrating a “heartless scheme” that swindled thousands of people facing serious and expensive tax collection problems with the IRS.

“Tax Lady Roni Deutch is engaged in a heartless scheme that swindled people with tax problems,” Brown said. “She promises to significantly reduce their IRS tax debts, but instead preys on their vulnerability, taking large up-front payments but providing little or no help in lowering their tax bills.”

Deutch manufactures credibility by boasting that her tax resolution law firm, which has annual revenues of at least $25 million, is the largest of its kind in the nation. She spends $3 million a year on advertising, much of it on late-night cable TV, and frequently offers tax advice on NBC’s Today Show, CNN, and CNBC.

Desperate debtors turn to Deutch based on her misleading ads that feature fictional testimonials claiming she secured large reductions in the featured clients’ federal tax debts.

For example, her ad entitled “It’s Your Turn” features three clients whom Deutch claims to have “saved” from having to pay thousands of dollars to the IRS. In fact, those clients still owe the IRS the full amount of their taxes, plus interest and penalties.

When potential clients call Deutch’s boiler room, sales agents employ high-pressure sales tactics plus a series of misrepresentations and false promises to persuade them to retain her firm. The sales agents claim Deutch’s success rate in dealing with the IRS is as high as 99 percent. But the percentage of clients whose tax bills Deutch actually reduces is a mere 10 percent.

Rather than cut clients’ debts, Deutch often escalates them. She places clients in an endless loop of requests for duplicate documents that increases her fees and, due to further delays in payments to the IRS, increases clients’ IRS fines and penalties.

One woman from Pico Rivera, who owed the IRS $13,000, turned to Deutch after seeing a TV ad. She paid Deutch a $1,900 retainer, but by the time the Deutch firm ended its representation, she owed the IRS hundreds of dollars more in interest and penalties, and the IRS had placed a levy against her Social Security benefits. Despite failing to take any effective action on her behalf, Deutch refused to refund the woman’s retainer by falsely billing her for time the firm did not spend on her case. Deutch regularly uses false billing statements to deny her clients’ refund requests.

Hundreds of clients have filed complaints with the Attorney General and other government agencies, describing Deutch’s failure to reduce their IRS debts as she advertised and her refusal to refund retainers of as much as $4,700.

Brown’s lawsuit says thousands of consumers in California and around the country have fallen victim to Deutch’s unlawful scam, losing millions of dollars that could have been used to pay their IRS tax liabilities. The lawsuit charges that Deutch operates a deceptive tax resolution scheme that employs “a bevy of false promises and misrepresentations.”

Brown’s action seeks to permanently prevent Deutch from engaging in such unfair business practices and false advertising, and force her to pay victims restitution of at least $33.9 million plus civil penalties.

Brown's lawsuit follows the consumer alert he issued on March 30, 2010, warning consumers to be wary about tax debt scams. It is also one of a series of actions he has taken to protect consumers who suffered during the financial crisis and resulting economic downturn, including his 2008 lawsuit against Countrywide Home Loans that resulted in an $8.68 billion settlement, as well as recent enforcement actions against scams in the foreclosure consultant, loan modification, and property tax reassessment industries.

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a half-million-dollar settlement with the operator of a sham nursing school in Los Angeles that created “the illusion it was training future nurses” by pretending to offer an accredited nursing program and tricking graduates into believing they had qualified to become registered nurses.

As many as 300 students paid $20,000 each to enroll and attend classes at RN Learning Center, which advertised its fast-track program for earning a bachelor of science degree in nursing in less than two years.

“By creating the illusion it was training future registered nurses,” Brown said, “the school destroyed the aspirations of hundreds of students who also lost thousands of dollars in wasted tuition. The school will shut its doors today and pay back its former students as fully as it can.”

In the settlement negotiated by Brown’s office on behalf of the Board of Registered Nursing, Junelou Chalico Enterina, owner and operator of RN Learning Center, which operated on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, agreed to close his business and pay victims restitution of $500,000. He also agreed never again to open a nursing school in California.

The board, which is the state agency that oversees the practice and education of nurses, believes no student of RN Learning Center was able to use her degree to qualify for the state’s nursing exam or become a registered nurse. However, the board is contacting every medical facility in the state to warn about unaccredited schools such as RN Learning Center.

The settlement today concludes a board investigation that began in early 2007. Despite purporting to be a nursing school, RN Learning Center never applied to the nursing board to obtain accreditation as a school of nursing. Three years ago, the board ordered the school to close. It also disciplined two licensed registered nurses associated with the school and posted a notice on its website warning prospective students that unaccredited schools were operating in California.

Despite the scrutiny, RN Learning Center continued to operate, targeting mostly Filipino-Americans who already worked in the health field. The school’s marketing materials promised the program would, “Advance Your Education. Increase Your Earnings. Secure Your Financial Future.” Just as they would in a real nursing school, students took classes in anatomy, microbiology and learned to do sutures. They traveled to the Philippines for a month of clinical study in hospitals and prisons, and attended classes at a foreign nursing school that also had not been approved by California’s board.

RN Learning Center kept the deception going by holding formal graduation ceremonies. About 50 of its students applied to the nursing board to take the National Council Licensing Examination, which qualifies nursing school graduates to become licensed registered nurses. The students submitted transcripts that were declared fraudulent, so they were unable to meet the eligibility requirements and were not allowed to take the licensing exam. Because RN Learning Center was unlicensed, none of the course work taken there can be counted toward completing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

One student, Faith, described how she applied to RN Learning Center because the class schedule allowed her to also work and juggle childcare. She attended classes for two years, driving 240 miles twice a week from Bakersfield to Los Angeles with her two children. When she raised questions, such as asking about the school’s lack of clinical training, the staff reassured her. “My children, ex-husband, brother, friends and everyone I worked with, can attest to my commitment and sacrifice I made to complete this program,” she said in a declaration. “We the students have lost a lot.”

If you were a nursing student of RN Learning Center, please contact the Attorney General’s Office at (213) 897-2000. For more information about the California Board of Registered Nursing, please see http://www.rn.ca.gov/

OAKLAND – Continuing his fight to ensure the safety of equipment used by children, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today filed a lawsuit against several companies involved in manufacturing children’s bounce houses because some of the inflatable structures contain unsafe amounts of lead.

Testing done by the Center for the Environmental Health and the Attorney General’s office found that some of the vinyl in the bounce houses contains lead levels that violate both federal and state regulations.

“Kids at birthday parties can spend hours playing in bounce houses,” Brown said. “The goal of our lawsuit is to eliminate any chance they will be exposed to lead while they’re jumping around having a good time.”

Bounce houses are large inflatable structures designed for children to play in and on. Facilities that feature indoor inflatables are popular sites for children’s parties, serving millions of children a year. Companies also rent inflatables for use at children’s parties.

In February and March 2010, the Attorney General’s office received notices from the Center for Environmental Health alleging that its testing showed parts of some bounce houses were contaminated with high levels of lead, ranging from 5,000 parts per million (ppm) to 29,000 ppm. Federal limits on lead in children’s products are 90 ppm for painted surfaces and 300 ppm for all other parts.

Today’s lawsuit is intended to force these companies to stop using lead-containing vinyl immediately and to cease selling the lead-containing products. In addition, the action is intended to warn purchasers of these products, and require party places and rental companies to post warnings.

The main exposure pathway from the bounce house to the child is hand-to-mouth. Lead is transferred from the vinyl to a child’s hand during play and then to the mouth.

There is no safe exposure to lead. The tested levels of lead are not high enough by themselves to cause acute health problems, but some people, especially children, who are exposed to lead from a variety of sources can suffer health problems. For that reason, it’s important to eliminate sources of lead whenever possible.

Companies named in the lawsuit include:

Bay Area Jump
Cutting Edge Creations
Funtastic Factory, known as einflatables.com
Magic Jump
Leisure Activities Co.
Thrillworks
The Inflatable Store
Jump for Fun, Inc.
Jump for Fun National, Inc.

In the past year, Brown has initiated several enforcement actions against manufacturers and retailers for lead in products designed for children.

In July, Brown reached a settlement with artificial turf manufacturers to lower lead levels in turf fields and playgrounds. In June, Brown demanded that Rainbow and 5-7-9 stores remove from shelves jewelry with parts containing as much as 97% lead.

Earlier this year, Target removed teddy bears from its stores after Brown notified the company that lead was found in the product. In November 2009, Brown warned several retailers, including Walmart, Sears and Walgreens, to remove several products designed for children that were found to contain excessive levels of lead.

A copy of today’s complaint is attached.

Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley have agreed to coordinate their investigations into the recent allegations of official wrongdoing in Bell, California.

The District Attorney will focus on possible criminal activity, while the Attorney General will focus on possible civil wrongdoing and obtaining relief for the taxpayers.

"What happened in Bell is a travesty, and I intend to get to the bottom of it and to get all the relief that the law allows,' Brown said.

"The Los Angeles District Attorney's office has a decades-long record of aggressively pursuing public corruption. We will do so in this case,' Cooley said.

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. subpoenaed personal financial records of present and former officials involved in the City of Bell salary scandal today and ordered them to appear for depositions to be taken under oath within two weeks.

Brown also announced that his office has set up a toll-free telephone hotline for citizens to report allegations of possible illegal election conduct by Bell officials.

“My office has received several reports from residents of Bell indicating that city officials encouraged them to fill out absentee ballots and then collected the ballots,” Brown said. “We have seen similar reports in the Los Angeles Times. If these allegations are true, this could be a serious violation of state law.”

California law requires that absentee ballots must be mailed or brought to a polling place by the voter unless the voter is disabled or ill.

In the case of Bell, it appears as though improper procedures may have been followed by public officials in the very election that allowed the city to give out these outrageous salaries. If so, there may be grounds to seek additional civil or even criminal penalties.

“When city employees of a tiny suburb of L.A. make as much as or nearly double the salary of the President of the United States, things are out of control,” Brown said.

Present or former residents of Bell who had absentee ballots picked up by city officials should call the attorney general’s toll-free hotline, (866) 625-4400. Brown and his staff would also like to hear any information regarding conflicts of interest or self-dealing by Bell officials.

“It’s possible that some people who were victimized by Bell officials may no longer live in Bell, and the only way we have to find these people is for them to call us,” Brown explained.

Earlier today, Brown subpoenaed the testimony of past and present Bell officials and city council members. A team of state lawyers will depose these officials under oath on August 19 and 20. Before then, the officials are required to produce records related to pay and pension benefits, federal and state income tax returns, gifts received by or given to city officials, bank accounts and outside business interests. As part of his expanded investigation, Brown also issued a supplemental subpoena, demanding the release of records involving the city’s former law firm.

Brown’s investigation is aimed at determining whether criminal or civil action should be taken against Bell officials and others. He launched the investigation on July 22 following newspaper reports that Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was paid $787,637 a year, Police Chief Randy Adams was paid $457,000, and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia was paid $376,288. The three have since resigned.

Four of five Bell city council members received nearly $100,000 a year each, but after vocal citizen protests, they reduced their annual stipends to $8,000.

On July 26, Brown issued subpoenas to the City of Bell for hundreds of employment, salary and contract records. Hundreds of pages of documents have been turned over, and Brown said he expects additional documents to be produced today and even more to be handed over in response to the new subpoenas.

Bell is one of a cluster of working class cities in southeast Los Angeles County with a high proportion of low-income residents. Its population was 36,624 in 2000.

In conjunction with the Bell investigation, Brown is also reviewing whether excessive salaries and pension benefits are being paid by local jurisdictions around the state.

SACRAMENTO — Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that his office has brought formal charges against a father and son who promised to recover unclaimed funds for dozens of citizens and then “surreptitiously stole” more than $1.6 million from them, using forged documents and fictitious mailing addresses.

“This larcenous pair scoured the Controller’s database of individuals with unclaimed property, contacted many of them, and promised to help recover their assets,” Brown said. “Instead, employing forgery and fraud, they surreptitiously stole more than $1.6 million.”

Thomas Rodine, 56, of Carmichael and Dustin Rodine, 28, of Citrus Heights were arraigned today, following their arrest on July 23. Each is charged with three counts of embezzlement and one count of submitting fraudulent claims to the state Controller. Both face a maximum of seven years, six months in prison. To date, victims have been repaid more than $700,000 and full restitution is expected.

Agents in Brown’s Special Crimes Unit initiated an investigation into the father and son duo at the request of Controller John Chiang in January, after the Controller’s internal audit identified fraud.

Brown’s investigation found that from 2007 to 2009, Thomas and Dustin Rodine used their Carmichael-based asset and heir location business, Rodco & Associates, to locate and solicit individuals with assets in the Controller’s unclaimed property fund.

The scheme worked like this: After claimants agreed to have Rodco & Associates seek to recover their funds, the Rodines forged documents to reroute the recovered assets to a network of post office boxes they controlled. The Rodines also forged claim documents to collect funds that were never disclosed to claimants. From the pool of money they collected, the Rodines withheld unauthorized fees and claims totaling $1.675 million.

The thefts ranged from just over $100 to more than $300,000 and involved funds from personal bank accounts, foundation trusts, stocks and other assets in the Controller’s unclaimed property fund. Investigators located victims in cities throughout California, including Alpine, Chico, Los Angeles, Nevada City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma and a number of other cities.

After the initial internal audit by the Controller, payment of all claims initiated by Rodco & Associates was halted.

“My office has worked hard to make it easier for Californians to find and claim their lost property, whether it is cash, stocks, valuable jewelry or family photos and mementos that simply are irreplaceable,” said Controller John Chiang. “Californians need to know that they can claim their property directly from my office for free. I encourage them to do so.”

Following execution of the search warrant, Rodco & Associates established a trust account to repay defrauded claimants. To date, the company has repaid more than $700,000 and authorities expect full restitution for defrauded victims.

The State of California is currently in possession of more than $5.7 billion in unclaimed property belonging to some 11.6 million individuals and organizations.

This property is acquired through California’s Unclaimed Property Law, which requires “holders” such as corporations, business associations, financial institutions, and insurance companies to report annually and deliver property to the Controller after there has been no customer contact for three years. Often, the owner forgets the account exists, moves and does not leave a forwarding address or the forwarding order expires. In some cases, the owner dies, and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.

The Controller allows claimants to recover property directly, without the use of so-called “asset locators” or other third parties. To find out if you have unclaimed property and for instructions on how to claim it, visit: www.ClaimIt.ca.gov.

A copy of the complaint, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, is attached.

SAN DIEGO -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. announced today the successful completion of “Operation Watchdog,” an unprecedented law enforcement sweep to verify that 300 registered sex offenders in San Diego are obeying the law and living at the address they have reported to authorities. Nine arrests were made.

“Because of sex offenders’ propensity to reoffend, keeping tabs on them is crucial to protecting the public,” Brown said. “As in many things, the price of safety is constant vigilance, and my office is committed to providing that.”

Led by David Collazo, a special agent supervisor in Brown's office, Operation Watchdog involved more than 100 state, federal and local law enforcement officers, who fanned out over San Diego County yesterday to check on more than 300 registered sex offenders. Five of the 26 task force teams took along specially trained dogs to check for illegal drugs and guns.

Some 4,600 registered sex offenders live in San Diego.

Sex offenders on probation or parole were searched. The others were questioned to make sure they were complying with all state laws, including living at the same address they provided to law enforcement authorities. Arrests were made for parole and probation violations and possession of drug paraphernalia and guns.

As Operation Watchdog began yesterday morning, the Attorney General visited the command center and was briefed. Besides its enforcement function, the Attorney General’s office maintains a website at http://meganslaw.ca.gov/ that lists the locations of 63,000 sex offenders in the state, along with other pertinent information.

The SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) task force that conducted the operation was formed nearly a decade ago to reduce the number of sex crimes in San Diego County and apprehend the perpetrators of those crimes. SAFE assists in criminal investigations such as the case of convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III, who was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the 2009 rape and murder of 14-year-old Amber Dubois and the February 2010 rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King. Gardner had lied to authorities about his residence, listing Riverside County instead of San Diego.

Yesterday’s sweep was the first such large-scale effort, although SAFE conducts hundreds of face-to-face interviews with sex offenders each year to make sure they are in compliance with the law.

LOS ANGELES -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a settlement with Washington state-based Rena Ware International, Inc., which “made fraudulent and unethical claims” that its high-priced cookware could cure diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The company agreed to pay more than $600,000 in refunds and other fees.

“This company made fraudulent and unethical claims that its products cured serious diseases,” Brown said. “Their illegal, high-pressure sales tactics preyed on the fears of vulnerable Californians.”

Rena Ware targeted Spanish-speaking immigrants in the Los Angeles-area to sell its high-priced cookware. Sales representatives employed deception to enter people’s homes -- claiming to offer health and nutrition information, to be taking an opinion poll, or to be willing to service the consumer’s current cookware.

Once inside the home, the representatives claimed the consumer’s cookware caused a variety of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart problems. The representatives claimed Rena Ware’s products were not only safe to use but could actually cure some of these diseases.

Consumers who were persuaded to buy the products were often enticed into financing plans with a rate of more than 21% a year. Sales representatives often did not tell consumers they had a three day cooling-off-period to change their minds and cancel the order, a right California law guarantees all consumers who buy products from door-to-door salespeople.

Rena Ware sent consumers harassing debt collection notices purportedly signed by an attorney, but no attorney had signed the notices or seen customers’ files to verify whether the debts were actually owed. The purpose of the notices was sheer intimidation.

In late 2008, a Rena Ware International sales representative went to the home of Mercedes Ballestero in Los Angeles. The representative requested an in-home demonstration to show off Rena Ware’s products and put to shame Ms. Ballestero’s current cookware. The representative claimed Rena Ware’s products could reduce high blood pressure by removing hormones from meat as it cooked. Ms. Ballestero bought a set of Rena Ware cookware for more than $1,500 with a hidden interest rate of 21.5 percent. After discovering the high interest rate, Ms. Ballestero canceled her contract, but the company refused to return her deposit.

Today’s agreement requires Rena Ware to pay $135,400 in penalties, $250,000 in refunds to consumers, and $239,600 in other costs.

Rena Ware must also obtain an independent monitor to ensure the company refrains from using false information or high-pressure sales tactics to lure customers.

Brown’s office was joined in today’s agreement by the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs assisted in the investigation.

In 2008, Brown obtained a judgment against Hy Cite Corporation for similar misrepresentations in the sale of its “Royal Prestige” line of cookware. Hy Cite was required to pay more than $1.3 million in penalties, restitution and costs, agreed to three years of independent monitoring, and forced to change its business practices.

Rena Ware customers who are eligible for a refund will be contacted by mail, and any consumers who feel they have been victimized by Rena Ware International, Inc. or other houseware companies may file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Public Inquiry Unit at www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php, or by calling (800) 952-5225.

Copies of the complaint and settlement, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, are attached.

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the arrests of nine people in a San Bernardino County Medi-Cal fraud case in which employees of a skilled nursing facility and their associates falsified documentation and “callously stole” more than $150,000 from patients and their families for their own personal use.

“This scam ripped off both senior citizens and our desperately needed public health funds,” said Brown. “These thieves callously stole thousands of state dollars meant to be spent on seniors in this skilled nursing facility.”

The investigation was launched in January by the Attorney General’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse after an initial investigation by the state’s Department of Health Care Services.

Brown’s office charged employees and associates at Community Extended Care Hospital of Montclair with committing Medi-Cal fraud in order to steal assets from the trust accounts of elderly patients, which were held by the facility.

From 2006 to 2009, several employees of the extended care hospital conspired with a former San Bernardino County employee who fraudulently submitted documentation to the Medi-Cal program so that Medi-Cal would pay the entire monthly bill for more than 50 patients in the facility.

Then the conspirators told patients and their families they were required to pay a share of the cost of their care directly to the facility. The payments made by the patients and their families were then placed in patient trust accounts, and the suspects took that money for their own personal gain.

The scam involved hospital employees writing checks, ranging from $250 to $6,900, from the patient accounts to individuals in the gang, including a UPS driver, their own relatives, and a next door neighbor, who would then cash the checks, take a percentage of the stolen funds and return most of the cash to the hospital employees. The checks were approved by officials at the hospital.

Nine suspects were arrested this morning and are now in custody at San Bernardino County Jail. Bail was set for $1 million on each defendant. One suspect, Maribel Velazquez, is still at large.

The ten individuals charged in the crime are:

Johannes Simanjuntak, 59, of Pomona, a former administrator at the hospital
Peggy Lee Hoskins, 58, of Upland, a former personnel manager at the hospital
Laurie Diane Powell, 46, of Riverside, former San Bernardino County employee
Sean Matthew Ashton, 22, of Riverside, Powell's son
Andy Perry Tricas, 46, of Duarte, boyfriend of suspect (now deceased)
Arnon Graham, 50, of Rancho Cucamonga, UPS driver
Claudia Zaragoza, 34, of Bloomington, Social Services designee
Orelious Antonio Peevy, 41, of Chino, Social Services designee
Maribel Velazquez, 36, of Chaparral, New Mexico, administrative worker at the hospital (not in custody)
David Carmona, 74, of LaVerne, neighbor of deceased employee

"Our anti-fraud partnership with the Attorney General's Office has once again helped protect our most vulnerable citizens and ensure that valuable Medi-Cal funds are used for their intended purpose,' said Karen Johnson, Department of Health Care Services Chief Deputy Director. 'We will continue our coordinated efforts as we work to prosecute offenders to the fullest extent allowed by law.'

The complaint is attached.