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Posted July 27
California Assessor Hires PI To Follow Employee
Former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus hired a private investigator to find out whether one of his employees was conducting city council business on county time, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported last week.
In the affidavit supporting criminal charges filed against Postmus, private investigator Gloria Burns told county prosecutors that she was hired by Postmus and former Assistant Assessor Harlow Cameron to investigate Ray Gutierrez's work habits. But when the investigation was completed, Postmus ignored her findings.
Postmus declined comment about hiring the investigator and stated he'll have a formal response in court.
"There are numerous instances of 'He said, she said' statements that this district attorney has apparently accepted as gospel," Postmus wrote in an e-mail.
Cameron, who is now retired, said it was Postmus who wanted to look into Gutierrez's work habits and it was "not necessarily about city business, it was more than that."
"I was just the go-between," Cameron said. "I was the person contacting the (investigative) agency, not directing it."
Councilman Gutierrez's tenure at the Assessor's Office as the intergovernmental relations officer has been under intense scrutiny in recent months. Allegations that Gutierrez rarely showed up to work or conducted city business on county time led to his arrest May 27.
Gutierrez faces charges of grand theft and felony misappropriation of public funds. He is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 4. The councilman is also subject of a civil litigation filed by the county.
Following a probe by former federal prosecutor John C. Hueston, the county filed suit against Postmus and his executive staff, which included Gutierrez, Eyler, Jim Erwin and Adam Aleman. The suit alleges fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, improper expenditure of public funds, civil conspiracy and unjust enrichment.
On Tuesday, prosecutors filed a 12-count complaint against Postmus and Eyler, who served as taxpayer advocate. Among the charges were grand theft and misappropriation of public funds.
Prosecutors claim that Postmus hired and paid employees who did not perform assessor-related services.
In interviews with former and current Assessor Office employees, Gutierrez was described as an employee who showed up to work infrequently and took calls related to City Council business.
Prosecutors also documented the history of Gutierrez's key card, an electronic device used to get into the Assessor's Office work area. The key is used by employees at the beginning of the day or after restroom breaks.
During nine days between last September to December, Gutierrez had noted working an eight-hour shift but his key card was not used, according to court documents.
Burns, a private investigator for Frasco Investigative Services, told prosecutors that while investigating Gutierrez's work habits, Gutierrez told her he made City Council-related calls during county time. dy content that will be editable.
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