O.C. Rail Debacle Spurs Indictments

Two former Placentia officials were indicted Wednesday on felony conflict-of-interest charges stemming from a controversial rail project that pushed the north Orange County city to the edge of bankruptcy.

After an 18-month investigation, the Orange County district attorney’s office obtained grand jury indictments against former Public Works Director Christopher Becker, 46, of Rancho Santa Margarita and retired City Manager Robert D’Amato, 69, of Placentia.

Becker and D’Amato oversaw the formation and operation of OnTrac, an ambitious project to rebuild the rail corridor through the city’s historic Old Town in an effort to spur redevelopment. The plan included lowering five miles of track into a trench.

Both are accused of violating state conflict-of-interest laws that prohibit public officials from influencing government contracts in which they have a financial stake.

“City officers have a public duty, and one of them is not to turn around and use information gleaned from their service to get a lot of money,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Camille Hill, who is handling the case.

Prosecutors allege that Becker, as the city’s public works director, illegally participated in the creation of OnTrac in April 2000 and his hiring by the city that month to manage the project as a private consultant. He also was allowed to stay on as public works director for more than two years.

Becker’s original consulting contract guaranteed him $450,000 a year for 10 years, making him one of the highest paid transportation officials in the nation. His contract was scaled back in 2003 amid controversy over his pay and OnTrac’s expenditures. Prosecutors allege that he made more than $1.3 million from the deal, plus city benefits as public works director.

D’Amato, who retired as city manager in December 2003, allegedly participated in the creation of OnTrac and Becker’s contract even though he was warned that there were potential conflicts of interest.

D’Amato is accused of failing to investigate the situation despite warnings from the city attorney about potential conflicts within weeks of the creation of OnTrac. Instead, D’Amato allegedly withheld information or misinformed other city officials regarding the potential conflicts and the legality of the contracts.

Becker’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, said city officials “gave wholehearted approval” to the contracts in question and that his client secured tens of millions of dollars in government funding to rebuild the rail corridor.

Meyer said prosecutors waited too long to bring the charges, in violation of the statute of limitations, and failed to mention that Becker reimbursed the city for his public works salary.

“It is unfair and outrageous to wait five years and receive millions in [funding] before raising such a technical complaint,” Meyer said. “The law, the facts and basic fairness are on our side.”

Ronald Brower, D’Amato’s attorney, said his client was advised of Becker’s possible conflict of interest by the city’s attorney. But he said the attorney also told D’Amato that if Becker’s deal was approved at a public meeting and that if D’Amato received no compensation, “there would be no violation” on D’Amato’s part.

D’Amato “received no compensation or any award of any kind,” Brower said.

Hill, the prosector, said D’Amato knew that Becker intended to commit a crime and aided him. “There’s no need to prove any compensation or award was given to D’Amato,” she said.

The investigation began after Citizens for a Better Placentia, a grass-roots organization, filed a complaint with the district attorney in mid-2004. The county grand jury heard testimony from 30 witnesses in February and March this year.

OnTrac was envisioned as one of the largest public works projects in Orange County, an enormous undertaking for a town of 50,000 with a $25-million annual budget.

Since the late 1990s, the project’s estimated cost nearly doubled to $656 million.

For the last three years, the city has struggled to keep OnTrac afloat during a budget crunch that compelled officials to cut public services, lay off staff, sell parkland and borrow tens of millions of dollars.

The lack of sufficient federal funding forced the abandonment of most of the project late last year.

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Times staff writer Sara Lin contributed to this report.