Man gets four years for illegal P.I. service

A Fountain Valley man was sentenced Thursday to four years in state prison for defrauding clients while running an illegal private investigation service.

Kevin Sianez, 56, pleaded guilty to 41 felony counts, including 17 counts of grand theft by false pretense, 11 counts of fraudulent use of an access card and six counts of getting information through false representation, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Sianez additionally was ordered pay back more than $187,000 in losses, making monthly $5,000 restitution payments.

The former Santa Ana and Stanton police officer ran an illegal private investigation service from November 2005 to June 2010 under the names KMS Investigations, Fore-Front Investigations and 4Front Investigations. The Fountain Valley man didn’t acquire the licensing to operate as a private investigator and falsely identified himself as one.

D.A. investigators arrested Sianez in June 2010 after the Department of Consumer Affairs received a complaint.

Sianez defrauded clients by doing little to no work on their cases after being paid. He also failed to pay legally licensed investigators after subcontracting work to them.

— Anthony Clark Carpio

Twitter: @acocarpio