DA’s Office to Examine Allegations of Funds Misuse by Social Agency

The district attorney’s office is looking into allegations that Foothill Area Community Service Inc. (FACS), a county-funded social-service agency for the needy, is abusing its financial resources.

Herbert Lapin of the district attorney’s special investigations division said that he is meeting with community leaders to determine if a full investigation of the agency is warranted.

FACS has been under scrutiny since last December, when the agency cut funds for some of its programs, including a consumer-action center that operated out of the Jackie Robinson Center in the low-income northwest area of Pasadena.

At the same time funds for the program were being cut, community members complained that the agency’s director, Raymond Loftin, had arranged a raise for himself. The raise was not in accord with established agency procedure, Lapin said.

Loftin, who could not be reached for comment, said last December that the funding problems that led to the cuts were the result of federal cutbacks and that his salary had increased at the same rate as those of his 200-member staff.