Businessman Was Informant in L.A. School Thefts Inquiry

A Fullerton businessman is the key informant in an investigation of alleged thefts by employees of the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to court documents filed in the case by the district attorney’s office.

The informant, Ronald Richardson, operator of Orion Chemical Co. and a number of other chemical companies in the past 25 years, began cooperating with investigators in April, 1986, after he learned that he was a subject of their criminal inquiry.

Richardson wore a hidden transmitting device to a number of meetings with the alleged organizer of the theft ring, allowing investigators to monitor the conversations, according to affidavits in support of search warrants.

Richardson told investigators he had given the school district’s deputy director of custodial operations, Melvin N. Tokunaga, a total of $401,200 in either cash or equipment over a three-year period.

The money was profit from the resale to third parties of chemicals and other supplies that had been ordered from Orion Chemical and paid for by the school district but not actually delivered, the documents say.

Besides detailing how Tokunaga, of Agua Dulce, had allegedly set up the elaborate theft scheme with him in 1983, the documents say that Richardson also named several other school district employees as participants in the scheme and implicated two other private companies in facilitating similar scams.

Richardson refused to discuss his role in the theft investigation with The Times, referring all questions to his attorney, Ron Cordova of Newport Beach. Cordova said through a secretary that he “does not talk to the press about his clients.”

The Los Alamitos site of Orion Chemical named in the documents has been vacated and the site is up for lease.

The school district’s chief business and financial officer, Robert Booker, said Monday he has been told by aides to Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner that Tokunaga and several others will be charged in the thefts in the next two weeks.

A district attorney’s spokesman declined public comment, although he did not challenge Booker’s statement.

Tokunaga was booked in December on suspicion of embezzlement of public funds, but his arraignment has been postponed twice. He and some of the others involved in the investigation are on leave from the school district. School officials said the leave is paid until accrued vacation time is exhausted, then it becomes unpaid leave.

An attempt to contact Tokunaga at his home for comment was unsuccessful.

Richardson began cooperating with the district attorney April 21, according to investigators, after he learned that he had become a principal subject of the district attorney’s inquiry.

He and and his attorney, Cordova, met with Deputy Dist. Atty. James Koller and senior investigator Jack Horvath in Newport Beach for a lengthy conversation on the case.

Horvath subsequently filed an affidavit on the conversation in Los Angeles Municipal Court to support issuance of search warrants for various cars, homes and places of business belonging to those named by Richardson.

“Mr. Richardson stated that he has been part of an ongoing conspiracy to steal and then sell products intended for the Los Angeles Unified School District since October of 1983,” Horvath wrote.

He said Richardson named Tokunaga, whom Richardson apparently had not met previously, as the man who first approached him to assist in the thefts.

Richardson told investigators Tokunaga had come to Orion Chemical’s offices with another man to place a large order for pipe, lawn mowers and chain saws for the school district.

“After the order was placed, Richardson stated that Tokunaga came into Richardson’s office by himself,” the report said. “Once inside the office Tokunaga told Richardson that the equipment which he was buying that day would be paid for by using purchase orders which would reflect the purchase of chemicals that . . . would never be delivered to the school district. Richardson stated that he agreed to this arrangement.

“Richardson stated that Tokunaga told him (later in the same conversation) that he needed $100,000 to buy a house for a girlfriend of his,” Horvath’s affidavit continued.

“Tokunaga told Richardson that he intended to get this money by having Richardson sell school district materials (to third parties) and giving the proceeds to him . . . Richardson said Tokunaga was to compensate him for his part by splitting the profits with him 50-50.”

As an example of the kind of transactions used by the ring, the affidavit said, Richardson “does recall one that occurred in either January or February of 1984, involving $40,000 of (a chemical known as) Roundup, a herbicide.

“According to Richardson, of the $40,000 (worth of Roundup) ordered from Orion, $20,000 worth went to the school district and the other $20,000 was left to be resold by Richardson. Richardson sold the ($20,000 worth of) Roundup and gave the money to Tokunaga.”

However, the affidavit indicated, Richardson complained of not being compensated, even after giving Tokunaga more than $400,000 in cash and equipment.

“Richardson stated that in order to keep this conspiracy ongoing and to maintain a cash flow he has refinanced several properties he owns as well as made personal loans for cash. Richardson stated that he continued in this conspiracy because Tokunaga kept promising him a percentage of the profits at some future date.”

The informant also told investigators that other companies appeared to be involved with Tokunaga in similar schemes, the affidavit says.

Richardson said “Tokunaga told him in either January or February of 1986 that Lawndale Nursery owed him over $300,000 and that he wanted Richardson to give Lawndale a series of phony invoices for this amount.

“Richardson stated that he was expected to then give Tokunaga the cash. Richardson stated that Tokunaga told him that he had gone through an audit involving the nursery because someone (at the school district offices) felt that Tokunaga and the district were not receiving plants for which they were being billed.

“Tokunaga told Richardson that he had enough people in the district signing for plants which they were not receiving to cover the audit,” the document continues.

“Richardson stated that Tokunaga told him that the people at the nursery had been in financial trouble several years back and that Tokunaga had let the nursery bill the district for the plants not received. . . . Tokunaga told him that the nursery was allowed to use this money interest free with the understanding that the nursery would repay Tokunaga the money personally. Richardson stated that Tokunaga . . . was currently interested in getting the money out of the nursery because he feared that the nursery owner might die.”

The Lawndale Nursery office referred to in the document is on the second floor in a small building to the rear of other business property on Hawthorne Boulevard in Lawndale.

A man who said he was the office manager for Lawndale Nursery but who declined to give his name referred a reporter to an attorney, Frank Rafferty. Rafferty would say only, “It’s a criminal matter we’re involved in. I can’t comment.”

In an interview, school district business manager Booker would not confirm any earlier audit of Lawndale, but added that the district attorney had asked the district to look into Lawndale. “I can’t say any more than that since the matter is under criminal investigation,” he said.

In this and other affidavits filed with the court by the district attorney’s investigator, Richardson is quoted as saying that he had been told by Tokunaga that his immediate superior, James L. Riley, the director of custodial operations for the school district, had been cut in on the take from the thefts.

“According to Richardson, Tokunaga told him that he had supplied Riley with money and other things, such as appliances from Koby’s Appliance (of Gardena) and materials for a home construction project, in exchange for his cooperation with the ongoing theft from the school district,” says one of the search warrant documents.

Riley’s house was searched Dec. 5 and investigators found videotape recorders and other equipment belonging to the school district, investigators and school officials said.

A woman at Riley’s home in Lynwood said the school official, who has been placed on leave, had no comment.

The manager at Koby’s Appliance, which is implicated in other parts of the documents for allegedly laundering money involved in the thefts, referred a reporter to the company’s attorneys. One of them, Ron Wasserman, said he did not know enough about the investigation to comment.

According to the documents, these other school district employees were implicated by Richardson in the theft operation:

- Robert Barrios of Tujunga, an assistant to Tokunaga. Richardson said Barrios ran errands, placed orders and made pickups for Tokunaga. Richardson told investigators he had been instructed by Tokunaga to pay Barrios $1,000 a month. Barrios, contacted at his home, declined to comment.

- Bob Skokie, Tokunaga’s brother-in-law. Richardson said Tokunaga had told him Skokie delivered goods for him that were supposed to be resold and was being paid $1,000 a month for his efforts. Attempts to locate Skokie for comment were unsuccessful.

- Larry Carr, identified by Richardson as in a charge of a power spray unit in the school district’s operations department who placed large orders for chemicals. Richardson said that in one instance, Carr approached him to donate $20,000 to a church football team. In exchange for a check for that amount drawn on Ronco Chemical, another of Richardson’s companies, Richardson said that Carr gave him a $20,000 purchase order from the school district but never took delivery on any of the listed chemicals. Carr could not be located for comment.

- Bob Violette. Richardson said Violette had been identified to him by Tokunaga as in charge of maintaining the school district’s air-conditioning units and as a man who, Tokunaga stated, had people available who could swear that certain chemicals had been used by the district when they had not. Richardson said he gave Tokunaga $9,000 to give to Violette so he could buy a new car. Violette did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.

- Henry Seagraves, a former district employee who was in charge of the pest control department. Richardson told investigators that he had paid Seagraves $3,500 after he had brought to Orion $5,000 worth of products that he had allegedly purchased from other vendors on Tokunaga’s orders. Seagraves could not be located for comment.

- Bennie Roberson, who Richardson said had been identified by Tokunaga as head of the district’s window-washing department. Richardson said Tokunaga said he had been paying Roberson in cash and allowing him to accumulate unearned overtime in exchange for agreeing to cover audits and to assist in the ordering of goods by the district that were never to be received. Richardson said Tokunaga had told him in November, 1985, to start paying Roberson $1,000 a month. Roberson did not respond to a reporter’s inquiry at his home.

- Tom Cross, an employee in Roberson’s department who Richardson said had actually placed the orders for Roberson. He said he had given Cross $2,000 on each of four occasions to be split between him and Roberson. Cross could not be located.

- Joe Brazile of Culver City, a district employee who Richardson said had hidden certain chemicals on school grounds and would deliver them to Orion for resale. Brazile did not respond to a reporter’s inquiry.

The documents also list several occasions on which the district attorney’s investigators monitored conversations Richardson had with Tokunaga after Richardson had begun cooperating with the investigation.

For instance, on April 24, 1986, the documents say, Richardson met with Tokunaga at McKenna’s Creek Restaurant in Long Beach. Richardson wore an electronic transmitting device that allowed the conversation to be monitored.

At one point, the report says, “Richardson then asked Tokunaga how much he was paying Riley, and Tokunaga replied, “Fifty percent.” Richardson asked Tokunaga if he could prove he had been paying Riley. Tokunaga told Richardson that he could but wouldn’t want to because it wouldn’t serve any purpose to take Riley down with him.”

The report adds, “During this conversation Richardson asked Tokunaga what happened to the $400,000 which Richardson had given Tokunaga as a result of their conspiracy to steal from the school district. Tokunaga replied to this question by stating that he wouldn’t even be able to tell Richardson where all the money went.”

On May 6, at a meeting at Luigi’s Restaurant in Hawthorne, Tokunaga told Richardson, the document said, that he was sure that Roberson and Riley “would not speak with the authorities, but that Larry Carr was a weak link and might talk.”

On July 2, at a meeting at Fulin’s Restaurant in Hawthorne, according to the report, Richardson again asked Tokunaga what had happened to the money he had paid him and that Tokunaga responded that some of it had gone to either Violette or Riley.

On Sept. 9, at another meeting at Fulin’s, Tokunaga complained to Richardson that Riley and Violette were not giving enough help to him in thwarting the district attorney’s investigators looking into possible thefts. “During this, Tokunaga told Richardson that the only help that Riley gave during the investigation was to claim to not know what Tokunaga was doing.”

On Oct. 17, at another meeting at Fulin’s, Richardson and Tokunaga discussed a school district contract for the chemical Wrangler. Tokunaga “told Richardson that he felt that he could cause the removal of 200 to 300 gallons of Wrangler at a time from the school district, which could then be sold for their personal profit.” But Tokunaga then adjusted this estimate down to 100 gallons a month.

On Nov. 3, at a meeting at Papa Jeff’s Sandwich Shop in Lawndale, Tokunaga discussed how Brazile would deliver chemicals stolen from the school district to a South El Monte company that did business with Richardson. Shortly thereafter, authorities arrested Tokunaga.