Port District Executive Is Charged in Billing Scam

A San Diego Unified Port District executive was arrested Friday and charged with fraud for reportedly billing the port $5,000 for the purchase of several household appliances and automotive work done on his son’s car.

William J. Garrett, who heads port marine operations, was arrested at his office Friday morning. He is the highest-ranking employee to be implicated in a scam that law enforcement officials say has cost the Port District at least $700,000, and possibly $1.5 million, since 1985.

Garrett, who earns $63,419 a year, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the port and three counts of grand theft that could send him to prison for up to six years if convicted. His wife, Judith, was named in the complaint as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Lengthy Investigation

The purported scheme began to unravel in November, when fraud investigators from the district attorney’s office made their first arrest after a lengthy investigation. Three other former port employees and two former employees of Genuine Parts/Napa auto parts store on 12th Avenue also have been charged.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lantz Lewis said the investigation is continuing, and more arrests are expected. Investigators from the district attorney’s fraud unit are also looking into other allegations of illegal activity by Garrett.

Port District spokesman Jim Anderson said Garrett is still on the payroll but has been relieved of his duties. The port issued a brief statement saying that officials “will be conducting an independent personnel investigation regarding this entire matter.”

Garrett, who supervised 23 employees in his department and has worked at the port for almost 20 years, failed to return messages left on his answering machine at home.

Garrett was charged with purchasing a dishwasher, an electric wall oven and a stereo from Sears and billing the items to the port. He is also charged with billing the Port District for transmission work done by Bob Baker Chevrolet on his

son’s station wagon.

Phony Invoices

Fraud investigators from the district attorney’s office said that Garrett and the other conspirators submitted phony invoices and requisition forms for illegal purchases that were paid by the port. Typically, the port workers would order the products and devise a scheme using phony invoices that allowed Genuine Parts to bill the port for the cost of the merchandise. The false billings included markups of 67% by the conspirators who worked for Genuine Parts, prosecutor Lewis said.

The illegal payments were made because of a policy that allowed the port’s purchasing department to routinely pay bills of less than $250 without question. A series of billings, each totaling less than $250, was made for each illegal purchase, investigators said.

According to court documents, former port employee Rudi Michael Enriques, a meter repairman, contacted a Sears salesman in 1986 to arrange private purchases that would be billed to Genuine Parts. The salesman told investigators that Enriques said that Genuine Parts would pay for the items and then be reimbursed by the Port District.

The salesman said that Enriques described the purchasing agreement with Genuine Parts as a “fringe benefit” offered by the Port District to its employees, who would pay for the purchases in installments. Enriques, who is no longer a port employee, was charged in January with multiple charges of fraud and theft.

Markups on Purchases

In an affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant for Garrett, district attorney investigator Ned Downham said that Garrett purchased the dishwasher on June 5, 1986. The cost of the dishwasher was $546.49 and Genuine Parts is named as the customer. But a closer examination of the invoice showed that Judith Garrett was listed as the original customer, but her name was obliterated from the invoice, said the affidavit.

The Garretts’ Via Bello address is listed on the invoice, which bears a “Paid” stamp with the name Genuine Parts Co. on the bill. According to Downham’s affidavit, Genuine Parts turned around and billed the port $912.65 for the dishwasher.

On Dec. 19, 1986, Garrett purchased a wall oven for $1,114.99. The affidavit filed in the case said that the customer listed on the invoice was Genuine Parts, with Garrett written next to it in parentheses. An installation order written by Sears shows the Garretts’ Via Bello address, and the oven was installed on Jan. 9, 1987. According to the court documents, Genuine Parts billed the port $1,862.03 for the oven.

Garrett is also charged with purchasing a stereo on May 17, 1987, for $432.96. Once again Genuine Parts is listed as the customer, but the invoice also contained a special instruction for the unit to be delivered to Garrett’s home, the affadavit says. The affidavit alleges that Genuine Parts turned around and billed the port $723.04 for the unit.

When confronted on Oct. 6, 1987, about the purchases, Garrett denied ever receiving illegal merchandise, the investigator said. Two months later, on Dec. 9, 1988, investigator Downham interviewed Mrs. Garrett about the dishwasher. She claimed that her mother, who died in July, 1987, had purchased the appliance and she did not have a receipt available.

During the same interview, the Garretts claimed that they had paid cash for the wall oven and the stereo, but could not produce any receipts. When Downham inspected the stereo unit and disc player, he noted that the serial numbers had been removed, the affidavit said.

Three days later, Garrett changed his story about the purchases, the affidavit said. He claimed that he had obtained the Sears merchandise through Enriques and said he was not aware that the Port District was being charged for the purchases. According to the court document, Garrett said that he went to Enriques because he could get a good deal.

The arrest warrant for Garrett also alleges that on Dec. 17, 1986, Judith Garrett instructed her son, Todd, to take his Ford station wagon to Bob Baker Chevrolet for transmission repairs. According to the warrant, the next day the car dealer billed Genuine Parts for the repair work. On Jan. 14, 1987, Genuine Parts submitted a marked-up bill for $1,619.19 to the Port District for the work done on Todd Garrett’s car.

The younger Garrett and employees for Sears and Bob Baker Chevrolet are not named in the complaint.