Contractor Accused of Falsifying Pay Records in Kickback Scam

An unlicensed electrical contractor who serves on a county government advisory panel and once worked on the $1.3-billion Metro Rail Project has been charged with falsifying payroll records and pocketing up to half the wages of the employees in an elaborate kickback scheme, officials reported Tuesday.

Gregory C. Park, 48, president of PIE Construction Co. of Van Nuys, was arrested Monday and released on $10,000 bail on two felony counts, according to a spokesman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

Park denied he had violated any laws. “I have no idea what happened,” said Park, whose company had been awarded a $1.6-million subcontract for electrical work on two downtown Metro Rail stations in 1987. In May, PIE was ordered off the job after transit district officials learned that the firm’s contracting license had expired.

Park, of San Dimas, is a member of the Los Angeles County Citizens Planning Council, appointed to that position by Supervisor Pete Schabarum. The council makes recommendations to the Regional Planning Commission.

The district attorney’s office, acting on information developed by the state labor commissioner, charged that Park falsified payroll reports to the Southern California Rapid Transit District--builders of the Metro Rail project--certifying that he was paying the prevailing wage of up to $27.79 an hour. The second allegation charges that Park illegally received part of the wages of as many as 15 workers over several months in a scheme that involved his use of a second subcontractor.

This second firm, owned by Chong U Pak, was providing workers for the PIE job without the knowledge or approval of the prime contractor, Guy F. Atkinson and Sons, or transit district officials, according to district attorney spokesman Sandi Gibbons. She said Pak will testify against Park.

According to Gibbons, the workers were paid from $12 to $15 an hour in cash and were required to endorse PIE paychecks calculated at up to twice that hourly rate and then return the checks to Park.

Park said he had hired Pak’s firm to supply the workers for his job. If there were wage problems, he said, they were Pak’s responsibility. “I didn’t know anything was wrong until investigators came around (Monday),” Park said. He added, “This never happened before. . . . It’s embarrassing.”