HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Aide Charged With Embezzlement

The building maintenance supervisor in charge of repair work for the city of Huntington Beach has been charged with eight counts of felony embezzlement in a double-dipping payoff scheme that siphoned off $10,000 in taxpayers’ money, police said Wednesday.

Raymond J. Orlando, 56, was arrested by Huntington Beach police at his Trotter Road home Tuesday evening, capping a five-month investigation into alleged fraud by city contractors. The probe was conducted by the special assignment unit of the Orange County district attorney’s office, according to Police Lt. Ed McErlain.

The investigation was requested by City Administrator Paul Cook after evidence surfaced into “possible misuses of city employees and time, as well as theft of city property,” McErlain said.

According to the charges, Orlando, who has been the town’s building maintenance supervisor for 2 1/2 years, retained contractors to repair city-owned block walls damaged in traffic accidents, then submitted two bills--one to the city, and another to automobile insurance companies--for the same work.

McErlain said the double payments were made to the contractors between May and August, 1989, and that Orlando also arranged for contractors to be paid for work that was never done.

It was not known if the contractors offered cash kickbacks to Orlando, but the charges allege that the contractors performed construction work on Orlando’s home at no charge, McErlain said.

McErlain said the investigation is continuing and further arrests are expected, although no other Huntington Beach city employees are expected to be charged.

Orlando was arraigned Tuesday night and posted $10,000 bail, McErlain said. Reached by telephone at their home Wednesday, Orlando’s wife, Vickie, said her husband had no comment.