Criminal Charges Expected to Be Filed Against St. John

Prosecutors are expected to file felony criminal charges against Juanita St. John, head of the beleaguered Los Angeles-Africa Trade Task Force, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner told The Times on Tuesday.

Reiner declined in a telephone interview to offer any details or specify the number of counts that will be filed against St. John. He said an announcement will be made today.

St. John’s attorney, Victor Sherman, said he was told by prosecutors that the district attorney’s office will file two counts of grand theft and two counts of failure to file state income taxes.

“Obviously, she is disappointed,” Sherman said of his client.

St. John, a business associate of Mayor Tom Bradley, has been under investigation by both the Los Angeles County district attorney and the Los Angeles Police Department.

In November, City Atty. James K. Hahn accused St. John of “fraud and deceit” and filed a lawsuit to recover $388,920 in missing city funds paid to the African task force she headed. The lawsuit alleged that St. John and unnamed task force members breached four city contracts dating back to 1985 by using city funds for improper purposes and failing to account to the city for its expenditures. Bradley, who helped create the task force and was a member of its advisory board, was not named in the suit.

St. John also is suspected of embezzling funds from an anti-genocide organization called International Alert, according to a search warrant made public in November. The attorney general’s office sued St. John last November for refusing to publicly disclose how the nonprofit Africa trade task force spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

St. John, 59, could not be reached at her San Marino residence. She has maintained her innocence.