Bradley Got St. John Funds, Reiner Says

Mayor Tom Bradley received some of the funds allegedly stolen by Juanita St. John from a city-funded Africa trade task force, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Wednesday as he announced the filing of theft charges against St. John.

Reiner said investigators found that St. John, the task force executive director, used $31,000 of the organization’s funds to cover payments to Bradley and others who were partners with her in a Riverside County real estate partnership.

Prosecutors said they found no evidence Bradley was aware that he had received task force funds.

Bradley said through a spokesman he had “no idea at all” that task force funds were deposited in the real estate partnership account.

Prosecutors declined to say how much task force money was paid to Bradley, but the mayor’s economic disclosure statements show Bradley reported receiving between $1,000 and $10,000 in 1987. Bradley’s press spokesman, Bill Chandler, declined to give a more precise figure.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which has sued St. John to recover nearly $400,000 in allegedly misappropriated task force funds, said Wednesday it was reviewing whether it could seek repayment of the funds from Bradley and his partners.

The revelation came Wednesday at a news conference as Reiner announced the filing of five counts of grand theft and filing false state tax returns against St. John.

A longtime friend of Bradley, St. John has steadfastly maintained her innocence.

Prosecutors allege St. John stole $180,000 from the nonprofit Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations between 1985 and 1989. She also was charged with stealing $5,000 from a UCLA-based anti-genocide organization, International Alert, and filing false state tax returns in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

The charges are the most significant criminal charges filed yet as an outgrowth of the year-old ethics and personal finances controversy that has engulfed the Bradley Administration. Bradley’s ties to the task force, including his business relationship with St. John and St. John’s hiring of Bradley’s daughter, were investigated by City Atty. James K. Hahn last year. Hahn criticized Bradley’s association and promotion of the task force, but said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the mayor’s part.

Reiner on Wednesday said St. John was the only person associated with the task force who appeared to be guilty of criminal misconduct.

But he said Bradley and other city officials, including the City Council, must share responsibility for negligence in not safeguarding nearly $400,000 in public funds that were given to the task force. He noted that there were few controls on the city funds that were granted to St. John at Bradley’s request.

“About $100,000 a year was given over to one person to spend as she saw fit,” Reiner said. “There was a great deal of neglect at all levels of the city.”

Reiner said St. John withdrew task force funds for personal expenses, including investments and payments on her heavily mortgaged San Marino home.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Reiner, said the Riverside partnership had sold two parcels of land and the funds were held in the partnership account, which was controlled by St. John.

“The allegation is she spent that money,” Gibbons said. “When it came time to pay the limited partners, she (used) task force funds.”

St. John, a 58-year-old San Marino resident, surrendered to Los Angeles police Wednesday morning and made a brief court appearance in the afternoon before being released on $10,000 bail. Stern-faced, St. John spoke only once--when answering a procedural question from Judge Candace Beason--and later avoided reporters when she was released on bail. A preliminary hearing was set for next month.

St. John’s newly retained attorney, Victor Sherman, told reporters outside the courtroom that his client “doesn’t feel she has done anything wrong and she will be vindicated in court.”

At a press conference Wednesday on an unrelated matter, Bradley refused to comment on St. John’s legal troubles. “That’s a matter that will be before the court,” Bradley said.

“Those charges have nothing to do with the task force or its long record of accomplishments in binding together the nations of Africa and helping with economic development there.”

Investigators say St. John has repeatedly refused to turn over records that would show how the city funds were used, but Sherman said she will be able to account for “every penny” of the task force expenditures. However, Sherman declined to discuss specifics, or say how the city money was used, saying he had not had time to review the financial records in the case.

Bradley, who helped create the task force, attended meetings and kept it alive by pushing for city subsidies, has disclaimed responsibility for the group’s financial troubles.