D.A. Probing Pacts Given Out by RTD : Transit: Investigation centers on claims of forgery to certify that a Metro Rail subcontractor was a disadvantaged business.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has confirmed it is investigating the award of minority business contracts to a Metro Rail subcontractor amid allegations that an eligibility certificate was forged to steer business to the company.

While officials with the district attorney’s office refused to disclose details, sources said the investigation centers on longstanding claims that someone altered a Southern California Rapid Transit District document in April, 1989, recertifying that Communications International Inc., an Atlanta-based telecommunications company, was a disadvantaged business enterprise.

Since being certified as a minority business enterprise by the RTD in 1986, CII has received three district contracts worth more than $1.5 million, according to a company official. Two of the contracts, worth about $600,000, have been completed, he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Herb Lapin, who has been assigned to investigate the charge, said only that the probe focuses on the RTD, not the company. “At this time, all we’re looking at are people within RTD,” he said.

But sources said the probe will also encompass the abrupt firing Wednesday of two RTD investigators who were assigned to investigate the alleged forgery for RTD Inspector General Ernesto Fuentes. Fuentes said Friday he was prevented by personnel laws from disclosing the reason he fired the investigators, Allen Laster and Richard Yeats.

The investigators, however, claimed they were fired without explanation after a Wednesday morning meeting with Fuentes about the alleged forgery. Both said they believe they were fired for uncovering more than RTD officials apparently wanted to know about the case.

“I think we were fired for doing too good a job,” said Laster, a retired sergeant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Without offering details, Laster said he and Yeats, a former Internal Revenue Service agent, had regularly briefed Fuentes on the progress of their investigation and, until Wednesday, had not received any word that their work was in question.

“We told him about everything we were doing, the seriousness of what we were doing, who it was involving. And that what we were finding out got worse and worse,” said Laster.

“We considered ourselves to be doing our job. They hired us to investigate fraud, abuse and waste in the district. And that’s what we were doing,” said Yeats. “We tried to keep confidence in the system as we went, hoping things would work out. They obviously didn’t and we’re not sure why at this point.”

The investigators, both of whom joined RTD last fall, were assigned in April to investigate the CII contracts after repeated complaints by the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 12. Beginning last summer, Gene Lyon, a contract compliance representative with the union, asked RTD officials to determine if a Metro Rail subcontractor had received work as a result of a forged document.

Specifically, Lyon asked for a public explanation of claims that someone forged the signature of RTD’s Alvin Rivera to an April 19, 1989, document recertifying CII as a disadvantaged business enterprise, a designation that can assist small or struggling companies win government contracts.

A copy of the document includes a handwritten note that reads: “This is not my signature. It is a stamp, used unbeknownest to me. Alan Rivera.”

Under federal regulations, the RTD is required to periodically review a company’s eligibility as a minority enterprise or disadvantaged business. In this case, the April 19 letter recertified CII’s eligibility for a year.

Two weeks before the date on the recertification, RTD memos show that Rivera had challenged CII’s eligibility as a minority enterprise or disadvantaged business. In memos to Walter Norwood, RTD assistant general manager for equal employment opportunities, Rivera said the company would not have been certified for contracts as a minority business if it had been known that its official license holder was a white male.

One month after the memos, Rivera was reassigned from his post as a senior contract compliance analyst to RTD’s equal employment office. RTD officials refused to explain the reason for Rivera’s reassignment and he could not be reached for comment.

George Armstrong, regional vice president for CII, said he was unaware of the district attorney’s investigation, but was angry that questions would be raised about his company’s eligibility as a minority contractor because its “day-to-day control” is handled by minorities and the U.S. Small Business Administration has certified the company as a minority contractor.

“I’m black. The company president is black. The ownership and management of this company is with minorities,” Armstrong said. “The big issue here is whether we are a minority company. Well, hell yes, we are a minority company,” he said by phone from the company’s offices in Atlanta.

Armstrong added that the company’s license holder was chosen because of his expertise as a communications technician and state laws governing telecommunications companies. “We do business in 42 states and it’s just more practical for us to use people who know each state’s laws,” Armstrong said. “Besides, if I had chosen a black to serve as the license holder just because they are black, that would be reverse discrimination. And we don’t operate that way,” he said.