Two Charged With Stealing at MGM/UA

A former MGM/UA Communication Co. executive and a man who claimed to be the owner of a motion picture production services company were charged Wednesday with stealing tens of thousands of dollars from MGM/UA via fraudulent invoices for post-production work.

Gary Bell, 50, who was senior vice president for post-production at MGM/UA in 1987 and 1988, and Donald Rodgers, 32, whose firm The Tape Company was allegedly a front, are accused of collaborating in the theft of $132,000, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert M. Youngdahl said.

Bell and Rodgers were arrested Tuesday in connection with the grand theft charges, authorities said. Bell--who has since moved to Universal Studios, where he is now in charge of post production--was taken into custody at his office, authorities said. Rodgers was arrested in Culver City.

“Rodgers presented fictitious bills for nonexistent work from a fictitious vendor, and Bell--the inside guy--would approve them” in exchange for a $25,000 kickback, Youngdahl said.

Altogether, he said, MGM/UA auditors found $180,000 worth of phony invoices approved by Bell for The Tape Company, covering supposed sound and videotape duplication in 1987 and 1988 on such films as “Sanctuary,” “Masquerade” and “Poltergeist III.”

Only $132,000 was paid, however, before the scheme was discovered, Youngdahl said. Studio officials, he explained, became suspicious when they noticed that The Tape Company had billed the studio $300 for a job that an authorized company had already completed for $75.