Long Beach : D.A. Clears Businessman in Fraud at Tire Outlet

After a lengthy investigation, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office has cleared prominent businessman and former Harbor Commissioner George F. Talin Sr. of any involvement in a scheme by employees of his tire company to bilk customers through false billings.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Louis K. Ito said the yearlong investigation revealed that the fraud was limited to one of the 14 tire service stores owned and operated by Talin Tire Inc.

However, as the owner of the company, Talin is responsible under civil law for the actions of his employees and agreed to pay $125,000 in penalties and legal fees, according to court documents. Ito said that although Talin was liable for the penalty, “our investigation did not turn up any knowledge or wrongdoing on the part of the owners or management of the company.”

According to Ito and Jay Beeler, a public relations spokesman for Talin, a store manager and two employees at the Rancho Dominguez tire service center overcharged customers or charged them for work they had not done. The employees have resigned, and Ito said the district attorney’s office has not decided whether to press charges against them.

Ito said investigators, who raided the company in June, 1991, and seized boxes of paperwork, did not know how much money had been stolen from customers.

Talin could not be reached for comment. In a recent statement, he said his company “has never intentionally engaged in any fraudulent business practices.”

The investigation, combined with allegations that Talin’s business dealings with the port constituted a conflict of interest, caused a political shake-up that eventually cost Talin his powerful Harbor Commission seat last year. The investigation into the conflict-of-interest charges are continuing, Beeler said.