Improvements at Supervisor’s Home Prompt Inquiry

Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth received thousands of dollars in free or undervalued additions to his Anaheim Hills home from a builder, and may have violated state law by later voting on four matters directly affecting the firm, a Times investigation has found.

Top corporate officials at the Presley Co. of Southern California supervised Roth’s 1990 purchase of the newly built home, and oversaw enlarging the dining room and a family room, among other improvements, records and interviews show.

Roth’s attorney, Dana Reed, acknowledged that additions were made to the house, but said that it was Roth’s wife, from whom he is now divorced, who sought and accepted the extras before the couple moved in. Reed denied any impropriety and said Roth recalled paying the Presley Co. about $3,700 for the additions.

Remodeling experts said such upgrades typically cost more than $15,000. And several of Roth’s neighbors said such major upgrades were unavailable to them at the time Presley was building their homes. One neighbor offered to pay for a dining room expansion similar to the Roths’ and was rebuffed.

“I told the Presley Co. and they didn’t want to do it--they don’t want to do anything extra,” said Chris Sarantos, who lives across the street. “Once they build the house, that’s it. They say they don’t do any changes.”

The Times has learned that the Orange County district attorney’s office has begun questioning Presley officials about the $348,669 house that the Roths bought two years ago in an upscale, new community overlooking the canyons of Anaheim Hills.

Adele Borton, an assistant to Presley’s vice president for sales, said investigators have recently contacted company officials about the house. Borton indicated that the company’s files on the sale would be turned over to the district attorney.

“I can’t talk about it,” said L.C. (Bob) Albertson Jr., president of the Newport Beach-based home construction company, who met with the 71-year-old Roth at the housing site in mid-1989 before the purchase.

The Presley inquiry marks a new direction in the ongoing Roth investigation by the district attorney’s office, which since April has been reviewing whether Roth violated conflict of interest laws by accepting trips, meals, stock, an $8,500 rent deferral and other gifts from local business people and then voting on matters involving them.

The home improvements could pose more conflict of interest problems for Roth under state law if investigators determine that he voted on matters concerning Presley that came before the Board of Supervisors after accepting substantial gifts from the firm, officials familiar with the case said.

Local officials are required by state law to report the fair market value of all gifts totaling more than $50. They are also banned from voting on matters affecting anyone who has given them gifts worth more than $250 in the previous year. Violations can be prosecuted as criminal misdemeanors.

Roth and the Board of Supervisors have voted nearly two dozen times within the last five years on land-use issues affecting Presley. Four of those votes came in the 12-month period after the Roths moved into their Anaheim Hills home.

Reed said there was no indication that Roth’s votes were related to the improvements done at the home.

And he defended the supervisor’s relationship with Presley, saying that the improvements were all requested by Roth’s ex-wife, Jackie. Roth moved out of the home in mid-1990, and it is up for sale as part of their divorce agreement.

“Don did not request any gifts from Presley and he is unaware of having received any,” Reed said. “. . . If it is determined that what Jackie did resulted in some reportable transactions by Don or some requirement that he disqualify himself from voting, we’ll have to look at that.”

Jackie Roth was unavailable Thursday to comment on Reed’s charges.

Steven E. Malone, Roth’s chief of staff, acknowledged in an interview Thursday that he called Presley in late 1989 at Jackie Roth’s behest to ensure that certain structural changes were made.

“Jackie (Roth) wanted some special features included in the house and asked me to communicate that to Presley, so I called (company president Albertson),” Malone said. “I was a liaison. . . . Apparently, Don was reluctant to (make the call).”

As a result of the reconstruction, the Roths’ 2,700-square-foot house ended up as the largest house among the 37 homes built in the first phase of Presley’s Highland development, records show.

Times researcher Sheila Kern contributed to this report.