Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Contractor Sought in Pension Case : Courts: James H. Paxin is accused of violating his probation because of new pension fraud allegations. An arrest warrant is issued.

A judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday for a prominent former Lancaster electrical contractor convicted of payroll fraud in 1991 after new allegations that he also defrauded several hundred employees of more than $640,000 in pension contributions.

Concluding an 18-month investigation, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has accused James H. Paxin, 40, owner of the now-defunct Paxin Electric Inc., of violating the terms of his 1991 probation because of the alleged pension fraud.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles Horan, who sentenced Paxin to 180 days in County Jail in February, 1991, issued the warrant Thursday after reviewing prosecutors’ new allegations.

“The conclusion on our part is Mr. Paxin grossly underfunded the employees’ pension plan,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Cooley, who filed the case along with Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Damon. “It appears this was another aspect of where Mr. Paxin wasn’t playing by the rules.”

Paxin, a former Palmdale resident, could not be reached for comment Thursday. His two attorneys on the original case, Timothy Orr and Michael Eberhardt, also could not be reached Thursday. Paxin, after spending time in Arizona, reportedly resides elsewhere in Southern California.

In documents filed with the judge, the prosecutors alleged that Paxin claimed $948,687 in pension payroll deductions for nearly 300 employees in the years 1989 through 1991. But Cooley said bank records showed only $307,236 in actual deposits to the fund, leaving $641,451 missing.

Cooley, the former head deputy in the Antelope Valley but now in charge of the district attorney’s San Fernando branch office, said he and Damon only learned of the pension allegations from disgruntled employees some months after Paxin’s 1991 sentencing and the subsequent closing of his business.

Paxin, whose firm did work for a variety of public agencies in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, pleaded no contest to 10 misdemeanor counts of failing to keep accurate payroll records in 1988 and 1989. Prosecutors alleged that he underpaid workers by about $170,000 on two government public works projects, which required that he pay prevailing wages.

By comparing the pension plan’s bank records with federal records on Paxin’s payroll deductions, Cooley said he believes that Paxin underfunded his employees’ pension fund by $62,973 in 1989, $207,728 in 1990 and $370,750 in 1991. In 1991, Cooley said, he found only $20,000 in actual contributions.

If found to have violated his original three-year probation, Paxin could face up to 4 1/2 years in County Jail, be fined and ordered to reimburse his former employees, Cooley said. Before the 1991 conviction, Paxin had been fined about $50,000 by state officials for similar payroll problems.