LOS ANGELES : Complaint Accuses Moving Companies of Overcharging

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday against the operators of three companies accuses them of overcharging customers to move their belongings out of their quake-damaged homes.

An April 12 arraignment date is set for Thomas J. Smith, 42, of Van Nuys, and Jeronimo Maldonado, 32, of Pacoima. Smith, president of LA Moving, Storage and Distribution, and Maldonado, who operates Maldonado Trucking, a sub-carrier of LA Moving, were charged in the criminal complaint.

Charged in a separate complaint was Paul Helbert, 27, of Burbank, president of Miles Transfer & Storage Co. He also is scheduled to be arraigned April 12.

All three were charged after disgruntled customers called a toll-free line set up by the Earthquake Fraud Prevention Task Force to complain about their moving costs, said Deputy City Atty. P. Greg Parham.

In each case, the defendants are accused of overcharging quake victims for transportation, packing and labor in the days after the Jan. 17 temblor, of operating without a housing goods carrier permit issued by the Public Utilities Commission and of violating other PUC regulations.

Both moving companies had permitsat one time but lost them.