Charity Solicitor May Lose License : Inquiry: L.A. Social Service Department is awaiting fund-raiser’s records. Questions arise about checks and representation.

Los Angeles officials took a major step Wednesday toward banning a charitable fund-raising organization that was the subject of a Times article disclosing that it cashed checks for charities that don’t exist and real charities that it did not represent.

Robert D. Burns, general manager of the Los Angeles Social Service Department, said he issued a notice of intention to revoke the license of Thomas Galambos, president and owner of Valley Fundraisers, after Galambos failed to comply with his order to produce the firm’s records by 5 p.m. last Friday.

Burns said his office received one call from Galambos’ attorney, Elliott Kajan, who left a message but did not respond to Burns’ return call.

“He called. We called back. We never actually talked,” Burns said Wednesday. “Mr. Galambos didn’t call. There seems to be a greater need for affirmative action on Mr. Galambos’ part than that.”

Galambos could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Kajan said he had only recently been retained by Galambos and would not comment until he had completed his own review of the facts.

The notice said Galambos’ license, which allows him to run a commercial enterprise raising funds for charities, will be revoked June 6 if he does not request a hearing before the Social Service Commission. Burns said the revocation will be automatic unless Galambos can persuade the commission to overturn his decision.

Loss of his license would prohibit Galambos from soliciting funds on behalf of any charities in the city of Los Angeles.

Burns had already withdrawn the city permit, called an Information Card, that authorized Galambos’ current campaign through August on behalf of three charities.

Burns said Galambos could not apply for a new license without submitting the firm’s books and records for an audit. Besides revocation of Galambos’ fund-raising license, Burns said he could also recommend that the Los Angeles city attorney’s office file criminal charges.

It is a misdemeanor in the city of Los Angeles to commit fraud or deception in charitable solicitation or to solicit on behalf of another person or organization without authorization.

The Times disclosed earlier this month that Valley Fundraisers, which has taken in more than $2.6 million in charitable donations in the past four years, has deposited dozens of checks made out to charities it does not represent, some real and others nonexistent.

One of 121 commercial fund-raising firms in California, Valley Fundraisers is licensed by the Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts to solicit donations for three IRS-registered charities.

The Times found that checks made out to more than 30 different names had been deposited into Valley Fundraisers’ bank accounts.

Galambos, in an interview, acknowledged that mistakes had been made but said he corrected every one that came to his attention by refunding the donor’s money.

In its investigation, The Times found checks from nine organizations--including Easter Seals, March of Dimes and Marine Corps’ Toy for Tots--received by Valley Fundraisers without authorization. Officials of those organizations said they had not received the money.

Valley Fundraisers’ headquarters, on Alameda Avenue, in Burbank, closed shortly after the Times article appeared, and its phone was disconnected.

The Galambos operation also remains under a parallel investigation by the state attorney general’s office.