GLENDALE : Chimney Firm Fined for Overpriced Quake Repairs
A Glendale chimney business that did overpriced contract work for property owners after the Northridge earthquake was ordered Monday to pay nearly $16,000 in fines and costs.
Van Nuys Municipal Judge Martin Suits also placed the proprietors of Chimney Charm on three years probation after an attorney for the firm entered a no-contest plea to 10 business and professions code violations.
The charges grew out of an investigation by the county Department of Consumer Affairs, said Deputy City Atty. P. Greg Parham.
The charges included working as an unlicensed contractor during a state of emergency, using another contractor’s license and failing to provide a written home improvement contract.
Chimney Charm is run by James Barry Huelsman, 51, of Sylmar; Richard Arthur McCullough, 46, of Pasadena; and Gilbert Alajarin, 40, of Tarzana, Parham said.
All three initially were charged in the case, but the complaint against Huelsman was dismissed.
The company was ordered to pay its victims $3,000 in restitution for excessive prices, and donate $7,500 to the American Red Cross Earthquake Relief Fund. The rest of the assessments involved fines and assessments.
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