County Offers Water Access to Purchasers of Desert Land

Reacting to the plight of alleged land fraud victims living in the High Desert without utilities, officials Tuesday reversed Los Angeles County policy and began for the first time offering water access to about 50 families.

The change was part of a comprehensive plan presented to the Board of Supervisors that includes free legal advice, financial aid and help bringing substandard housing up to code for hundreds of low-income Latinos who purchased raw desert land from developer Marshall Redman.

Beginning today, teams of bilingual county workers will conduct a door-to-door search for Redman customers in the Antelope Valley “to determine the general status and well-being of the victims,” according to a task force report submitted to the board.

Also Tuesday, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti failed for the second consecutive week to appear as requested by the supervisors to explain why his agency did not take a more active role in investigating allegedly bogus land sales made by Redman’s three companies.

The 67-year-old Redman was charged in May with seven felony counts in connection with the sales. According to disclosures in The Times, Redman’s three companies between 1978 and 1994 sold undeveloped land to 2,500 customers across three Southern California counties, promising such amenities as water and power that were never delivered.

The developer, who used proceeds from the sales to buy a home in Beverly Hills and a Paris condominium, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free on bail.

Tuesday’s task force report was one of two released in the last week concerning the fallout from the Redman sales. In June, the Board of Supervisors appointed two panels to provide a warning system to such large-scale land fraud and to research ways to assist the developer’s alleged victims.

An estimated 50 Redman customers living in the county’s far-flung Hi Vista area were denied water because officials said they could not prove they owned the land.

For 18 months, the county will provide residents with keys to access to one of four county wells if they can prove they purchased land from Redman. Keys cost $45.60 for six months.

“We aren’t giving away free water,” said James Noyes, chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. “These people will have to pay like everyone else. And this is not a permanent move. We want to help out until this situation can be resolved.”

Redman customers with property in Hi Vista--about 90 miles north of downtown Los Angeles--began to get the news about water access last week.

“I’m relieved,” said Maria Jimenez, whose mother bought property from Marshall Redman. In 1992, Juanita Ortiz died of asphyxiation in a house without utilities after a propane lamp leaked carbon monoxide.

“I wish this help had come when my mother was still alive. But when we went to the county years ago, they advised us to steal the water. I didn’t feel comfortable with that. Even the word makes me feel queasy,” Jimenez said.