Moore Described Payoffs, Jury Told

Former Compton Councilwoman Patricia Moore confessed to federal agents in 1994 that she received monthly bribe payments from Western Waste Industries, the city’s commercial waste contractor, and that the company’s top two executives were aware of the payoffs, a federal jury was told Thursday.

Called as the last government witness in Moore’s extortion and income tax fraud trial, IRS agent Carl Knudson testified about his March 26, 1994, interview with the 47-year-old defendant, conducted shortly after she negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors.

During a debriefing session at the Doubletree Inn in San Pedro with Knudson and FBI case agent Kevin Adley, Moore told of receiving monthly payoffs from George Osepian, a vice president at Western Waste, according to Knudson.

She also revealed that Kosti Shirvanian, the company’s chairman and founder, and his sister, Savey Tufenkian, who served as the company’s executive vice president and secretary-treasurer, were aware of the payments, the agent testified.

Moore reportedly received the payoffs, ranging from $500 to $1,000 in cash, on the 10th of every month in Osepian’s office or at meetings with him in a Carson park.

Although Osepian’s name had surfaced previously in pretrial disclosures, this is the first time that Shirvanian and Tufenkian have been implicated.

Shirvanian, Tufenkian and Osepian have not been charged in the case, although Osepian was given limited immunity from prosecution.

Attempts to reach them at the company’s Torrance headquarters Thursday were unsuccessful.

From the government’s perspective, Moore’s reported confession about Western Waste helps establish that she was predisposed to committing the crimes for which she is being tried, extorting more than $60,000 from Compton Energy Systems and Compton Entertainment. The prosecution must prove Moore’s predisposition to counter her claim of illegal entrapment.

For Western Waste, Thursday’s testimony comes at a particularly difficult time. Last week, The Times reported that the FBI had launched an investigation of Western Waste in Riverside County, where the company has been lobbying the Board of Supervisors for permission to vastly expand its only landfill in Southern California.

The board, which initially voted to approve the expansion, is deferring final action because of the Moore trial.

Expansion of the El Sobrante landfill near Corona is considered vital for the company’s growth and dominance in the region. In addition, Western Waste is heavily dependent on municipal contracts that require approval of governmental bodies.

Moore’s 1994 leniency deal with the government called for her to plead guilty to two criminal counts and to cooperate with the FBI’s probe of official corruption in Compton. As part of the arrangement, she wore a concealed body recorder during meetings with Shirvanian and other figures in the investigation.

She also agreed to testify for the prosecution against Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton), who was snared in the same investigation.

Moore never did so. After five months, she pulled out of the agreement, withdrew her guilty plea and was indicted on 25 counts of extortion and income tax fraud.

She contends that she was entrapped by Stan Bailey, an undercover FBI operative who introduced himself to her in 1990 as a public relations representative of Compton Energy Systems. The company was seeking City Council approval to construct a $250-million waste conversion plant in Compton while its owner was secretly cooperating with the FBI.

Moore’s defense lawyers say Bailey became her lover and manipulated her emotionally and financially to make it appear that she was taking bribes from Compton Energy Systems. The payments were documented on audiotapes and videotapes.

Before deserting her, Moore contends, Bailey drugged and raped her in a Long Beach apartment that was rented for him by the FBI.

Against that backdrop, Bailey took the stand Thursday as the first witness called for the defense.

Under questioning by chief defense attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., Bailey denied having been romantically involved with Moore.

Bailey, who has a criminal record that has not been revealed to the jury, said he was recruited by the FBI to assuage hard feelings between Moore and John Macardican, Compton Energy System’s owner.