Ex-Housing Official Gets 18-Month Sentence, Fines

A former state housing official who sought more than $2 million in federal disaster relief and used some of the money to buy jewelry and other luxuries has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, concluding the biggest fraud prosecution of the Northridge earthquake.

Thomas E. Bell, 38, of Studio City, was also ordered to pay a $350,000 fine after he pleaded guilty Monday to four felony counts of mail fraud, making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and obstructing a federal audit.

“This is the one misstep Mr. Bell has made in an otherwise exemplary life,” said his attorney Donald Etra, who had sought a sentence of community service.

Bell, the president of Bell Diversified Development Inc., has built low-income housing for 20 years. He was appointed deputy director of the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development in 1983--when he was 25 years old.

Bell was charged by federal prosecutors in April after a yearlong investigation by the Office of the Inspector General and HUD. He pleaded guilty to four felony crimes in June.

“What the prosecution shows is that the government is willing to prosecute any type of offender, including those as sophisticated and experienced as Mr. Bell,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman.

On Jan. 18, 1994,--the day after the Northridge earthquake--Bell applied for more than $2.7 million in low-interest HUD emergency loans to repair damage at three federally-insured, low-income housing projects in Los Angeles and West Hollywood.

Bell awarded his own company $1.63 million to perform the repair work but used the funds to buy a $38,000 Range Rover and $44,775 worth of jewelry. He also spent $67,000 of the relief funds to pay off a debt and another $100,000 to make a down payment on a second home.

Later, Bell sought to justify awarding the lucrative repair work to his own company by submitting competitive bids. Federal authorities learned, however, that two of the bids had been made by a friend of Bell’s.

Bell later admitted fabricating invoices and purchase orders.

He will begin serving his prison sentence Dec. 2. “He is ready to pay his debt to society,” Etra said.