Cleaning Firm Owner Convicted of Theft

The operator of a carpet cleaning business who preyed primarily on older people by promising low prices for his services then charging much more when they agreed to the work was convicted of theft and false advertising, the city attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

Tamir Pinhas, 26, of Canoga Park, was found guilty by a Los Angeles Municipal Court jury that deliberated for two days before handing down verdicts on one count of grand theft, three counts of theft and four counts of false advertising.

The charges against Pinhas stemmed from nearly three dozen consumer complaints to the Consumer Affairs Department against his company, Elephant Carpet Care, between 1993 and January of this year, according to Deputy City Atty. Keith De La Rosa of the city attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit.

The company advertised through mailers sent to homes offering low prices for carpet cleaning. But once technicians arrived at victims’ residences, the homeowners were told that the advertised service would not be sufficient and that the required service would cost more.

Victims tended to be older people living alone, including a 93-year-old man who said he thought he had agreed to $50 worth of cleaning but a company representative handed him a contract for $909.88, De La Rosa said.

Another woman was given a $35 estimate to have a sofa and a love seat cleaned and treated with an anti-stain solution. Instead, she paid $354 for the work and found that the pieces were ruined from the treatment, the prosecutor said.

The maximum penalty for grand theft is one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine; for theft it is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine; and for false advertising, the penalty is six months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.

Pinhas, who was ordered to surrender his passport to the court, was taken into custody after the verdict. His bail was set at $75,000.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18.