A Harsh Holiday

Children squealed as they tried to crack open candy-filled Santa and star pinatas behind Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Catholic Church.

Santa handed out dozens of bags filled with wrapped presents. Social workers gave away blankets, coats and warm clothing.

This was Christmas for the 60 families of Hi Vista, who for years have lived without running water, electricity or telephones in the isolated High Desert, victims of what authorities call a massive land fraud targeting low-income Latinos.

Some Hi Vista families say they hold little hope of getting public utilities or seeing any of the money they lost.

“They’re never going to bring in water lines where I am. They’re never going to bring in electricity,” said Manuel Diaz, who bought a raw desert lot six years ago with promises that utilities would soon be installed.

Instead, he travels a mile to haul in water for his family, and lives with his wife and seven children in a ramshackle home fashioned from a trailer with added plywood rooms, 90 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

But like many of his neighbors, he didn’t want to dwell on his hard life at a party after Mass on Sunday.

This was their Christmas party.

Supplied by donations from community, professional and religious groups, it was the only Christmas most of these families would have.

“What would we have if we didn’t have this party? Nothing,” said Elisa Medina, 40, as she left the desert church with a mint green bag full of wrapped presents for her family. “This was our Christmas celebration.”

She smiled as she spoke of empty promises she said were made by millionaire developer Marshall Redman.

“Yeah, he said utilities would be installed--he just didn’t say when,” Medina’s husband, Margarito Salazar, said jokingly.

“What is getting angry going to solve? What’s done is done,” he said. “We just thank God today for our health and ask him to keep us strong so we can keep working to keep living.”

Leticia Wilson, a social worker for the Antelope Valley Union High School District who has taken an interest in the Hi Vista families, said that behind the accepting attitude is a lot of frustration.

Despite a series in The Times publicizing the residents’ plight, government task forces created to come up with solutions, a civil lawsuit and criminal charges filed against Redman, the Hi Vista families say not much has changed in their daily lives.

“He’s still out on his own in his Beverly Hills condo while these people are still out here, struggling day by day,” said Virginia Nations, a social worker for the Department of Children’s Services who has organized food and clothing donations to the families and put on a Christmas party each of the last six years.

Redman, 69, is out on bail while awaiting trial on felony charges involving land sales. The charges were filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Authorities allege that Redman advertised in Spanish-speaking media for more than a decade, attracting low-income Los Angeles families, many of whom spoke little English. He sold more than 2,500 raw parcels, and has been accused of illegally subdividing land, selling improperly zoned land and selling land he did not own.

After the series in The Times, the county provided access to county wells for many of the families.

Earlier, Kern County and Los Angeles city prosecutors won a civil judgment against Redman, but a court-appointed receiver is still trying to straighten out Redman’s $20-million development operation to pay his creditors, according to C.M. “Bud” Starr II, a Kern County assistant district attorney.

Starr said the receiver is trying to get families clear, insurable titles to their land; to switch parcels in some cases; and to try to help residents obtain utilities. But he acknowledged that it would be years before the civil action is over.

“If they could just hold on a little longer,” Starr said. “We’re doing this for the families.”