FEMA Looks Into CSUN’s Use of Funds

Cal State University Northridge President Blenda J. Wilson has called for an investigation into allegations her husband used CSUN workers to move his personal office furnishings and the workers were paid with the school’s federal earthquake repair funds.

Wilson, who is traveling in Africa with her husband, was informed by telephone Wednesday night that investigators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency had requested CSUN records relating to her husband’s office move, university spokesman John Chandler said Thursday.

“She asked for a complete investigation and for us to make available whatever records we have for that purpose,” said CSUN Provost Louanne Kennedy, who spoke to Wilson.

The charges against Wilson’s husband, Louis Fair Jr., were made to FEMA officials two weeks ago by a disgruntled former CSUN employee. The employee, Desmond Cerceo, 31, who worked as a campus furniture mover, had been laid off by the university in March when the relocation crew was cut in half.

Cerceo, of Northridge, said he was not part of the crew that moved Fair’s belongings, but heard about it from co-workers. He said he also told FEMA investigators that he and fellow crew members were paid by his former supervisor, Terri Sigrist, for overtime and weekend hours that they did not work.

Sigrist, who supervises the crew of campus office relocation workers, denied the allegations, saying Cerceo is “unstable” and had threatened her several times since being laid off.

In May, the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a restraining order against Cerceo at the request of CSUN administrators, barring him from coming within 50 yards of his former coworkers. The order is good until May 2001.

“I have more fear for my safety and the safety of my crew than about what the investigations will find,” said Sigrist. “When the investigation is over it will find nothing because none of it is true.”

Cerceo concedes he angrily told Sigrist that he would “nail” her, but says he told the judge at the restraining order hearing that he meant he would get her by using the law.

Sigrist said she spoke to Fair last fall when he called her to inquire about hiring her workers to move some office furniture for him. Fair is a management consultant with an office in Los Angeles.

Sigrist said she did not know at that time that he was Wilson’s husband and she said it is not uncommon for members of the relocation crew to work on outside jobs on their own time.

“I throw the jobs out like a steak and the guys go for them,” she said. “But they do it on their own time and have to rent their own equipment.”

Sigrist said she made those conditions clear to Fair when he called. After that, she said, she had no further connection to the work. She does not know if her workers ever took the job, she said, and has no knowledge of how they were paid, except that it was not by CSUN.

State officials in 1995 investigated charges that two university administrators accepted home repair work from employees of the contractor they were supervising as part of CSUN’s recovery from the Northridge quake of January 1994.

The administrators, husband and wife Bill and Jane Chatham, left the university in 1996 after being censured by Wilson. An investigation by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission found no grounds for criminal prosecution.

Cerceo said he turned to FEMA only because he believed his complaints to CSUN campus police were not being taken seriously. Campus police came to his mother’s home April 15, searching for stolen CSUN property. School-owned tables and chairs were found at his home, but they were there by permission of a university administrator for use at a school employee party, he said.

It was at that time that Cerceo said he told campus police detectives that he believed FEMA funds were being misused.

CSUN campus police could not be reached for comment.

Gordon Tachuk, a special agent for FEMA’s inspector general in Oakland, declined to comment on the case, citing the agency’s policy of not speaking about ongoing investigations.

The moving crew was originally created after the Northridge earthquake as some offices were abandoned and temporary quarters were established. The crew has fluctuated in size over the years from a high of around 35 workers to none, depending on need, according to Sigrist.

CSUN to date has spent more than $240 million in FEMA and state money on earthquake repair projects. A recent estimate by the university put the remaining bill at more than $136 million.

Chandler said the internal investigation will be carried out by the CSUN controller’s office in conjunction with the campus police and the Cal State University auditor. He said they have no estimate on when the investigation will be completed. Wilson will return Monday, he said.

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Correspondent Jake Finch contributed to this story.