Corruption Fears Appear Unfounded in Ontario

Fueled by free pizza, teenage police volunteers in Ontario earlier this year licked 4,000 envelopes containing an unusual solicitation letter asking Southern California companies to root out corruption in City Hall.

But Ontario’s fears of widespread bribery and kickbacks appear to be unfounded, police said Thursday.

Just two companies sent back letters complaining that they felt pressured to deliver bribes in exchange for a free pass through the city’s red tape. Neither complaint resulted in criminal charges, Det. Mike Macias said.

In the first case, an Upland development company claimed it had been pressured by the same ex-planner, Albert Cruse, whose arrest last year sparked the letter-writing campaign. But the company alleged only that Cruse had “dropped subtle hints,” Macias said, and “the city, so far, has rejected that claim.”

“Either he asked for a bribe or he didn’t,” Macias said. “We could not prove anything criminal.”

In the second case, a company filed a complaint with the city alleging that a building inspector was not sympathetic to its needs during the planning process, Macias said. The company apparently believed that it needed to deliver a bribe to receive a friendlier reception in City Hall, but “we had no criminal action there,” Macias said.

Investigators did receive 30 other replies--all praising Ontario for taking the initiative.

“Basically, there were 30 ‘atta-boy’ letters,” Macias said.

Cruse, an Ontario senior planner, allegedly told Newport Beach-based Simac Construction Inc. that it needed to add Italian marble molding to its plans for a Rite Aid drugstore in southern Ontario. That would have cost the company $45,000 in costs and delays--and Cruse, prosecutors charge, offered to set the “requirement” aside in exchange for a $7,000 bribe.

A representative of the company contacted police, who supplied the firm with the money and tape-recorded the transaction before arresting Cruse in December.

Cruse, who was fired, pleaded guilty in March to four counts of soliciting a bribe and will be sentenced later this month, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Sully Moore.