Lynwood Urged Not to Pay 2 Contractors

A federal criminal investigation into possible corruption in waste hauling and other contracts in Compton and Lynwood has taken an unusual turn, with a prosecutor asking Lynwood to stop payment on a $1.4-million civil court settlement.

Lynwood agreed in the settlement to honor long-term consulting contracts with two political allies of former Mayor Paul Richards, although the contracts were abandoned shortly after they were executed in late 2001, when Richards lost his City Council majority.

The terms of the contracts called for Bevan Thomas, identified as a waste disposal consultant, and his wife, LaVerne Jackson, a nuisance abatement expert, to be paid in full if they were dismissed without cause. Thomas was to get $2.6 million, and Jackson was to get nearly $600,000.

When the new council majority terminated them only three months after their contracts were approved, they each sued the city, seeking to be paid in full. They and the city ultimately agreed to settle the lawsuits for a total of $1.4 million.

However, Assistant U.S. Atty. Daniel Shallman wrote to Lynwood’s city attorney late last month asking that payments be withheld “pending the outcome of the government’s ongoing criminal investigation which concerns, in part, the validity of the underlying contracts.”

Shallman refused Tuesday to elaborate on the letter, which asks the city to hold off until at least March 31.

The letter’s wording suggests that prosecutors are investigating whether the contracts were fraudulently obtained and thus invalid. It also suggests that their investigation, which began two years ago, is nearing a conclusion.

After speaking with Shallman, Lynwood City Atty. J. Arnoldo Beltran said in a court declaration that he had arranged for other city officials to stop payment on the initial settlement check for $700,000.

Beltran said he advised the officials that, if the contracts were proved invalid, the city would have no obligation to pay the settlements.

The attorney for Thomas and Jackson, Robert McNeill, said his clients have done nothing wrong and are entitled to the settlement.

“We don’t see a problem with a brief delay while this is investigated,” he said. But he said that he might ask a court as early as next week to force the city to honor the settlement.

He said that Thomas has cooperated with federal prosecutors and “is not the target of this investigation.”

McNeill’s firm earlier lost a court battle on behalf of another dismissed Lynwood contractor, Richards’ sister, Paula Harris, who was seeking up to $2 million from the city.

Richards had voted to award a contract to his sister that called for her to receive a 20% commission on any deal she negotiated between a billboard company and the city. Correspondence shows that Richards already had one such deal in the works that would have brought Harris a $1-million commission.

But the new council majority canceled the deal along with Harris’ contract. A court ruled that the city was within its rights because of a technicality: The wrong public official had signed the contract.

Thomas’ contract was signed while the Richards-led council was considering having the city pick up its own trash rather than contracting with an outside company.

Thomas, who had worked for a private trash hauler, was to advise the city on setting up its own operation. He also was to have first dibs to acquire the city’s operation, if the city later changed its mind.

The city not only abandoned Thomas, it also abandoned its plans to do its own trash hauling, and continues to contract with an outside firm.