Probation official investigated in contract case

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are investigating a county probation official suspected of steering contracts worth more than $1 million to a company where he held a second job, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

Erbie Phillips, a director in a unit responsible for procurement, was placed on administrative leave Friday, a day after The Times requested information about his financial ties to Natural Solutions, which provides cleaning supplies to the department.

“I can’t really talk about it, but he is on leave pending an investigation into several things,” Chief Probation Officer Donald H. Blevins said. “If you get on Natural Solutions website, his name appears to be listed.”

Asked if Phillips was in a position to influence awarding contracts to Natural Solutions, Blevins said: “I would say so. He was our emergency coordinator but he works for the unit that does procurement.”

Efforts to reach Phillips for comment were unsuccessful. Earlier this year, he filed a financial disclosure form that listed no reportable gifts, investments or outside employment.

Natural Solutions has provided air fresheners, detergent and soap products to the Probation Department. Staffers have long complained that the products were ineffective.

The full scope of the FBI inquiry regarding Phillips was unclear, but it was progressing simultaneously with an inquiry by the Sheriff’s Department. The latter investigation has been going on for several months, a source said.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller and sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore declined to confirm their departments’ investigations of Phillips, but Whitmore noted that his department has a wide-ranging inquiry in the Probation Department.

“We have people from the Office of Independent Review looking at several different areas of probation at the request of the county. The scope of that inquiry is administrative and financial,” he said. “We also have investigators from the Internal Affairs Bureau and Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau assigned to look at probation and, yes, some of it may involve allegations of criminal wrongdoing.”

The Probation Department is one of the most troubled agencies in Los Angeles County government and has been unable to account for $79 million. The Board of Supervisors recently hired Blevins and his assistant, Cal Remington, to clean up the department amid persistent reports of misuse of force against minors in custody, and a broken internal affairs unit.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com