Not enough damaging evidence to charge EDSO deputies
By Kathryn Reed
Coming just weeks after a scathing grand jury report, El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson outlines egregious behavior by the sheriff’s department in regards to giving incentive pay to employees who had phony degrees.
“None of the universities involved in this investigation were appropriately accredited,” the report states.
The 22-page report was released July 7.
Vern Pierson
Because criminal activity could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, not charges are being filed against the five employees in question. None of those people work in the Lake Tahoe substation. But their names have not been released and are not in the report.
“… the conduct and actions of these officers is extremely troubling and we believe it is necessary to change the incentive pay process,” the report says.
The report has testimony from former Sheriff Jeff Neves and others who say the incentive pay documents were not scrutinized or verified for validity.
The report says, “The former Sheriff suggested that he and his administration were too busy to fulfill their oversight obligation to the county in so much as PPF forms were concerned. Retired Sheriff Neves testified that because they received so many PPF forms for review and signature, they adopted an unwritten policy of simply signing the forms and submitting them to county payroll without even attempting the most cursory or surface review of the forms and their content.”
The report indicates Neves may have turned a blind eye to the truth when confronted with it.
It was Fred Kollar, who was undersheriff to Neves and filled out Neves term after he retired, who brought the case to the DA’s office.
Inexcusable and unacceptable oversight and management. One can only wonder what else is going on in county government robbing taxpayers of their hard earned dollars, while supervisors turn a blind eye and collect their own bloated salaries.
In 2002, then Sheriff Neves and Undersheriff kollar were made aware of the false/fake degrees. At that time they chose to stop the investigation. The Lieutenant and one of the Sergeants involved in this investigation were very good friends of Neves/Kollar.Spend a few thousand dollars and get your four year degree in a month and then receive tax payer money. I call that FRAUD. Neves and Kollar knew exactly what was going on…
Did they all get B.S. degrees?
Not the least surprised. The County still has a long way to come to get out of the old ways of thinking. Fraud by the good ol’ boys? Unthinkable!
Ok, so not enough evidence to file criminal charges, but do they get to keep their jobs & pensions? Again, so maybe not enough evidence to make convicted felons out of them, but if they were blatantly dishonest they should not be carrying badges!!
We all know what BS is, A MS is just more of the same and a PHD is piled high and deep. If the officers in question got the degrees then they should have no problem in stating who they are unless they are shady. Be proud of your achievments as we should be for them taking the time to get them. We had a mantra in Military officer school. Officers do not cheat, lie, steal nor tolerate those that do. No one is held above the law and those officers should come forward and be proud. This just fans the fire of suspicion and deciect and will tarnish an allready hurting reputation they seem to be getting.
One thing this story doesn’t answer is at the beginning: “None of the universities involved in this investigation were appropriately accredited,” the report states.” I’d like to know if the people in question actually signed up for school, took all the classes and tests and thought they obtained a degree….lots of educational programs on the internet that say you earn a degree when completed. The story says they turned in the paperwork, did they do so with intent to defraud or did they think they completed what was required? This is probably the point that brought about the conclusion that no criminal intent could be proven.
To fix this: a list of schools they can attend and degrees they can earn that will qualify for extra pay (teachers can do this but they follow the rules).
And Ski…I have a B.S. degree and earning my next, and proud of it! (and yes, from an accredited school)
What do you expect in a world where a mother is found not guilty of killing her child?
How is there not evidence? From what I understand officers were submitting fraudulent paperwork to receive increased benefits. This paperwork wasn’t kept in their files? The paperwork should be plenty of evidence to prove wrong doing.
The article doesn’t cleary state whether or not these individuals were released from their jobs. All the officers that committed this fraud should be fired from the department. It casts an ugly shadow over the department when they are keeping the names secret.
Sadly, these issues with EDSO have been the prevailing atmosphere for years. There should be restituiion made to the County for the over payment of their advancement on the pay scale. Some of these “officers” might be collecting 5 figures monthly in pensions that were not legally earned.
Also worth noting is the disappointment with the new regime who deemed it necessary to cut street patrol budgets leaving the LAKE with sometimes only 2 deputies on duty. Aggregious behavior when after the election he found it necessary to hire his own brother in law to be the new undersheriff where one is obviously not needed and certainly doesn’t warrant the second highest salary.
Yeah and as Ski Bum implied, if the mistakes were innocent, there’s no rational reason to keep the names private! They should just be able to say, “Wanted to increase my pay, so I took courses that I mistakenly thought were from an accredited school.”
That would be an understandable explanation. But obviously not the real explanation as these clearly were not innocent mistakes!!
Who were they? Are they still working? Still getting the inflated pay? And/or still on track to get their pension? And is the pension now at the inflated rate?
In 2002, then Sheriff Neves and Undersheriff Kollar knew about the fake/false degrees. Neves and Kollar stopped the investigation due to the lieutenant and one of the sergeants involved in the case being very close friends. Kollar reported the case in 2010 as he was walking out the door. The LT. and Sgt. that currently work for EDSO could not have qualified for their positions without these fake/fraudulent degrees. Both of these men paid a few thousand dollars and in under one month they received their bogus degree. They knew what they were doing was wrong, and so did POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training). The State AG should have investigated this not the EDC DA. This is only a small portion of the corruption that was going on when Neves and Kollar were running the ship.
With all due respect “30yrlocal” , a four year degree in 4-6 weeks? Online? If anyone believes that, and granted by an unknown, unresearched, and UNACCREDITED “University”..?.. Shame on you and them. Shame on those who allowed that fraud, waste, and abuse of the system, and the taxpayer money. Shame on former Sheriff Neves, and Fred Kollar.
I would hope that the new regime; Sheriff DiAugustini and his undersheriff will make El Dorado County proud…clean house, and do their job!
Tucker: I didn’t read all 22 pages of the report…did it say in there that they got the degree in 4-6 weeks? If so, my error and I apologize.
These are excerpts from the Grand Jury report:
As a result of vague language in the current EDCSO Labor Agreements, two deputies, two sergeants and one lieutenant of EDCSO received EIP after providing Bachelor degrees from universities that are currently being investigated by the United States Attorney General as “Diploma Mills.” Richardson University, also known as Hamilton University, has been under investigation for selling college diplomas. Hamilton University was first established in Hawaii as American State University and then moved to Evanston, Wyoming. The school issued degrees based upon “life experiences.” Candidates obtained degrees after answering a few questions from a booklet and submitting a paper of approximately 2,000 words.
In 2004, CBS News reported that Hamilton University was operated by Rudy Marn, who pled guilty to tax fraud in 2008 and was sentenced to two years in federal prison. Hamilton University has since changed its name to Richardson University and moved its “campus” to the Bahamas.
The District Attorney’s Office is concluding its criminal investigation into the EIP awarded to the five individuals in the Sheriff’s Office. The investigation revealed the five officers in question have received a total of $166,459.72 in additional pay since their application for EIP was approved. One officer applied for entrance into Richardson
5
University on August 20, 2004, and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice only 27 days later, after completing 22 classes.
Only one of the five individuals investigated agreed to be interviewed by the District Attorney’s investigator. This deputy stated that the Lieutenant under investigation encouraged him to obtain a degree from Hamilton University. The investigation also revealed that all five of the applications for EIP were approved by the EDCSO command staff. These approvals for EIP were granted even though the “four year degrees” were earned in as little as four weeks.
As of this writing, the District Attorney has not determined there is sufficient evidence to prosecute for the following reasons:
At least one Deputy was encouraged by his superior officer to attend Hamilton University, and all of the EIP applications were approved by EDCSO Commanders.
Many of the actual admission records of the institutions in question had been destroyed and the difficulty in obtaining admissible evidence that could prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt made successful prosecution questionable.
A simple Web search provided information that Hamilton University was operated by a convicted felon. Hamilton University changed its name to Richardson University and relocated to the Bahamas after Hamilton University was shut down by authorities.The investigation revealed that the “four year degrees” were approved by EDCSO Commanders even though they were obtained in as little as four weeks of coursework.
This is the link to the report. Very interesting and I see no reason to waste our time with any type of Grand Jury report as most of the time the reccommondations are blatently ignored, pushed aside or put on the back burner so far you would need 12 foot arms to reach it. When are we going to learn to just give up, roll over and take it like a person (gender equality)
http://www.edcgov.us/Government/GrandJury/2010-2011_Grand_Jury_Report.aspx
Skibum … always one to think he knows it all. This story has the links to the GJ report and the DAs report .. .but hey, repetitiveness your specialty.
I notice he (skibum) is always lecturing from his pedestal to us the poor uninformed on almost every post posted. Definitely, a “Legend In His Own Mind”.
I was responding to 30 year local showing him or her where the report was and some of the info in there. I “lecture ” no more than you two who I always notice are posting also. Way to throw the ball in my court to take away from all your postings. Can’t wait to see your next posts. Thanks for the comments as I appreciate them and learn more about how this forum works, going from a somewhat informitive discussion to personal attack mode.
Keep it up Skibum. Sticks and stones, etc. And that Julie who commented earlier is not me. I strongly believe in posting my full name when commenting. If I call you out, you’ll know it. I’m guessing you already knew that though!!
And I appreciate it Ski, thank you!
Don’t they love it when we get distracted from the issue!