Central Basin Finance Director Andrew Hamilton ‘Acting Crazy,’ Places Lock and Chain on Front Door

BY BRIAN HEWS

When a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others or to himself, a professional person designated by the county may, upon probable cause, take the person into custody for a period of up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation and  placement in a facility designated by the county; it’s called 5150 for short.

And by the actions of Central Basin Finance Director and former Lake Forest Mayor Andrew Hamilton, who was recalled for allegedly taking money from developers, it looks like the county has probable cause.

Hamilton was hired by disgraced former GM Kevin Hunt,  and is squarely on the side of serial sexual harasser Bob Apodaca, who cost the agency $800,000 in a sexual-harassment lawsuit  and was recently accused of harassment by an MWD employee, and Asm. Cristina Garcia appointees Jahanshah “John” Oskoui and Dan Arrighi,  all three of whom have caused CB to grind to a halt in an effort to privatize the agency.

Yesterday, in an apparent fit of rage and without reason, Hamilton placed an impenetrable chain and lock around the handle of the front door, making entry into the public agency impossible.

The lock Andrew Hamilton ordered place on the front door of Central Basin.

Just a couple days before, Hamilton had inexplicably called the sheriffs to have President Leticia Vasquez arrested for asking for employee expense reports.

And just days before that, Hamilton had changed the codes and the entry keys of President Leticia Vasquez, VP Art Chacon, and Directors Phil Hawkins and Martha Camacho-Rodriguez without telling them.

The arrest meleé that ensued saw Vasquez taken into the back of a sheriff’s car to sit for 30 minutes.

A former law-enforcement officer later told HMGLCCN that the sheriffs violated President Vasquez is rights by unlawfully detaining her.

By putting the lock on the door, Hamilton created a very situation dangerous situation for people, and himself, inside the building, while violating California’s Fire Code.

The building has only only two exits, the front door and the back door, the latter is an employee-only entrance leading out to a gated parking lot.

Inside the building were several employees of Central Basin and also numerous activists who were protesting Apodaca’s harassment and the appointments of Oskoui and Arrighi.

HMG-LCCN later learned that the security guard, who works for  El Monte based Absolute International Security, put the lock on the door and did not inform anyone he had the key.

Central Basin Vice-President Art Chacon was informed of the lock and traveled down to Central Basin to assess the situation and had to get “buzzed in” to the building.

Two weeks ago, due to Hamilton, and former IT manager Albert Plimpton changing the code on his entry card.

Chacon entered the building with the protestors and saw that Hamilton had placed “no trespassing” signs on every door in the building; Chacon attempted to go upstairs but his card did not work.

He saw the lock on the door and questioned the security guard who gave him Absolute International’s corporate number to call.

Chacon called the firm and told the contact  of the security guard’s actions, the contact brushed off Chacon’s demands saying, “I work for Andrew Hamilton.”

One of the protestors subsequently called the Los Angeles County Sheriffs who arrived within twnty minutes.

When the sheriffs saw the lock, one of them ordered the guard to remove the lock saying, , “you can’t do that that is illegal.”

During the incident, Hamilton remained upstairs and locked in his office; the sheriffs would not go any further than to keep the building open.