Sheriffs and their patrol cars outside Central Basin. At the time of this picture CB President Leticia Vasquez was in the back of the first patrol car.
BY BRIAN HEWS
In an incident that only can only be called extremely strange, HMG-LCCN has learned that Central Basin Municipal Water employees, who are on the side of the purveyors, Director Bob Apodaca and Asm. Cristina Garcia appointed Directors John Oskoui and Dan Arrighi, called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies and told the sheriffs to remove current president Leticia Vasquez.
Six deputy patrol car calls answered the call and created chaos when they all parked in front of the building located on Telegraph Rd. in Commerce.
In humiliating fashion, Vasquez was taken by the deputies and forced into the back of a patrol vehicle, sitting there for over 30 minutes.
When the sheriff’s finally sorted things out, they found out that the reason the employees called them was to prevent Vasquez from obtaining expense records related to employee spending.
And they also found out that the employees filed a false police report.
They immediately let Vasquez out of the car and let her go.
The call to the sheriffs was made by Andrew Hamilton, current Finance Director of Central Basin, who does not recognize Vasquez nor Vice President Art Chacon as rightful Board Officers.
Hamilton bases his abhorrent behavior on a questionable letter written by Olivarez Madruga Lemieux and O’Neill attorney Steve O’Neill on February 27 that argued the vote to elect Vasquez and Chacon was not approved by a majority.
HMG-LCCN was first to report on that letter two days ago.
Law Firm’s Questionable Letter Triggers Shocking Staff Mutiny at Central Basin
Vasquez alleges that Hamilton, who accused other Central Basin employees of misuse of the agency’s credit card, is in fact misusing the credit cards himself.
Hamilton also alledged that certain employees are committing payroll fraud, not coming into work and then receiving a paycheck.
Hamilton was hired by disgraced former GM Kevin Hunt, who was let go in December 2019 after the agency found they never validated his contract.
At the time an exclusive HMG-LCCN report found that Hunt was landing lucrative consulting contracts for his own company Hunt-Thorton, which was forbidden by his employment contract.
Central Basin Water GM Kevin Hunt Violated Employment Contract With Agency
In an email Vasquez told HMG-LCCN, “What happened today is very unfortunate however it is crystal clear that we must move forward with conducting a forensic audit of Central Basins finances. Mr. Hamilton’s disturbing and erratic behavior raises red flags about why he’s continued to withhold requested financial documents from Directors.”
“Mr. Hamilton is also guilty of paying his friend Kevin Hunt a salary and benefits after being told Hunt’s contract was invalid-this is a gift of public funds. Andrew has made numerous illegal payments that have never been approved or brought before the Board.’
A retired law enforcement officer who did not want to be identified told HMG-LCCN after reading the story, “The sheriffs totally mishandled the situation. The sheriff deputies should have separated Vasquez from the other employees inside the building and interviewed each party, not put her in a police vehicle. At that point she was basically arrested and unlawfully restrained. She was not free to leave or walk away, she was even guarded by a deputy sheriff to ensure her freedom was taken away. The deputies violated her constitutional rights.”
The entire incident was live streamed on Facebook by activist Juan Martinez.
Remarkable. This is exactly the chaos that Bob Apodaca has brought to Central Basin for the past 20 years. All the stolen funds, the questionable contracts and hires. The sad pathetic people of the Whittier area who keep electing this joker are to blame for this. This man can barely walk and now even craps in his pants at Board Meetings yet he’ll still try to steer Central Basin into the gutter if he gets his way.