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Thread ID: 19994 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-09-04
2005-09-04 12:15 | User Profile
September 1, 2005
Two charity operators who collected hundreds of tons of donations from the San Diego Food Bank were charged yesterday with multiple counts of grand theft and forgery. They are accused of stealing food and other groceries meant for the poor.
Jose Alanis faces charges of grand theft and forgery.
The San Diego City Attorney's Office filed criminal complaints against Zeev Buchler and Jose Alanis, two subjects of a report this year in The San Diego Union-Tribune that examined widespread mismanagement and theft at the county's largest hunger-fighting organization.
Prosecutors expect to seek jail time for Alanis and Buchler, both of whom owned or had family members who owned retail stores selling the same types of products they withdrew from the food bank.
"This is the culmination of an extensive investigation undertaken by various agencies in cooperation with the Neighborhood House Association and the food bank," said Chris Morris, who runs the city attorney's criminal division. "This shows that we will zealously prosecute those who seek to take advantage of the disadvantaged."
Filed yesterday in San Diego County Superior Court, the complaints are the result of a five-month investigation that City Attorney Michael Aguirre opened after the newspaper report.
Buchler and Alanis were the only defendants charged in the probe. But prosecutors said they looked at several other charity officials and even some food-bank employees before deciding that additional charges probably could not be proved in court.
The investigation "was more widespread than the final two (defendants)," said Head Deputy City Attorney Cindy Davis, who oversaw the criminal investigation.
The Union-Tribune reported in February that abuse of food-bank donations was a persistent problem dating back years and that managers regularly declined to act on theft reports filed by employees.
America's Second Harvest, the national food-distribution network that sanctions the San Diego Food Bank and 210 or so other affiliates, also had warned the San Diego organization in several audits that oversight needed to be improved.
After the newspaper report was published, the food bank expelled six of the top seven agencies participating in the charity food program, and four food-bank managers retired, resigned or were fired. The nonprofit also imposed a series of policy changes aimed at shoring up compliance and eliminating theft.
In a statement issued yesterday, the food bank said it cooperated fully in the investigation.
"The city attorney's extensive investigation exonerates the Food Bank of any wrong doing and substantiates our previous determination that these agencies violated their contractual obligations and our trust," the statement said.
According to the complaints, Buchler and Alanis defrauded the food bank and donors by taking products that were supposed to help the neediest families in San Diego County.
Investigators spent much of this year reviewing records and interviewing food-bank employees, swap-meet vendors and other witnesses, Davis said in an interview.
Buchler withdrew food and other products from the food bank for more than 10 years under the authority of Chabad of San Diego, a well-known Jewish organization based in Scripps Ranch.
Buchler was charged with 32 counts of grand theft and petty theft and one count of forgery. In the last six months of 2004 alone, he collected nearly 55 tons of food-bank donations.
During the time Buchler collected groceries from the food bank, he ran a retail store on El Cajon Boulevard, was fired from an insurance agency for embezzlement and was repeatedly sued by creditors. He also declared personal bankruptcy in the 1990s.
Rabbi Josef Fradkin said yesterday that Chabad of San Diego had "absolutely no knowledge of (Buchler's) alleged activities." However, records obtained by the newspaper showed that Chabad officials knew about the withdrawals and did little to stop them beyond telling the food bank that they were not responsible for debts Buchler owed the food bank.
Davis said Buchler recently sold his house in University City and left San Diego. She expected a bench warrant to be issued for his arrest as soon as today.
"We're definitely actively looking for him," she said.
Alanis, who ran the Apostolica Fuente de Vida ministry and rehabilitation center, faces two counts of grand theft and one charge of forgery. He also has at least 20 aliases. His daughter owned a market just east of downtown San Diego, and Alanis rented space at the swap meet in Spring Valley.
On two occasions, the Union-Tribune watched Alanis collect donations from the food-bank warehouse in Miramar and drive directly to the back of his family market. "We are poor too," he said when confronted by a reporter.
Before the newspaper report, Alanis had been suspended by the food bank for failing to properly account for donations. But each time, he was allowed back into the program.
Alanis, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 5.
The forgery counts against Buchler and Alanis stem from allegations that they signed the names of other people when withdrawing groceries from the food bank. If convicted on all counts, they face up to a year in the County Jail and fines of up to $1,000.
The San Diego Food Bank distributed nearly 13 million pounds of food and groceries to needy families and smaller charities last year. It is operated by the Neighborhood House Association, the $100 million nonprofit that runs Head Start and other social-services programs across San Diego County.
[url]http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050901-9999-7m1food.html[/url]