City Charges 3 Men With Misusing Housing Funds

Continuing a crackdown on alleged abuses in publicly funded earthquake repairs, the city attorney’s office charged three men Tuesday with defrauding the city’s Housing Department.

Moshe Levy, 42, of Agoura Hills, who operates Agoura Hills-based Guy Construction Co., and David Farrell, 41, of Manhattan Beach, a part-owner of a small Northridge apartment building, were charged with grand theft and conspiracy. Arthur Aslanian, 28, of Sherman Oaks, who runs Sherman Oaks-based Li-Con Construction Co., was charged with failure to pay prevailing wages.

The charges, all misdemeanors, were filed in Los Angeles Municipal Court and could lead to fines, jail time and other sanctions if the men are convicted, prosecutors said. The three are scheduled for arraignment in March.

Two similar cases have already been prosecuted by the city, and Deputy City Atty. Deborah Sanchez said she expects to file charges against at least three more firms by the end of March.

“We’re probably looking at the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “As we continue to look at these cases there will probably be more.”

Prosecutors allege that Aslanian’s company failed to pay four plumbers and a laborer a total of $112,687 in wages for repairs to the Shelter for the Homeless in Koreatown. Sanchez said he paid the five workers between $9 and $15 an hour, but state labor laws required him to pay at least $23 to $35.85 an hour.

He was also charged with failing to pay the state unemployment insurance funds he withheld from his employees’ paychecks.

Levy and his company and Farrell were accused of collecting $35,321 in public funds from 1995 through 1997 for insurance they never obtained and for work not performed on a five-unit apartment building in the 18400 block of Vincennes Street in Northridge.