Central Basin Municipal Water District’s board president, vice president and general counsel met privately following the indictment of General Manager Alex Rojas and unilaterally determined the eight-member board did not need to take any action against Rojas at this time, according to a redacted copy of a memorandum obtained by the Southern California News Group.
In response, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, whose district overlaps with Central Basin, is urging the water district to review its financial procedures to make sure there are safeguards “in place to protect our taxpayer dollars.”
“The District Attorney’s charges against General Manager Alex Rojas are damaging to our community and the political system,” she said in a statement. “I believe that the core reason why our Democracy works is trust and when that trust is broken, at any level, the whole institution suffers.”
Garcia passed a bill in 2016 that installed three appointed members to Central Basin’s board in response to a state audit criticizing the water district’s “poor leadership” and questionable contracting practices. Rojas was brought in as general manager in 2020 to reform the district following another period of turmoil that ended with the firing of two-thirds of the district’s staff.
The partially redacted Sept. 2 memo from Rojas to Central Basin’s board downplays the allegations against him. Prosecutors allege he took $400,000 in bribes from a contractor while serving as the superintendent of the La Puente-based Bassett Unified School District in 2015. The unredacted portion does not make any mention of the bribery allegations and largely criticizes the internal report that sparked the initial criminal investigation.
“As you may already be aware there were some serious accusations made against me stemming from a so-called internal report prepared by the general counsel of a former employer,” Rojas wrote. “The basis of this report is that a consultant defrauded the district while I was employed by the former employer. I did not hire the consultant as I wasn’t employed by the district until 2014 and I believe the consultant was hired by my former employer in 2006.”
The general manager’s missive states similar allegations of fraud, filed in a civil suit by Bassett against the Del Terra construction management company, were thrown out already.
“It is unfortunate that even though the allegations of fraud have recently been dismissed in court, the district attorney still filed charges using this same so-called internal report as a basis for the accusations,” Rojas wrote. “I have an attorney and look forward to clearing my name as quickly as possible.”
Craig Missakian, Rojas’ attorney, declined to provide clarification about the dates listed in the memorandum because, according to Missakian, the memo is privileged and should not have been disclosed to a reporter.
Rojas, who was hired by Bassett in 2014, was the superintendent when Del Terra received the multimillion-dollar construction management contract that is the foundation of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office’s case.. Prosecutors allege Rojas brought the contract to the school board, where it was approved, without the involvement of the school district’s general counsel, and that it included clauses that allowed Del Terra to bill the district for more than $1 million in extra work without the proper documentation to back up the expenses.
Missakian has denied the allegations on Rojas’ behalf.
Prosecutors allege bank records show Rojas began receiving payments from two companies tied to a family member of Del Terra’s CEO roughly a month after Bassett approved the management contract, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The payments totaled $400,000 over roughly a year-and-a-half-long period that ended in January 2017. Rojas left Bassett later that same year.
In a prior interview, Missakian said his client has worked as a public and private consultant since 2012 and whatever he was paid was “appropriate in amount and for services rendered in good faith.”
The District Attorney’s Office, however, alleges Rojas had a “financial interest” in the Del Terra contract and committed perjury by not reporting the consulting income on three years of annual financial disclosures. The other charges against both men allege they committed money laundering in the course of carrying out the bribery scheme.
After a reporter contacted Missakian, Central Basin’s attorney, Robert Baker, sent a separate email to the reporter asking him not to disclose the information as it is “protected by the Closed Session portion of the Brown Act.”
Central Basin’s board has not met in closed — or open — session, or even scheduled a meeting, since the charges against Rojas were made public.
Central Basin board member Leticia Vasquez-Wilson, a frequent opponent and vocal critic of Rojas, is calling on the District Attorney’s Office to expand its investigation to include Central Basin. The other board members, she alleges, have ignored her requests to schedule a meeting to discuss the charges and she worries about his continued handling of district funds.
“The Central Basin board of directors has an obligation to review his performance, including conducting a full audit of the district’s finances,” she said.
Central Basin is a water wholesaler that serves nearly 2 million people in 24 cities and unincoporated county areas stretching from East Los Angeles on the north, Signal Hill on the south, Carson on the west and La Habra Heights on the east. Its service area is 227 square miles.