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The Criminal Grand Jury Transcriptby Clint Miller2/27/06
by Clint Miller2/27/06The indictment of former Mayor Mike King for 1) Conspiring to defraud the South County Fire Authority by submitting a false claim and 2) For submitting a false claim to same has been extensively covered by the media during the last two weeks. In setting the amount of King’s bail, presiding Judge Mark Forcum commented, “This is a crime of violating the public trust, very serious in my judgment”(see page 256 of transcript). Details of this long and involved case will not be reviewed here as there are a number of articles in the T.A.S.C. Archives covering the courtroom history and the roles played by both Peg Collier and Mike King in these ongoing legal proceedings. The transcript of the testimony of witnesses and the deliberations of the Criminal Grand Jury was obtained by T.A.S.C. and is the basis for this article. The Grand Jury met on January 5 and February 2 last before handing down its indictment.
Much of the content of the transcript is a repetition of the Pre-trial hearing for Collier conducted last year before she plead to reduced charges in exchange for her cooperation in future investigations and hearings. Of interest to us here is the testimony of Collier, Don Eaton and Sherman Hall, all of whom are new players. Then there is the mystery of an individual or business entity that is referred to as “Taylor Freezer.” Though their testimony makes captivating reading, the Grand Jury’s rejection of King’s previous “template” defense is a major development and does not auger well for his future success of beating the charges.
Peg Collier:
Testimony given by Collier is most damaging to Mike King. She alleges on numerous occasions that it was King who directed her actions in submitting fraudulent invoices. She testified that King phoned her in early February of ’04 to say that he was going to submit her bill a different way. He suggested she fax it to Mike Garvey because he (King) was at work and did not have Garvey’s phone number (see page 176). This seems lame in hindsight, as King was Mayor at the time and no doubt made daily calls to City Hall. She made similar allegations about King’s lead role during her interrogation by Inspector Mark Scheffler in September of “04; so her story has remained consistent though we are given many more details in this telling. That she did not originate the billing scheme is clear from her testimony and this claim appears coherent with that of other witnesses.
Don Eaton:
On September 16, ’04, early in the investigation, Eaton was interviewed by law enforcement officials in his office in San Mateo regarding his knowledge of the matter. This interview was taped and later transcribed (see page 139). At about this time, it was informally suggested to Eaton by Jim Hartnette, an attorney and Redwood City Councilor, that perhaps he should consider getting an attorney (see page 109-110). Eaton did not act on this suggestion. During his testimony before the Grand Jury earlier this month, Eaton’s memory appeared to not serve him well. His recollections of some of the details he was being asked about were at odds with his earlier interview. He suggested that perhaps the investigator’s notes were incorrect which prompted the prosecutor to remind him that a transcript of his previous statements was on file.
Sherman Hall:
Detective Hall works for the City of Atherton and he was the computer forensics expert who extracted data from Collier’s computer. The documents that he retrieved are central to this case and make up the bulk of the exhibits entered by the District Attorney as evidence against King and Collier. Hall’s involvement is surprising because of the media’s reporting on efforts to extract information from Collier’s computer in the fall of ’04. The papers were all reporting that the DA’s efforts to retrieve information were stymied and that no progress could be made until the arrival of special software (costing $15k to $20k) to crack Collier’s computer. Later, it was reported that the computer had been shipped off to a Texas firm specializing in this type of work. These out-of-state efforts were reported as not being successful, only to have the DA announce shortly thereafter that the information had been extracted. There is no explanation for this series of events.
Taylor Freezer:
Everyone is puzzled by who or what Taylor Freezer is. This curious notation appears at the top of a fax containing a revised version of one of Collier’s invoices. Fax machines all print a unique identifying name and phone number indicating the origin of the fax. Jere Kersnar, City Manager of Belmont, was first to note this oddity when shown a copy of the fax in question (see page 54). The prosecutor asked him if he knew who Taylor Freezer was and he answered “No.” Collier, when first seeing the same fax, wondered how this notation could possibly appear on a document supposedly sent from her machine. The prosecutor suggested she ignore this tag line but she kept coming back to it. Finally, the prosecutor says cryptically, “Maybe we’ll deal with that later” (see page 209). Finally, a Grand Juror asks about Taylor Freezer just before deliberations began and receives a non-answer from the prosecutor (see page 246). It should be noted that the court recorder spelled “Taylor Freezer” phonetically. The spelling, as it appears in the transcript may not be the same as that appearing on the fax in question. Taylor Freezer may be totally insignificant or it could lead to somewhere interesting, but we will just have to wait for the trial to find out.
Conclusion:
The major conclusion to be drawn from the reading of the transcript is that there was a huge amount of arrogance, hubris and, above all, stupidity involved in this scheme. From the beginning, there has been speculation by many that Mike King and Peg Collier may not be the only principals involved in the scheme to bilk SCFA. Administrative knowledge was required in order to create and submit the invoices. Whoever supplied the names of the fire fighters appearing on the bill would have required inside knowledge of the details of SCFA employee rolls. Currently, it appears that these two are the only individuals that the DA has evidence on thus the outcome of the upcoming trial is of interest to all in San Carlos.
King’s jury selection and trial is scheduled for March 27, at 9 AM in Department 28.
Wheeler Dealer
From the dropping like flies department: Human Resources Director, Andrea Greenberg has indicated that she is stepping down. Last month Richard Averett, contract Director of Finance, also tendered his resignation. Those who have been watching City Hall over the years will recall that early in Mike Garvey’s largely failed contracting experiment there was talk of former Police Chief, Jim Granucci and Ms. Greenberg both converting to contract status to run their respective departments. Granucci is currently head of the San Mateo County Crime Lab and at this writing the future employer (should she find new employment) of Ms. Greenberg is not known. We wish her well in her retirement.
Two Plus Two Negotiations:
For nearly seven weeks, Belmont and San Carlos have been vigorously negotiating to save SCFA. Meetings have been frequent and intense but at this writing it appears that there is hope of averting the end of our fire service. The San Carlos CC will consider the matter on February 27th and Belmont’s CC will review
progress the following night. Grocott and Grassilli, both new members of the Fire Board, have done an admirable job for San Carlos and the Belmont’s good
faith efforts in the new political climate are also to be recognized. Gary Jacobs of SCF has turned in an exemplary performance in providing both CCs with an
informational spread sheet on which to make the necessary financial decisions. It is with cautious optimism that we anticipate a positive outcome of this matter for the citizens of the two cities.
The people do not yield their sovereignty to the bodies that serve them. The people insist on remaining informed to retain control over the legislative bodies they have created.
THE BROWN ACT
In this edition of TASC:
In the News
The transcript of the testimony of witnesses and the deliberations of the Criminal Grand Jury was obtained by T.A.S.C. and is the basis for this article.
In the last edition of TASC:
These articles will be found in their entirety on the News Archive 3 page
The Harvey Rose report reflecting on the City's contracting practices is finally out -- and it is quite illuminating.
Richard Averitt has announced his resignation.
Read an article sumitted by a San Carlos resident with respect to the proposed building of two homes on Wellington.
T.A.S.C.
Trust & Accountability
in San Carlos
