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4 indicted in Colonies development corruption case
San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos announces bribery and corruption charges on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 against former county officials and a local developer.
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Steven Cuevas/KPCC
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This is the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s “wanted” poster for fugitive former County Supervisor Paul Biane.
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Steven Cuevas/KPCC
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4 indicted in Colonies development corruption case
4 indicted in Colonies development corruption case
A former San Bernardino County supervisor is facing multiple felonies as part of ongoing corruption investigation. Two other former county employees and a local developer are also facing charges.
The case involves a multi-million dollar land settlement between the county and a Rancho Cucamonga developer.
An attorney for Paul Biane says the former supervisor is out of state, but will turn himself into authorities as soon as he returns to San Bernardino.
Five years ago, San Bernardino County agreed to pay $102 million to settle a flood control dispute over land owned by developer Colonies Partners. Former county supervisor Bill Postmus brokered the deal. He’s already pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Colonies and allegedly pressuring other supervisors to sign off on the settlement. County DA Mike Ramos says the mastermind was Colonies chief Jeff Burum.
“He concocted a scheme to corrupt officials, board members, chiefs of board through threats, extortion, inducements and bribery," Ramos said.
Authorities say developer Burum rewarded Postmus, Biane, onetime assessor Jim Erwin and others for their help with the land dispute. They got lavish gifts, hefty political contributions and other bribes; in exchange, they helped settle the dispute on terms that were favorable to Burum. Burum’s attorney denies the allegations. The alleged scheme began about five years ago, around the time DA Mike Ramos launched San Bernardino County’s public integrity unit.
“We represent the 98.5 percent of county employees, elected county people that do the job right, ethically," Ramos said. "And we’re gonna clean up that other percentage I would say that’s been part of the history of San Bernardino County. Once we complete this investigation, this county is going to be a wonderful place as it is for the majority of people to conduct business without worrying about corruption.”
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Ramos hinted that his investigators are looking at other county officials. Developer Jeff Burum and former county employees Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk surrendered to authorities a few hours before Ramos announced the charges. If convicted on all charges, the suspects could be sentenced to a maximum of six to eight years in prison.
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