Big late harvest of low-hanging fruit

But, will Morse and Lunney get out the orchard ladders and pick the whole tree?

9-12-08
Merced Sun-Star
Five at Merced housing nonprofit face criminal charges
Firm Build still hasn't paid many subcontractors for work performed years ago...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/449952.html [1]
Five people, including two local public officials, face criminal charges ranging from grand theft to felony embezzlement tied to the demise of a local nonprofit funded mainly by taxpayers.
Firm Build was formed by the Housing Authority in 1998 with the high-minded goal of teaching poor residents and troubled teens to become carpenters and builders. It was touted at a contractors' forum four years ago as a great resource for local builders to find skilled workers. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named it "Business of the Year" two years ago.
Today, far from being hailed as a training school to keep kids out of gangs, Firm Build has become the target of the most far-reaching criminal investigation in the 15 years that District Attorney Larry Morse II has been in that office...
The district attorney's 17-page complaint with 27 charges and six reams of reports to back up the allegations finally sheds light on what happened to one of the city's most prominent nonprofits. It had what seemed like a winning business model of free labor at the height of the county's building boom.
Only now will people begin to understand how Firm Build went from an innovative program to an allegedly criminal nonprofit enterprise.
Fresno district attorney investigators arrested Firm Build' administrative manager Joe Cuellar, a former Fresno city planner and former Housing Authority employee on Thursday.
Firm Build construction manager Rudy Buendia III, a Merced County planning commissioner and former Housing Authority commissioner, learned of his arrest warrant through his attorney. He refused to turn himself in and is now considered a fugitive...
Buendia and Cuellar allegedly left dozens of subcontractors unpaid, misused school funding, defrauded Merced residents and renovated homes below industry standards, according to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
Investigators also arrested Firm Build's former bookkeeper, Christina Ledezma, and Merced County Office of Education coordinator Patrick Bowman, who served as the nonprofit's board president.
Buendia's father, Rudy Buendia II, also faces misdemeanor charges for contracting without a license...
The criminal case exposes the incestuous relationship that formed between the Merced County Office of Education, the Housing Authority and Firm Build. Left unchecked, it allegedly led to abuses of power, squandered taxpayer money and fraud.
The investigation also highlights a rotating group of residents who wield power on interconnected public and private Merced County boards.
Buendia serves as a planning commissioner and also was a Housing Authority commissioner (both are Board of Supervisors appointments), while leading Firm Build.
Bowman, meanwhile, served as the nonprofit's president while also working at the county education office. In May, the Board of Supervisors unanimously appointed him to the Housing Authority's board, despite a publicized probe by the District Attorney's Office into Firm Build...