Past is present
Controversial ATC member’s criminal record comes to light on eve of expulsion hearing
12/11/2009
Just days before the Altadena Town Council is slated to vote on a recommendation by an investigative committee to remove beleaguered member Herbert Simmons for alleged ethics violations, the Weekly has learned that Simmons was convicted of two misdemeanors — including one for receiving more than $44,000 of stolen computer equipment 10 years ago.
According to court documents, Simmons, now 40, was arrested three times on felony charges of receiving stolen property — all later reduced to misdemeanors, with two cases expunged and Simmons exonerated on the third — in 1995, 1998 and 1999 while running a computer repair business from his Altadena residence.
“These past experiences have been wholly resolved,” Simmons told the Weekly. “I’m not surprised someone is trying to use this against me. I have never claimed to be perfect and I have always been open and aboveboard and eager to serve the community.”
The Weekly received information about Simmons’ criminal past in the form of a letter signed only “A concerned citizen.” The accusations were mostly wrong.
A search of court records by the paper revealed the misdemeanor convictions. Simmons was exonerated in the last case, and the two misdemeanors were expunged, but all three cases remain on file and available for review.
Town Council Chair Gino Sund said that the past convictions have played no role in the ATC’s investigation of Simmons for alleged ethics violations of misrepresenting his Teacher/Student of the Month program as an ATC program backed by LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich while collecting money from local businesses.
Simmons called Antonovich’s office a “confirmed business sponsor” in an Aug. 6 letter sent to principals of local schools. Antonovich’s office denies ever supporting the program.
“He did ask for sponsorship and we said no,” Antonovich’s Assistant Chief Deputy Tony Bell told the Weekly.
Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Edwin Diaz said he believed the program was sponsored by the ATC.
The 15-member ATC is scheduled to vote on Tuesday to take no action, censure Simmons or remove him from office.
Although the 1999 criminal case was dismissed, a judge sentenced Simmons to three years probation in the 1995 case and ordered him to serve 400 hours of community service.
After another conviction in 1998, Simmons received two years probation and 200 hours of court-ordered community service.
Simmons told the Weekly that he inadvertently received the stolen equipment while operating a home-based computer business in Altadena. During that time, Simmons regularly searched the Recycler for equipment and required sellers to supply him with a copy of their drivers’ license and a signed affidavit stating that the equipment was not stolen.
Despite those precautions, sheriff’s deputies recovered computer equipment worth $44,590 stolen from the Walt Disney Co. and Health Net during a June 1998 raid on Simmons’ Altadena home.
Simmons said deputies also found a gun in the home, but he would say only that it was owned by a friend, declining to comment further. Felony weapon possession charges were later dropped in that case. Judge Collette Serio ordered Simmons to repay Disney $4,590 and Health Net $40,000.
Simmons’ record was later expunged, meaning that, although he has been convicted, legally the case was “set aside and dismissed,” which allows him to answer “no” on a job application when asked if he has ever been convicted of a crime.
“Quite honestly, who cares?” said Simmons’ attorney Rene Amy.
Ironically, it was Amy who, before becoming an attorney, blasted the local school district for its failure to run background checks on volunteers, the most notable among them John Laurence Whitaker. Prior to his arrest in 2005, Whitaker, a convicted rapist who now awaits trial on two homicides, went by the name of Whitaker-Betances while posing as a childless decorated Vietnam veteran and running the Dads Are Doing Something (DADS) program for the district.
“PUSD doesn’t care. They cleared Simmons as a volunteer in the schools. To my knowledge all issues have been expunged,” Amy said. “You can run into problems when you are dealing with things like used equipment. This would be a shock if he had in any way misstated his past, but he has been honest with the PUSD. Why is it coming out now?”
Simmons was not required to report criminal convictions when he pulled papers to run for a seat on the Altadena Town Council. Council bylaws allow for a member’s removal for felony convictions, but not for misdemeanors; it is unclear if the conviction must happen during their tenure on the ATC.
Amy said that the problem was all in the semantics and that Antonovich planned to participate.
“It is my understanding in contacting them that [Simmons] was told they would provide some certificates for the teachers,” said Amy. “There was a confirmed willingness to participate in this program. It’s an error, a typo. Clearly the supervisor’s office is not a business. People do make mistakes occasionally and I think that’s what we have here.”
The Aug. 6 letter — which was not printed on official ATC stationery — clearly states Simmons’ status as a council member and his census tract in the letterhead. It seems to paint the program as a product of the ATC, although it was Simmons’ personal project.
“Being recently elected Councilmember for Altadena Town Council, Census Tract 4602, one of my first projects is to implement a ‘Student of the Month’ and a ‘Teacher of the Month’ program for all Altadena schools,” the letter states.
Despite the opposition, Simmons has continued to honor local teachers and students and has some support in the community.
Simmons sought donations from local business owners and residents for T-shirts and certificates for winning teachers and students, but other council members accused him of misusing ATC’s name to raise money for an unapproved personal agenda
The council looked into Simmons’ activities and in October its investigative committee recommended removing him from the ATC.
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Comments
From Steve Lamb:
Alas! While it is true that there is PLENTY of conflicty of interest and under the table dealing at the Altadena Town Council, and that they should be the last group to ever judge anyones ethics, there seems to be a trend of non disclosure with Mr. Simmons.
Mr. Simmons has said to me that the whole thing with the ATC was a misunderstanding of syntax. Months later I discover that he directly in writing made representations that the Supervisors office had supported his program. I simply can't believe that he honestly made this statement.
Supervisor Antonovich and his office have always been clear that they would not offer public support or recognition for community based programs until there were results. They may point you in directions to get help but until you made good and had a track record that was the maximum of their involvement, and even that was rare. This is a policy that protects the Supervisor from embarrassment.
It turns out that the genesis of complaints was not as Mr. Simmons stated to me from other Town Council members, but from Sussy Nemer, who was justifiably miffed at Mr. Simmons misrepresentation of Supervisor Antonovich's support for his as yet not off he ground program.
From Equal Justice for All:
Well here we are again.
Ethics issues at the ATC. If Simmons did his time and made things right, end of story. Going forward however, problems seem to plague the ATC. Although most are there for the right reasons, good people that want to do their part to make the community a better place, a few seem to be at the root of what's wrong with this body. Egos run amok.
The Teacher Appreciation Award is a good thing. It should go on. Lord knows PUSD needs all the support it can get. If Simmons crossed the line, censure him. But don't toss him, he was elected by his neighbors to represent them. If they don't approve of him they will vote him out. It's hard enough to get people to run and put up with the ATC and it's monkey business. Tossing a representative, fairly elected will only bring another black eye to the ATC.
From BlahBlahBlah:
Simmons does not understand that the ATC is not a governing or legislative body, but merely an advisory body to the county Board of Supervisors, so he needs to brush up his knowledge of government. Simmons acts like he is on trial. Yet, in a way he is because the ATC has blown this issue way out of proportion and created unnecessary controversy by holding closed meetings and ethics investigations into Simmons' conduct. The actions of the ATC have raised Simmons' importance to a ridiculous level. If the members of the ATC were not so wrapped up in their own egos and desire for power where there is none, they would ignored Simmons and instead, would have demanded that the PUSD school board look into PUSD administration for allowing Simmons, who is not employed by the PUSD, to randomly set up a school award program in our public schools. But oh, I forgot, this is the same ATC and PUSD that brokered the deal to allow the private Altadena country club exclusive access to the public tennis courts at Eliot. Oops!
Whatever the outcome of the closed session proceedings, I would like to see review and revision of ATC Bylaws, open to all residents of Altadena.
How can we get that on the agenda?
An elected representative should be either recalled by the constituents or, if hearings are demanded, those hearings should be public.
Ashton Rice
Forget the Altadena Town Council and their silly, small-minded concerns. The more important question here is, why do PUSD administration, PUSD teachers, and PUSD PARENTS continue to allow this repeatedly convicted criminal (and the typical excuses) to operate his programs in the PUBLIC schools?