The nation’s top accident investigator said Thursday that a surge in close calls between planes at U.S. airports this year is a “clear warning sign” that the aviation system is under stress.

“While these events are incredibly rare, our safety system is showing clear signs of strain that we cannot ignore,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a Senate panel on Thursday.

Also see: 3 passengers sue Alaska Airlines after off-duty pilot accused of trying to cut engines mid-flight

Homendy warned that air traffic and staffing shortages have surged since the pandemic. She said there has been a “lack of meaningful” training — and more reliance on computer-based instruction — by the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines, and too many irregular work schedules among pilots and air traffic controllers.

“Where you end up with that is distraction, fatigue,” she told the aviation subcommittee. “You are missing things, you are forgetting things.”

Also see: Delta says California pilot accused of threatening to shoot the captain no longer works for the airline

The NTSB is investigating six close calls, or what aviation insiders call “runway incursions.” The FAA identified 23 of the most serious types of close calls in the last fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1, up from 16 the year before and 11 a decade ago. Independent estimates suggest those figures grossly understate such incidents.

Thursday’s hearing included only a momentary discussion of pilot mental health, which is on travelers’ minds because of the arrest of an off-duty pilot accused of trying to disable a plane in midflight and a co-pilot who allegedly threatened to shoot the captain.

Also see: United Airlines flight attendants want Dodgers questioned about racial bias claims

The hearing produced no new ideas for increasing safety but brought a new warning about the potential for travel disruptions over the upcoming holidays because the FAA doesn’t have enough air traffic controllers.

“We are not healthier than we were last year, controller-wise,” said Rich Santa, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “I think FAA’s own numbers indicate we have potentially six more air traffic controllers than we had last year.”

The union president said many controllers are forced to work 10-hour days or six-day weeks.

Related story: Horizon Air cockpit scare revives pilot mental health concerns

The Transportation Department’s inspector general criticized the FAA in a report this summer, saying the agency has made only “limited efforts” to fix a shortage at staffing at critical air traffic control centers.

Among the close calls in recent months, the scariest occurred in February in Austin, Texas. During poor visibility in the early morning hours, a FedEx cargo plane preparing to land flew over the top of a Southwest Airlines jet that was taking off. The NTSB has estimated that they came within about 100 feet of colliding.

An air traffic controller had cleared both planes to use the same runway. In other recent incidents, pilots appeared to be at fault.

When attorney Annee Della Donna hired driving instructor Daniel Mulrenin, she was unaware he had another set of skills. He was a private investigator and retired Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant haunted by the case of two Black teenagers who he believed were wrongly convicted on multiple charges of attempted murder.

Mulrenin couldn’t stop thinking about it. And in Della Donna’s kitchen, he couldn’t stop talking about it.

“I couldn’t let it go, because I know they didn’t do it,” Mulrenin recalled. “How could I come home to my wife and live by the beach when those guys are serving 11 consecutive life sentences?”

Della Donna had a full calendar of civil cases and no experience as a criminal lawyer. But she listened as Mulrenin told how he was hired by a defense firm to look into the Los Angeles County conviction of Juan Rayford with Dupree Glass. Rayford’s family, however, ran out of money and the firm dropped the case, Mulrenin said.

“I took the opportunity to tell her about Juan and Dupree because I was stuck in limbo and I had no lawyer who could pick it up and run,” Mulrenin said.

He found a sympathetic ear in Della Donna, an aficionado of Russian ballet and the wife of a hospital emergency room doctor. A self-described crusader, Della Donna liked nothing more than to champion underdogs.

Mulrenin knew she was hooked when her eyes lit up and she asked to hear more.

“I had prayed and prayed about it, I didn’t know a lot of attorneys,” said Mulrenin, a devout Catholic whose experience had shown him that cops can make mistakes. “She was the answer to my prayers.”

In that kitchen, the gumshoe/driving instructor and the attorney/mom forged a partnership in 2011 determined to prove the innocence of Rayford and Glass, despite a prosecutorial team intent on preserving their convictions.

Help from law students

Mulrenin dropped off stacks of boxes containing evidence at Della Donna’s house. Those files detailed the Jan. 2, 2004, shooting that was quickly blamed on two teenagers who had no idea what they were in for.

Della Donna enlisted the aid of students at the UC Irvine School of Law, who helped tear through the documents, track down witnesses, review legal theories and prepare court challenges. Their work would blossom into a university project dubbed Innocence OC, which today works on behalf of others thought to be wrongly convicted.

In all, they have won the release of 13 people through a reversal of convictions or clemency petitions.

“Most lawyers go their entire careers and never have something like Annee is doing,” said Anna Davis, who runs the pro bono program at the UC Irvine School of Law. “I think the students just love Annee, she’s got energy and passion that you just don’t see.”

Said Della Donna: “I’ve always been a bit of a Nancy Drew.”

Nine years after Della Donna and Mulrenin joined forces, the case against Rayford and Glass collapsed on appeal and they were released in October 2020 — after spending nearly 17 years behind bars. Earlier this year, a judge declared Rayford and Glass were not the shooters.

And in November, the state is expected to give them nearly $900,000 apiece in compensation for their time in prison.

In recent interviews with the Southern California News Group, Rayford and Glass discussed what happened the day of the shootings, their gratitude for those who secured their release and how they have rebuilt their lives since they walked out of prison.

Night of the shooting

On Jan. 2, 2004, Juan Rayford was an 18-year-old with NFL dreams, having played wide receiver for the Antelope Valley High School football team.

He was at a party that night, shooting dice in the back room, when he heard his friend, Dupree Glass, 17, was heading to another house to fight a guy who had challenged him. Rayford drove with Glass to the second house; both said they didn’t have any guns.

When they arrived, 15 to 20 other kids were already milling around the front yard, waiting to see the fight. But the other combatant never showed up. Sheila Lair, who owned the house, walked out the front door to tell everybody to go home, there wasn’t going to be a fight that night.

And that’s when the shooting started. Eight bullets were fired from outside the house, piercing windows and walls, according to court records. Two people were injured, but no one was killed.

Glass, in an interview, remembered hugging the ground, “trying to figure out who was doing this dumb-ass (stuff) because we all knew each other.” Glass had shared several meals with Lair’s family at the house.

After the shooting, he and Rayford went home and forgot about it. “I was a kid, like, no harm, no foul,” Glass said.

But Lair, angry that her home had been shot up, didn’t forget about it. Neither did Los Angeles County sheriff’s Detective Christopher Keeling.

Eleven days after the shooting, Rayford and Glass were at a Highland High School basketball game. A teacher walked up to Glass and took him to a deputy. Rayford walked over to see what was happening. Both teenagers went to jail that night and didn’t get out for nearly two decades.

At the sheriff’s station, Glass remembered seeing a bulletin for his arrest on the wall, devil horns drawn with red ink on his photo. He said there were darts in the poster.

“It was beyond devastating. When you’re young, you’re naive,” he said. “I didn’t grow up going to court or visiting prisons. I knew nothing about that world.”

He was about to find out.

‘Excited to start trial’

Glass and Rayford thought it was all a misunderstanding that would get cleared up, at least when they got to trial. “The whole time we were actually excited to start trial, because we didn’t do nothing,” Glass said.

The trial came in September 2004. It was a two-day affair that Della Donna said was before an all-White jury. Forensics showed the shots came from two directions and from two different calibers. No guns were recovered.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake called two eyewitnesses, Lair and her 15-year-old daughter, Donisha Williams.

Both identified Rayford and Glass as the shooters. Another person, Douglas Bland — who went by the moniker “Fat Man” — had also been identified as a shooter. According to court records submitted by Della Donna, forensics had shown there were only two gunmen. So how could both Rayford and Glass be implicated?

Prosecutor Blake argued there must have been three shooters.

Blake also used the then-novel “kill zone” theory of law, which was adopted in California in 2002 under the case of People vs. Bland. Since there were 11 people in the house at the time of the shooting — all in the so-called “kill zone” — Rayford and Glass were charged by Blake with 11 counts of attempted willful murder.

A jury convicted them of all 11 counts, each carrying a consecutive life sentence. The judge also tacked on 220 years apiece for gang enhancements.

At the time Glass was 5-feet-7, 120 pounds, and looking at hard time.

‘Shocked, confused, scared, nervous’

“It was like being snatched from heaven and going to hell without no good reason,” Glass said.

Rayford couldn’t wrap his brain around the idea that he wasn’t free to leave.

“I was shocked, confused, scared, nervous. I couldn’t see myself going to jail for something I hadn’t done,” he said. “I always assumed … everything was going to iron itself out. I would have bet a million dollars I was going home that day.”

Prison was tough on the two lifers. As a juvenile, Glass started in county jail and eventually was sent to a Level 4, high-security, state correctional facility. There were nights that Glass went to sleep praying he wouldn’t wake up.

“Murders, rapes, whatever you can think of, I’ve witnessed it,” he said. “I lost hope.”

Juan Rayford was barely an adult — a terrified teenager — when he entered prison. After the first frightening year, Rayford acclimated to prison life, studying in the law library and working as a janitor of sorts. He became a middleman for prisoners, passing notes while sweeping the floors, delivering food or hot water for tea, working somewhat as a prison porter.

New attorney takes case

In that capacity, he met another prisoner known only to him as “Sugar Bear.” For some reason that Rayford still doesn’t know, “Sugar Bear” hooked up Rayford with his attorney, who took Rayford’s case and hired private investigator Mulrenin.

But Rayford’s family ran out of money for the attorney and Mulrenin was left with no lawyer to pursue the case. And that’s when he found Della Donna, who had a soft spot for charity work. As a teen, she once labored for a week in the kitchen of a Tijuana poor house.

Della Donna was intrigued, but first wanted to meet Rayford before signing on to working for free. She and Mulrenin drove the 4 1/2 hours to the men’s prison in San Luis Opisbo; it was Della Donna’s first time in a correctional institution. After talking to Rayford, she believed his story.

“From there she jumped in with both feet,” remembered Mulrenin. “From that point, I had to keep up with her. … Annee is a bulldog.”

Criminal law novice

Della Donna knew little, if anything, about criminal law. Her background was in civil injury. In the 1980s, she was an associate for retired California Supreme Court Justice Marcus Kaufman, working on appellate cases. The experience stoked Della Donna’s scrappy spirit

“When people tell me ‘no,’ I don’t listen,” she said.

Della Donna started boning up on criminal law, talking to every criminal attorney she could find and eventually turning to UCI Law School. She put together a group of five students to work through the case of Rayford and Glass.

Della Donna and the students debated, wrote briefs, tore the case apart. Discrepancies appeared. The “kill zone” theory seemed overly broad. And no one had interviewed the 20 or so other people present during the shooting, she said.

Della Donna and her students went to work, tracking down 12 other witnesses and sending Mulrenin to interview them. Each person they interviewed said Rayford and Glass were not the shooters. Della Donna also found Lair’s other daughter, Shadonna, who said she could see Rayford and Glass and they were not armed.

Confronted by Mulrenin with those statements, Lair said she was angry that Rayford and Glass wouldn’t tell her the names of the actual shooters.

“She said something to the effect, ‘Well, if they weren’t the shooters, they should have told me who the shooters were,’ ” Mulrenin said.

Despite the growing evidence that Rayford and Glass were innocent, prosecutors fought to preserve the convictions and keep them in prison.

‘Kill zone’ theory challenged

Before Della Donna got involved, an appellate court dropped the gang enhancements, citing insufficient evidence that the two young men belonged to a gang. Della Donna went to work on the “kill zone” theory, filing brief after brief to the appeals court that the theory was overly broad and improperly applied.

In 2019, the state Supreme Court changed the game in People v. Canizales, ruling the theory requires that the shooter intend to murder one specific person in the kill zone and be willing to take down all the others in the zone to accomplish that goal. Such was not the case with Rayford and Glass, and, the next year, appellate justices overturned their 11 convictions. The district attorney’s office ultimately decided not to retry the case.

But Rayford and Glass weren’t out of the woods. Because of red tape and bureaucratic mix-ups, it took months for Della Donna to get both of them out of prison.

“Annee had to do what Annee does, piss people off to get me home,” Rayford said. “I was living the dream that day.”

Before Glass left the facility in Kern Valley, he gave his shoes to a fellow prisoner and then walked out of the gates to call his mother.

“I’m beyond grateful,” he said. “Every time I see (Della Donna and Mulrenin), it’s like I’m meeting Lebron James.”

But Della Donna wasn’t finished. She and civil lawyer Eric Dubin wanted a judge to declare Rayford and Glass factually innocent  — and the attorneys wanted the state to pay the pair for their time in prison after being wrongfully convicted.

DA stands by convictions

Della Donna won a hearing on their innocence, which was opposed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office under reformist George Gascon. A response submitted by prosecutors said they still believed Rayford and Glass shot at Lair’s home.

“The defendants are not actually innocent,” said the D.A.’s opposition papers. “The motion’s principal claim — that two key trial witnesses lied under oath — is false. … Respondent has not lost confidence in this conviction.”

Testifying during the innocence hearing in April, Lair stayed the course, giving the same testimony as in the trial — Rayford and Glass were the shooters. Only this time, her credibility was damaged by what she had earlier told Mulrenin. Her daughter, Donisha, didn’t show up to testify, Della Donna said.

When it was their turn, Della Donna and Dubin had a new witness, Chad McZeal, a gang member serving 90 years to life for another shooting. McZeal confessed on the witness stand to being the second shooter at Lair’s home, clearing Rayford and Dupree. McZeal had earlier reached out from prison to Rayford’s family, wanting to clear his conscience.

What sealed the deal for Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke was the courtroom reaction of Rayford and Glass to McZeal’s confession.

Rayford jumped to his feet in court and began yelling, “Why?” Glass sobbed at the defense table.

Judge: Not the shooters

“Now, that is what I call newly discovered evidence,” Jacke said, adding, “Mr. Rayford and Mr. Glass were not shooters, nor did they aid and abet the actual shooters, who the court believes were Mr. Bland and Mr. McZeal.”

Still, Della Donna and Dubin had one more task. They continued to fight for Rayford and Glass to get paid out of a state fund for victims of crime.

In September, the state Attorney General’s Office said it would not oppose the California Victim Compensation Board’s decision to award Rayford and Glass $867,020 each for 6,136 days of incarceration. The board is scheduled to consider the payment Nov. 16.

Both Rayford and Glass now work for Walmart and have small children. Rayford’s high school sweetheart had waited for him.

Meanwhile, Della Donna’s Innocence OC has become one of the most popular volunteer projects on the UC Irvine Law School campus, with 52 students going through it over the years. She and Dubin now are taking aim at dismantling the “kill zone” theory overall, saying it is overused by prosecutors to avoid having to prove intent in attempted murder cases.

“There’s a lot more Juan and Duprees out there, a lot more stories to be told,” Dubin said.

And Della Donna’s daughter, Eliana, now 28, did, indeed, get her driver’s license — although her skill behind the wheel is questionable, says her mother.

Between Feb. 21 and March 13, more than 4 feet of snow fell on the mountain communities. Roads clogged, stranding residents and workers. Powerlines severed, plunging families into darkness. Six months later, residents of the San Bernardino Mountains still haven’t fully recovered.

This is a timeline of how those 21 days played out for San Bernardino County leaders, including the stress, confusion and fear felt by mountain residents and county officials. It’s told through 2,343 pages of internal San Bernardino County emails obtained through a California Public Records Act request by the Southern California News Group. Logs from the county’s winter storm hotline call center were also released, but six months after the initial March 23 request, the county has yet to release text messages between high-ranking officials that are related to the snow emergency.

The documents show a county government that at first appeared more concerned about flooding than a blizzard and that found itself confronting communication issues with state legislators and outside government agencies.

Concerns about flooding make sense, said Dawn Rowe, chairperson of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

“Prior to the storm, that was our concern,” Rowe said, specifically along 22,000 acres burned by the El Dorado Fire in 2020. Today, most of the burn scar remains vulnerable to flash floods.

The county’s storm response showed the value of having a single publicly accessible source of information that everyone can access and the need to have a dedicated county staff liaison to deal with elected officials, Rowe said.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

Late-winter storms rolled in the last week of February. The National Weather Service issued its first blizzard warning in Southern California since 1989. In San Bernardino County, officials were preparing.

The first two storms were expected to drop 1 to 5 feet of snow above 4,000 feet and 5 to 6 feet of snow near Big Bear. By Wednesday night, Feb. 22, the snow level was forecasted to potentially fall to 2,000 feet.

The third storm, Thursday, Feb. 23, and Friday, Feb. 24, was expected to be warmer. Forecasters said it might melt snow, causing runoff in areas previously devastated by wildfire. Forecasts called for up to 8 inches of rain in the mountains.

The Department of Public Works had staff working 24 hours a day in 12-hour shifts until the storms passed.

“This is a dangerous storm,” the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office tweeted. “Do not travel in the mountains Friday and Saturday.”

Friday, Feb. 24

Even as 1 to 2 feet of snow were forecast for the San Bernardino Mountains, county officials worried about runoff.

“Rain is expected to turn the heavy snow that fell earlier this week into potentially heavy runoff, posing a possible danger to areas below the El Dorado Fire burn scar,” county spokesperson David Wert wrote in an email to county officials.

Sunday, Feb. 26

According to the National Weather Service, 2 feet more of snow fell in Big Bear Lake, the only San Bernardino Mountains community for which the service archives data.

Now buried in snow, residents in Crestline, Lake Arrowhead and elsewhere in the mountains were frustrated. Rowe received an angry email from resident Alex Mendoza.

“It appears the state and (county) plows stood down while this storm hit, leaving snow to pile up,” the email reads. “Power is still out in certain areas with weather dropping to the 20s. The solution is not (to) call 911, they are overloaded. There is even an abandoned fire truck in Crestline, stuck in the snow. Where is our representation? I can only imagine how the response will be in a major earthquake.”

Mountain residents complained to the media of watching snow plows go over the same roads over and over again, while leaving secondary streets alone.

Department of Public Works “graders cannot always operate effectively in deep snow,” department spokesperson Amy Ledbetter wrote in an email to staff. “In conditions like this, it cuts down our fleet to mostly the loaders until we can reactivate the graders.”

Monday, Feb. 27

Three days after the blizzard began, San Bernardino County declared a state of emergency as residents continued emailing officials.

“People are absolutely stranded, cannot drive, may have run out of necessities and food, whose homes, roofs and decks are collapsing under the weight of 12,000 pounds of snow, need prescriptions or dire medical aid,” an email to Rowe from Lake Arrowhead resident Virginia Paleno reads. “I am afraid we will find out many have died … We cannot do it alone. It is too much for us to bear.”

Officials assembled talking points for the next day’s Board of Supervisors meeting:

• This was the first blizzard warning in San Bernardino County history
• There have not been any reports of major injuries or damage
• Another 2 feet of snow is expected Feb. 28 and 29

The county set up a hotline to get mountain residents information and connect them to the help they needed. Four calls came in the first day.

Tuesday, Feb. 28

In its second day, the hotline was more popular, receiving 122 phone calls, six days after the first weather service warnings.

“Client is unable to pay for another night at the motel she is staying at with her (redacted) small children,” one entry from the hotline call log reads. “She said she has the address (of the Redlands reception center) but she has no form of transportation because her car broke down today.”

Amber Anaya, of the Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency, copied Daniel Muñoz, the county’s emergency operations director, on an email about how the storm was affecting San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono counties.

Mountains Community Hospital in Lake Arrowhead couldn’t transfer patients needing a higher level of care down the mountain, Anaya wrote. A county fire department ambulance was in an accident the night before and was out of commission. Hospital employees, many of them burned out and overwhelmed, couldn’t get to work because of unplowed roads or having no access to gas.

As of 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28, about 2,100 customers in Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs and Crestline lacked power, Southern California Edison spokesperson Jennifer Menjivar-Shaw wrote to county officials. A large tree had knocked out powerlines in Crestline. Heavy snowfall meant workers couldn’t get there safely.

Wednesday, March 1

Another 20 inches of snow fell in Big Bear Lake on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The call center received 478 calls, nearly quadruple the number as the day before.

“Roof is cracking and potentially caving in; fire department is in communication with her to get her out,” the log of a call from Running Springs reads. “Is asking about a shelter for her to go to once she is out. Wants to get down from the mountain. Is very hysterical and crying on the phone.”

Upset Wrightwood residents wrote Supervisor Paul Cook’s office. The community had not been included in county update emails. Residents worried that meant the county didn’t have a plan for Wrightwood if conditions there worsened. Cook’s office asked the county communications team to mention Wrightwood in future emails.

Tim Donnelly, a former California Assembly member and Twin Peaks resident, wrote Rowe to pass along a rumor. Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, had told him that San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus didn’t believe the county needed the National Guard’s help.

“If you can get Dicus to request Nat. Guard help, I can get him or you on (KFI radio talk show hosts) John and Ken and you can look like heroes,” Donnelly’s email reads.

“Or I can go back on (since they’ve said they’ll check back in with me) and I can tell them that you guys held a nice press conference and said a lot of nice words, but our roads are still impassible and it’s just a matter of time til someone dies as a result,” he wrote.

Rowe wrote Dicus about the rumor.

In her email, Rowe wrote that state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Redlands, “called me this evening and asked me why you didn’t want the state’s help, but I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Now this email below came in.”

Lackey got it wrong, Dicus said.

“I did speak to Tom Lackey today,” Dicus’ email reads. “What Tom offered from the National Guard was heavy helicopter support to move manpower around. There was no conversation about any type of heavy equipment.”

The California Office of Emergency Services forwarded a report that the body of a Lake Arrowhead man was being stored in his garage. He had apparently died of a heart attack while shoveling snow, but his widow was unable to get anyone up to help her with the body. Then-county CEO Leonard X. Hernandez requested the Sheriff’s Department get someone to the home quickly.

Hernandez wrote high-ranking county officials. He explained he would be requesting $20 million at the emergency Board of Supervisors meeting later that day.

The money, he wrote, would be spent on purchasing or renting heavy equipment for snow removal, food and necessities for snowed-in residents, rebuilding public infrastructure and equipment and supplies to prevent secondary emergencies like flooding.

On Wednesday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 13 counties — including San Bernardino County — due to the storms.

Thursday, March 2

The call center received 930 calls.

“Snowplow (blocked) the driveway of the caller,” the log of a call from Big Bear City reads. “They are attempting to get to the emergency room. They called the sheriff’s department and the sheriff’s department provided the hotline number.”

By March 2 at 7:30 p.m., the number of customers in Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs and Crestline without power had dropped to 1,900. Only 200 more customers had power than had it on Feb. 28.

“We are doing everything we can while considering the safety of our employees and contract crews,” Edison spokesperson Menjivar-Shaw wrote to county officials.

Hernandez congratulated county staff on their good work.

“The recent storms of the last week were yet another reason to be proud,” his email read. “This past week and a half, more than a dozen county departments and their dedicated employees planned and executed a coordinated and comprehensive response to the unprecedented winter storms in our mountain communities.”

Leia Fletes, the county’s chief of government relations, wrote to then-county Chief Operations Officer Luther Snoke. The National Guard, she wrote, could provide help removing snow, but the county had to request authorization from CalOES. Until then, the National Guard was only authorized for “recon,” deliveries, and search-and-rescue operations in the mountains.

Friday, March 3

The call center received 1,048 calls. It was the call center’s busiest day.

“Street needs a plow so he and family can get out,” the log of a call from Cedar Glen reads. “Stated that he is all out of diesel to assist others. Wife is sick and has health issues, she will need medicine soon. Needs county to plow the roads. States he has equipment to assist in efforts. He want to know who to charge for plowing counties roads.”

A media report quoted CalOES spokesperson Brian Ferguson as saying the National Guard would be arriving in Lake Arrowhead the day before to assist residents and clear snow.

Rowe was not pleased.

“The world now has an expectation that we will be discussing this operation at today’s press conference,” she wrote in an email to Hernandez and county spokespersons. “I am hopeful that someone else is aware of this situation, since I am not.”

Hernandez replied, Rowe later wrote in an email to her staff.

“Leonard said CalOES is unaware of any resources being sent our way yet, so this is horrible that Brian Ferguson would say this,” Rowe wrote.

At noon, 1,100 mountains residents remained without power.

“That number fluctuates due to the dynamic situation” in the Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs and Crestline areas, according to Menjivar-Shaw.

Frustrated residents were emailing anyone they could. Clerk of the Board Lynna Monell received an email from Lake Arrowhead resident Jeannie Lerman.

“I live on an access road that has three elderly widows that are in their 80s and 90s and cannot possibly clear their driveways or a path to their houses!” Lerman’s email reads. “What resources do they have? Will the National Guard assist them? How do we/they get on a list for assistance? Please let me know.”

Saturday, March 4

The call center received 799 calls.

“In desperate need of street to be cleared of snow,” the log of a call from the Valley of Enchantment reads. “Have been calling every day, running out of food. No way to get to stores.”

The county began coordinating donations through the hotline, routing would-be donors to a second pool of operators.

Wert asked staff creating the donations flyer to be specific about what sort of donations, other than cash, were sought.

“The messaging should be clear about what else can be donated, and — very important for at least the public messaging — very clear about what cannot be donated. For instance, are we requiring that donations be in usable condition, clean, not in need of mending or repair, etc.? Past calls for donations have yielded soiled blankets, broken toys, etc., creating visuals of heaps of unused items that opened the county to criticism that donations were not being passed along to those in need.”

According to an email briefing prepared by county staff for the Board of Supervisors, two privately owned 20,000-gallon water tanks were destroyed by a snow slide in Forest Falls and a 100,040- gallon tank was damaged. Local residents continued to receive water from a secondary source — but were told to boil it.

After two gas-related fires overnight, county fire investigators and hazmat emergency responders searched for more gas leaks. The county, in cooperation with SoCal Gas, brought in a helicopter equipped with a gas spectrometer to identify and find gas leaks.

“Structure fires are a major concern,” the briefing reads, in part.

As of March 4, the storm response had cost more than $1.2 million, according to the briefing.

Hernandez vetoed supplies being brought in by private helicopter, which would lower them via 150-foot long cables.

“Dropping food from above into a crowded area is very concerning to us,” Hernandez wrote in an email to Michael Stoffel, deputy chief of staff for Supervisor Jesse Armendarez. “Our team is not supportive of this approach.”

Monday, March 6

The call center received 847 calls.

“Caller is currently snowed in, he found out today his driveway has a berm,” the log of a call from Crestline reads in part. “He has missed two doctors’ appointments in order to assess his (injured) hand … ‘Ukraine has better resources, and they have access to their roads.’”

The weather service warned of up to 1 inch of rain the coming weekend. It did not expect any flooding.

Hernandez didn’t want to take chances.

“I would like to see us address the worst-case scenario and we will need to message this out to residents,” he wrote in an email to senior staff.

Friday, March 10

The call center received 232 calls.

“The caller is calling about her sister who is elderly and snowed in,” the log of a call from Cedarpines Park reads. “She is out of food for herself and her pet. Her sister cannot hear well and is alone. The CHP is blocking the roads so they can’t bring her house. Instacart are not being allowed through.”

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in California counties affected by the severe weather.

“The county is appreciative that the governor and now the president have recognized the seriousness of the disaster that has impacted our mountain residents and businesses,” Hernandez wrote in a draft statement that was shared with Rowe. “But it will take some time before it is determined if or when the presidential declaration might result in direct relief for our county.”

The aftermath

At least 46 inches of snow fell between Feb. 21 and March 13 in Big Bear Lake.

On Monday, March 13, Hernandez announced that “due to a significant reduction in hotline calls,” the call center would be switching from 24 hours a day to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

“The call center has taken over 6,300 calls and seen call volumes decrease from a peak of 1,048 calls on March 3, to 171 calls on March 11,” he wrote in an email. “Overnight call volumes have also decreased with just 15 calls coming in overnight.”

Between Feb. 27 and March 29, the call center received 7,565 calls, according to the records. Of those, 2,266 came from callers in Crestline, 1,660 came from Lake Arrowhead and 845 came from Running Springs.

The widespread storm-related deaths that Donnelly and others feared would happen didn’t occur, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office.

The coroner’s office looked at nine deaths that could have been caused by the storm. But only one was ultimately determined to be storm-related, according to department spokesperson Mara Rodriguez.

San Bernardino County will be releasing a report on its storm response in fall.

The report was supposed to be released in mid-September. But at county supervisors’ Tuesday, Sept. 12, meeting, Snoke — now the county CEO — said Connect Consulting was hired to create the report. County officials first met with the firm in mid-August, he said.

“We’re a little behind, but this is in process and being worked through,” Snoke told the board.

The final report is scheduled to be delivered in late November.

Until then, county spokesperson Martha Guzman-Hurtado said there’s no official comment on what the county could have done differently during and after the storms.

“We are confident that once the After-Action Report is complete, the findings will shed light on any issues that may have impacted our storm response,” Guzman-Hurtado wrote in an email. “We expect to learn from the findings and make improvements where needed. Until then, it would be inappropriate to speculate on what those issues may have been.”

More on the San Bernardino Mountains winter storms

• Snow falls in cities, lightning strikes at beaches as historic storm pounds Southern California
• Here’s how much rain and snow the storm dropped on Southern California cities
• Southern California’s mountain towns remain buried under snow with more on the way
• ‘Plow the roads,’ mountain residents say, as San Bernardino County vows to do better
• ‘We are coming,’ San Bernardino County officials tell trapped mountain residents
• County communications cause frustration for San Bernardino Mountains residents
• Coroner: 1 death in San Bernardino Mountains linked to recent storms; 8 others being investigated
• California winter weather state of emergency declared by Biden
• How well did San Bernardino County respond to the winter storms?
• Weeks after severe storm, residents in San Bernardino Mountains embark on arduous recovery
• 6 months after San Bernardino Mountains battered by storms, recovery far from over

The blistering fact-finding report, issued in October 2022 and recently obtained by the Southern California News Group, implicates employees who arranged for ambulances, wheelchair vans, air ambulances and other specialized modes of transportation for patients in the VA Loma Linda system.

Investigators said employees assigned to the Veterans Transportation Services and the Transfer Center circumvented the government’s official procurement protocols, possibly for personal gain. Evidence indicates they purportedly approved vendor invoices without review, processed unauthorized payments and entered into improper agreements.

Testimony and documents “clearly support the existence of inappropriate relationships between VA staff in the past and currently with irresponsible billing/payment oversight, inappropriate information sharing, potential kick-backs to VA employees from vendors, illegal contractual relationships, and potential disallowed staff/vendor relationships,” states the report, which covered a period from October 2019 to May 2022.

One key manager, in fact, told investigators he needed training because he didn’t know what he was doing in his job.

The three-member fact-finding team from the Veterans Administration spent 35 days reviewing evidence from employees in VA Loma Linda’s Beneficiary Travel Department and examining 33 exhibits containing more than 300 pages of documents, all of which were acquired by SCNG.

Among deficiencies uncovered by the fact-finders is a March 30, 2021, policy signed by VA Loma Linda Medical Director Karandeep Sraon granting authority to Transfer Center staff to approve inter-facility care transportation.

The policy violates a VA directive making the mobility manager responsible for all beneficiary travel programs at medical facilities. “Transfer Center staff has been operating outside of VA policy” by disregarding budgetary considerations, patient eligibility and mobility management requirements, the report says.

Sraon did not respond to a request for comment.

The fact-finders recommended that their investigation be turned over to the VA’s Office of Inspector of General, which is charged with investigating and auditing waste, fraud and abuse.

The OIG declined to comment, saying it does not discuss pending or ongoing investigations, while the VA said it would cooperate with a probe.

“Whenever there are allegations of wrongdoing at VA, we thoroughly investigate and address those allegations to ensure that we are creating a safe, welcoming, and caring environment for Veterans and VA employees alike,” said VA press secretary Terrence Hayes. “That’s the standard to which we hold ourselves accountable, and we will never settle for anything less.”

Employees pressured

VA Loma Linda employees say they pushed back on executive staff pressure to sign a $1 million “ratification,” which would signal their approval for the unauthorized ambulance payments. “We are the ones that reported the waste, fraud, and abuse and they want us to get in trouble for it,” said one worker, who asked not to be identified because they fear retaliation

“It’s not right,” said another employee who also requested anonymity. “It’s a disservice to veterans and taxpayers. The money that is saved (from unauthorized payments) could go back to the VA for the treatment of veterans.”

The unauthorized payments first came to light In April 2022, when an employee notified VA Loma Linda Associate Director Deesha Brown of irregularities in the transportation program and raised concern that requirements were being bypassed to reduce bed occupancy and improve wait-time metrics at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Hospital.

Brown, who convened the fact-finding team and is currently on assignment with VA’s Desert Pacific Healthcare Network in Long Beach, declined to comment because the investigation has been referred to OIG’s Criminal Division.

Unauthorized payments identified

When transportation expenses jumped from $400,000 in August 2022 to $600,000 a month later, additional funding was requested, according to the fact-finding report.

Louis Garcia, who at the time was the mobility manager, was questioned by a VA Loma Linda official about a series of funding increases. He responded that the Fiscal Department typically provided funding as needed whenever it was requested.

Garcia, now a patient advocate at VA Loma Linda, was unable to provide the official with audits for ambulance service invoices, saying no one had been doing that, the report says. Additionally, he pretended he didn’t know what he was doing and said he needed training.

An invoice review identified 21 ambulance companies that provided services to VA Loma Linda, with Stockton-based Journey Transport receiving most of the fee-for-service trips, according to the fact-finders.

It was determined that Journey — which has a contract to transport wheelchair-bound patients — submitted unitemized invoices as well as those with extra charges outside of its contract parameters. Garcia, the report states, dutifully paid Journey $170,000 to $180,000 every two weeks without reviewing the invoices for compliance or patient eligibility.

Journey’s contract calls for it to transport patients within a 20-mile radius of the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Hospital, while VA Loma Linda ambulances are responsible for patients outside of that area.

In one instance, Garcia established an unauthorized agreement with Journey to pick up two dialysis patients who could call the ambulance company as needed, resulting in $129,755 in overpayments from VA Loma Linda, which should have been responsible for the transportation, according to the report.

The fact-finders also obtained a $159,973 invoice from Journey for monthly transports in October 2022 that belonged to the Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center, but was billed to VA Loma Linda and paid by Garcia without review.

According to the report, Journey billed VA Loma Linda $1.1 million over four months, while only $500,565 in charges were identified as payable. Additionally, Journey failed to submit reports of driver discipline, training and ambulance accidents to VA Loma Linda’s mobility manager as required, the fact-finder said.

Garcia and Journey officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The “inappropriate relationship” may have benefited Garcia and provided Journey with “insider information,” the report states without elaboration. An employee reported to fact-finders that Garcia, who in 2022 received an $81,000 salary, showed off photos of his expensive cars, including a BMW, Mercedes and two Chevy Impalas.

Meanwhile, the Transfer Center, without approval from VA Loma Linda’s mobility management staff, initiated payments to ambulance companies totaling $250,000 to $300,000 per month, the fact-finders said. A subsequent audit revealed that of 68 payments from October 2021 to April 2022, only nine met eligibility, authorization and emergency care requirements, according to the report.

The fact-finders also found that VA Loma Linda patients contacted ambulance companies directly to schedule rides with the “knowledge and support” of Transfer Center staff. When Transfer Center employees were informed that was not allowed and had to be discontinued, they responded with hostility because it eliminated an “easy fix” for quick scheduling, the report states.

“Unethical behavior” rampant

The report states that “unethical behavior” is not limited to Transfer Center staff, noting that employees in various VA Loma Linda departments have increasingly complained about the Mobility Management Department for attempting to enforce patient transportation rules.

Fact-finders noted VA Loma Linda Flow Management Chief Mike Reynaga also established unauthorized agreements with several companies, including Symbiosis, Cavalry Ambulance, Premier Ambulance and American Medical Response.

“Symbiosis has worked with the VA Loma Linda’s Veterans Transportation System since 2012, and in all that time, we have always followed the VA’s directions on billing, provided consistently outstanding and reliable service, and we have not raised our rates,” said Chief Operating Officer Jared Horricks.

Cavalry Ambulance denied any wrongdoing. American Medical Response said in an email it doesn’t have an agreement with VA Loma Linda and has provided only a handful of transports. Premier Ambulance did not respond to requests for comment.

Throughout 2022 and as recently as July, ambulance companies sent a barrage of emails and texts to VA Loma Linda pleading for payment of outstanding invoices, but the mobility management staff refused to budge, contending that many of the charges were unapproved.

“I looked up today how many payments have been made since I saw you guys three weeks ago and it’s only $14,000,” Calvary Ambulance Vice President Debbie Ruiz said in a text to a VA Loma Linda employee. “We normally get $250,000 worth of payments a month so now I am getting super, super concerned.”

Dawn Downs, chief nursing officer for Symbiosis, said in a March 14, 2023, email to Brown that VA Loma Linda’s denial of many of the company’s invoices was inexplicable.

“Our services have been timely paid for by the Loma Linda VA since 2011, so it’s hardly a handshake deal,” Downs wrote. “How can Loma Linda VA personnel request a transport for a veteran and then deny payment? This seems blatantly unfair and wrong.”

Ruiz defended Calvary Ambulance, saying the company had provided service for VA Loma Linda for more than 20 years on an as-needed basis. “It was their own practice to not contract with ambulance providers,” she said. “We did ask for an agreement for service in writing to document our services at the VA for our National Accreditation process.”

Growing problem

Darin Selnick, a senior adviser to Virginia-based Concerned Veterans for America, said “handshake” agreements and unauthorized contracts are a growing problem.

“Part of the problem is the culture due to employees not being held accountable,” he said. “This is not just a one-off by one VA medical center, but a substantial growing issue across the Veterans Health Administration hospital system. At VA, especially with a lot of management, if you go along then you are rewarded; if you object or are a whistleblower, then you are punished and get fired.

“Congress needs to hold VA senior management accountable, and VA senior management needs to hold employees accountable.”

The VA improperly spent or lost about $3.5 billion in fiscal 2022 across seven programs it is mandated to track, according to an OIG report released in June. Of that amount, about $1.4 billion is a monetary loss and the remaining $2.1 billion is considered either a nonmonetary loss that cannot be recovered or an unknown payment, the OIG said.

Whistleblower investigation ongoing

Revelations of the fact-finding investigation come as the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs continues to investigate widespread whistleblower complaints alleging retaliation, harassment and a toxic work environment at VA Loma Linda.

The catalyst for the probe is a VA Loma Linda employee identified by sources as grounds department supervisor Martin Robles, found to have frequently used racial slurs, required workers to buy him food and drive him to and from work, and then punished those who refused his demands with bad assignments, according to a 2021 federal investigation that recommended he be fired.

However, instead of being terminated, Robles was inexplicably promoted and remains employed at VA Loma Linda. He also was the focus of two other VA Loma Linda investigations in 2020 and 2022 that substantiated allegations he fostered a hostile work environment. Details of those investigations have not been released.

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, and Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, are sponsoring a bill to restore the VA’s ability to quickly fire problematic employees. They also have demanded that the federal government turn over unredacted copies of all investigations conducted this year involving high-ranking VA Loma Linda officials.

“It appears that failures in senior leadership are directly impacting the delivery of care and services to our veterans,” said a statement from Bost, who met with VA Loma Linda whistleblowers last month. “Anyone with a shred of judgment would agree that’s wrong.”

City Manager Alma Martinez set the application, called Signal, to delete messages after only an hour, according to a screenshot in the court filing.

State law prohibits public officials from destroying records that are less than two years old and requires them to obtain permission from their respective legislative body — in this case, the City Council — before the destruction, according to Kelly Aviles, an open government attorney.

“I believe the intentional destruction of records relating to the conduct of public business is not only a violation of the law, but may also be criminal,” Aviles said.

However, a district attorney isn’t likely to charge anyone for using Signal anytime soon. A citizen would need to seek an injunction, and then the court, at its discretion, could determine if the act was criminal. The willful destruction of records by a custodian is punishable by up to four years in prison.

Laws related to the retention of records, however, are quite murky. The California Public Records Act, which governs the public’s access, is mum on the length of time any record should be retained. Other state laws prescribe different timelines for different agencies and different types of records.

David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the use of Signal is “obviously troubling” from a transparency standpoint, but the lack of uniformity in the law can create confusion — sometimes real, sometimes feigned — about what should be retained and for how long.

“I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea, but it’s not 100% clear that it’s illegal,” he said of the use of Signal.

The nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is collecting signatures for a statewide initiative, expected to appear on the November 2024 ballot, to expand and clarify public agencies’ record-keeping responsibilities. The initiative, which Aviles helped draft, would set a five-year minimum for retention, require agencies to respond to requests within 30 days, limit certain exemptions; and make “available to the public communications and other records exchanged between government employees and entities outside of the government about policy decisions.”

Messages show cozy relationship

In her declaration, Teresa Tsai of GSC Holdings, a company that failed to obtain a retail cannabis license, alleged she was directed by then-Mayor Andre Quintero and Martinez in 2019 to use Signal — and only Signal — to communicate with them “prior to and during the application process.”

The declaration was filed in support of a lawsuit from FEAH LLC, another applicant that failed to receive a license and now alleges the process was fatally flawed.

Screenshots submitted to the court showed a series of messages from May 2019 to November 2019, months before the city began accepting applications, that suggested Martinez and Quintero assisted Tsai in efforts to legalize retail cannabis in El Monte.

“You should consider organizing people to show up to the council meeting to protest any new taxes,” Quintero allegedly wrote in a July 2019 Signal message to Tsai. “They are unwilling to consider cannabis sales, so they can tax us more.”

In a November 2019 message, Tsai wrote that she warned someone not to run against Quintero “or they’ll lose our support and all negotiations will end if they do that.”

While the deletion of the messages could have violated state laws, the contents do not appear to show any illegal conduct on their own.

Martinez deferred questions to Assistant City Attorney Lloyd Pilchen, who declined to comment due to FEAH’s pending litigation.

The city did not immediately respond to a request for its record-retention policy, but the city’s current mayor, Jessica Ancona, said there is no policy governing text messages.

‘Taints the process’

Ancona, a political rival of Quintero and a frequent critic of Martinez, called the use of Signal immensely concerning as it raises questions about what other conversations might have taken place.

“It taints the process in its entirety,” Ancona said. “With this information, it seems very clear to me that the former mayor and our current city manager conspired to rig the entire cannabis application process to award licenses to those who either contributed financially to campaigns or were political allies.”

The city’s attorneys have repeatedly denied there was any wrongdoing in the city’s selection. Though El Monte paid an outside law firm to investigate the process, the results have never been made public. FEAH’s attorneys have attempted to determine the results of the investigation, but have been unsuccessful so far because the city claims no final report exists.

Attorneys Jayan Hong and David Torres-Siegrist represent FEAH, which sued after it was ranked seventh in a process that awarded only six licenses.

“People use Signal for a reason,” Hong said. “Why is the city manager communicating directly with folks who are in the process of applying for cannabis licenses in such a discrete manner, knowing that those messages are not only extremely encrypted but are going to disappear?”

Messages deleted on Signal are not only removed from the local device, but also from the company’s servers.

A deluge of lawsuits

El Monte initially faced seven lawsuits over its handling of the licenses, most of which have since been resolved. FEAH, one of the last remaining litigants, alleges it was denied a license based on irregularities, favoritism and errors.

Five of the six winning applications were written by the same person, Hong said. Applicants donated a combined total of more than $100,000 to pro-cannabis candidates, the lawsuit alleges.

FEAH alleges city officials may have given some applicants “advance instructions” on how to maximize their scores, and pointed to the Signal messages as evidence.

In her declaration, Tsai stated Martinez “implied” an applicant would score higher in the “community benefits” portion of the application, which accounted for 175 points out of a total of 1,000, if it donated directly to the city’s general fund.

A grading rubric, available on El Monte’s website, publicly lists the same information, though that specific document appears to have been created after applications were submitted. FEAH’s attorneys deny their client knew the city would weigh general fund contributions more than those specifically benefiting parks or schools.

Though GSC did not receive a high enough overall ranking to obtain a retail cannabis license, the company pledged $100,000 directly to the city’s coffers and received the highest score possible for that section, according to the declaration. The company previously obtained licenses for cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution in 2018.

In a series of messages in 2019, Tsai and Martinez brainstormed setting up a fee that would go to law enforcement in an effort to win support for their cause. At one point, Tsai asked Martinez to have then-Assistant City Attorney Joaquin Vasquez draft a code amendment based on their conversation.

“Have Joaquin incorporate into code amendment,” she wrote. “And I’ll mirror on my end.”

“Ok,” Martinez replied.

Other messages set up private meetings in downtown Los Angeles that included Tsai, Martinez, Quintero and a political consultant.

Former mayor denies wrongdoing

In an interview, Quintero acknowledged using Signal and the automatic deletion feature with Tsai. He had not seen the declaration, but he described conversations that matched screenshots in the court filing.

Quintero denied sharing proprietary information with any of the applicants and stated his conversations with Tsai were not subject to the state’s public records act because they focused on political conduct, not official city business.

“It should have been, for the most part, only political stuff,” he said.

The screenshots show Quintero worked with Tsai on a potential ballot initiative related to retail cannabis and discussed setting up a political action committee to raise funds and conduct polling.

“Alma has told all the applicants they need to help, but they’re just not helping,” Tsai wrote to Quintero in an iMessage. “She’s stressed that this is an attack on the industry. But she can’t make everyone do a PAC.”

Quintero wrote back: “We need someone to lead the PAC. I’ll talk with a friend. Once we set it up, we will do outreach to get funding.”

Aviles, the open government attorney, disagreed that Quintero’s messages would be exempt.

“His job is to represent the citizens. If he is working with citizens, to advise them to form PACs, to start initiatives, it is all public record,” Aviles said. “His job as part of the council is to regulate cannabis in the city, there is no distinction.”

Quintero did not recall asking Tsai to use Signal. He openly shared his thoughts on cannabis with anyone who asked at the time, he said.

“I was very open about supporting cannabis and the process,” Quintero said. “If they were going to try to get it approved, they were going to need to go through an initiative. We needed to know if there was support from the community.”

A competing initiative qualified for the ballot before Tsai’s initiative came to fruition. The City Council, including Quintero, adopted that initiative outright in December 2019, instead of asking voters to decide. The ordinance was intentionally set up in such a way that council members could not choose the winners and losers, Quintero said.

Ancona, who took Quintero’s seat the following year, alleges proponents timed the council’s vote to coincide with the holiday season, when public engagement is typically lower.

“They wanted the avoid the amount of public input and backlash we received in 2018 when the medicinal cannabis ordinance was first proposed,” she said.

Lawsuit: Application process flawed

FEAH’s lawsuit accuses the city’s administration of misleading applicants. The applications originally were to be scored in their entirety by a third party, SCI Consulting Group, but the city changed the process — a month after the companies submitted their proposals — to have city employees score key portions, including the “community benefits” section.

The city’s attorneys argue the ordinance gave the city manager the discretion to change the process as needed. The city’s staff handled scoring where local knowledge made a difference, they stated in court filings.

Though SCI was supposed to tally both sides’ scores, the city once again took over at the last minute. It is unclear who in the city actually did that tallying, however. El Monte, in its filings, stated that the city’s community and economic development director, Betty Donavanik, combined the scores.

But in a separate deposition, a legal assistant — who is also the adult son of Martinez’s boyfriend — testified that he did the final calculations using Microsoft Excel. He was hired by the city attorney’s law firm, Olivarez Madruga Law Organization, after meeting founding partner Rick Olivarez at a dinner with his father. He was placed on the cannabis team almost immediately after his hiring, he testified.

The legal assistant did not participate in the actual scoring of the applications beyond merging the two sets of numbers at the end, he said.

Both Martinez and Pilchen declined to address questions about the hiring, or to explain why a legal assistant performed that function.

Scoring errors

At least two scoring errors have been uncovered since FEAH’s lawsuit was filed in 2020. In one, the third party hired to score portions of the applicants accidentally gave points to an applicant that had not properly completed a segment of the application. The applicant in question surrendered its license as a result and another company, just ahead of FEAH in the rankings, received it instead.

Dana Cohn, an attorney representing El Monte, accused FEAH of frantically “searching for any evidence that the application process was corrupt.” None of the mistakes identified would have changed FEAH’s score enough to move it to the sixth slot, according to Cohn.

“Over three years, it has found no such evidence,” Cohn wrote. “It is time for Petitioner to face the music. It has no evidence the City treated Petitioner differently, or that the review of any application was arbitrary or capricious.”

A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 21. If successful, FEAH is asking the judge to either award an additional license or force a do-over.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that, according to city officials, the outside law firm that investigated the selection process never produced a final report. 

This time the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into a dozen complaints about loss of steering control or loss of power steering in the 2023 Models 3 and Y electric vehicles.

The probe covers an estimated 280,000 vehicles. Five drivers alleged in complaints they couldn’t steer the vehicles at all. Seven more cited a loss of power steering that required increased steering effort.

There was one report of a crash but no complaints of any injuries.

The agency says in a document posted Tuesday on its website that loss of steering control can be accompanied by messages to drivers indicating that the power steering assist has been reduced or disabled.

The document says investigators will look into how often the problem happens, manufacturing processes and the severity of the problem.

The probe is at least the sixth started by the agency into Tesla vehicles in the past three years. Investigators are looking into Teslas that can crash into parked emergency vehicles while running on the Autopilot partially automated driving system, emergency braking for no reason, suspension failures, steering wheels that can fall off, and front seat belts that may not be connected properly.

Messages were left Tuesday seeking comment from Tesla.

The answer has eluded Riverside County sheriff’s investigators for three years and baffled residents of the San Jacinto Mountains where Abrams abruptly disappeared on June 6, 2020.

It is a whodunit shrouded in a tale of wealth, family estrangement and heated litigation that continues to intrigue and attract attention from local and national media.

“It’s like being in a ‘Dateline’ mystery,” said Peggy Kotner, Abrams’ sister. Asked what she thinks happened to her sister, Kotner said, “Your guess is as good as mine. I really want to know.”

Abrams, who was 65 when she vanished, is presumed dead, though her body has never been found.

Abrams’ disappearance

Abrams had been estranged for years from her husband, a  wealthy La Jolla developer who died in 2018. She loved the outdoors and animals, so in about 2004 or 2005 she decided to trade the affluent seaside community in San Diego County for a tranquil 115-acre ranch in Mountain Center.

Abrams “just wanted to get away from the stress of things and be around animals,” said Julie Stanford, a retired postal worker and Mountain Center resident who met Abrams in 2011 while working part-time at the Lake Hemet Market.

Living on the Bonita Vista Ranch with Abrams was Keith Leslie Harper, a retired parole agent for the Utah Department of Corrections with a sketchy past who had served time behind bars. In a 2022 deposition, Harper said he and Abrams met in 2016 on a dating website.

After Harper flew into Ontario International Airport to meet up with Abrams, the two quickly hit it off and Harper said he moved in with her at the ranch six months later. Harper said he worked to upgrade Abrams’ property, building dams, bridges, fences and helping care for her animals.

Harper also claimed to be Abrams’ fiance.

In public statements and the sworn deposition given in a legal dispute with Abrams’ children over control of her multimillion-dollar estate, Harper, 73, said he was the last person to have seen Abrams before she went missing sometime after 2:30 p.m. on June 6, 2020.

Harper said the two had lunch together at the ranch, then went their separate ways — Harper to mow the meadow and Abrams to tend her horses at another property she owned in the neighboring ranch community of Garner Valley.

Harper said he spent about five hours mowing the meadow before returning to the house around 7:30 p.m. and noticing Abrams’ Ford F-350 pickup still parked outside. But Abrams was nowhere to be found.

He said he called Abrams’ mobile phone and heard it ringing upstairs. The phone was still plugged into a charger next to a nightstand. Abrams’ purse and keys also were left behind.

“She never left the residence,” Harper said in the deposition.

Harper said he called a California Highway Patrol officer Abrams knew who lived nearby. The officer, according to Harper, told him law enforcement would not take any action until Abrams had been missing for three days. Harper said he couldn’t remember the officer’s name.

The following day, Harper said, he started making calls to Abrams’ friends and neighbors. A community search party was formed involving dozens of locals who scoured the ranch and surrounding mountain area on foot, horseback and all-terrain vehicles. Harper, some say, was barely involved, riding an ATV around the property.

Leaves state

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies subsequently began a days-long search the following day, on June 8. But before they arrived, Harper packed up his RV and took off for Arizona, ostensibly to take care of a tax issue at a property he owned there, according to his deposition. From there, he said he traveled to a storage facility he owns in Aztec, New Mexico.

He was gone seven days.

Some who participated in the search, including employees from neighboring Pine Springs Ranch and the Yokoji Zen Mountain Center, found it odd that Harper would leave the ranch, and the state, on business when his purported fiancee was missing and just before deputies arrived to conduct a large-scale search of their own.

“He didn’t get involved with us at all, which gave me a bad gut feeling,” said one man who participated in the search but asked not to be identified. “If it were my fiancee and someone I loved, I’d want to be involved. You don’t run away a few hours before (police) get here to do a search. And yet that’s exactly what he did — he packed up his RV and he took off. What in the world?”

Garner Valley Valley resident Ronnie Imel, whose wife played bunco with Abrams, also participated in the search, and cast doubt on  Harper’s claim about mowing the meadow.

“That meadow was not freshly mowed. I walked through it. There were weeds up to my knees. There were foxtails in my pants and socks,” said Imel, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Army Airborne ranger specializing in reconnaissance.

Additionally, Imel recalls Harper telling him during the first search that he had been working on a building on the property — not mowing the meadow — when Abrams went missing.

“He said nothing about the meadow,” Imel said during an interview at his home, where he operates his nonprofit, Veterans Paying It Forward, and assists other veterans in obtaining disability benefits.

Diana Fedder, a retired U.S. Secret Service agent and friend of Abrams who helped organize the search, said Harper told her he had to leave the state to check in with his probation officer, which is inconsistent with his deposition testimony two years later.

Harper did not respond to requests for comment regarding Abrams’ disappearance, but has denied having anything to do with it.

Search warrants

Sheriff’s investigators, also suspicious that Harper would leave the ranch and the state, immediately began working to obtain search warrants and track him down.

“Abrams went missing under suspicious circumstances and foul play is suspected,” Riverside County sheriff’s investigator Donald Atkinson said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Superior Court on June 16, 2020, 10 days after Abrams’ disappearance.

Warrants were signed to search the ranch on Bonita Vista Road and another property on the same street she rented out and where a marijuana grow was discovered. Investigators also served warrants to search Harper’s RV and the RV and boat storage facility he owns in New Mexico.

From Abrams’ ranch, investigators seized two spent bullet casings; a tan bed sheet, Band-Aid and piece of toilet tissue all with possible blood on them; two handwritten letters; and a Netgear router, according to a sheriff’s property report.

From Harper’s RV, investigators seized a front section of the driver’s seat, according to a warrant filed in San Juan County District Court in New Mexico.

At Abrams’ Bonita Vista Road rental property, which she named Sky High Ranch, investigators seized 2,389 marijuana plants and 357 pounds of processed marijuana, according to the warrant.

Fedder said Abrams was aware her tenants at Sky High Ranch were growing marijuana but didn’t want anything to do with them. Abrams would send a ranch hand to collect the rent, said Fedder, who now lives in Georgia.

“She never went over there. She said she didn’t want to know anything about it, but they paid their rent on time,” Fedder said.

Arizona lead

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said most leads in the Abrams’ investigation have been exhausted — all except one.

Investigators have honed in on Arizona and are now working with law enforcement there, but Bianco would not elaborate on the tip his agency received nor identify the location investigators have zeroed in on. He did say, however, that it does not involve the Grand Wash Cliffs area that investigators were looking into in 2021 after a tip led them there.

“A couple of months ago a lead came in that eventually led to this,” Bianco said, declining further comment.

Death at the ranch

Eighteen months after Abrams’ disappearance, Harper would be the central figure in another tragedy at the ranch. On Dec. 23, 2021, ranch hand Jodi Newkirk died in what was reported at the time to be an ATV rollover accident.

Harper called 911 sometime after 5 p.m., and a responding CHP officer arrived to find him performing CPR on Newkirk, who was pinned under the all-terrain vehicle, according to a coroner’s investigation report. Responding paramedics pronounced Newkirk, 46, dead less than 10 minutes later.

The CHP officer, identified in the report only as “Officer Hoskins,” told Riverside County Deputy Coroner Craig Wills there did not appear to be any trauma on Newkirk’s body consistent with a rollover accident, that he was concerned about Harper’s account of what happened to Newkirk, and that he believed Newkirk’s death was suspicious, according to the report.

Hoskins observed no major damage to the ATV, and noted that the tire tracks leading to the vehicle ended abruptly behind it, indicating the ATV simply came to a stop. He also pointed to the absence of skid or slide marks and noted the soil around the ATV was not disturbed.

Harper, according to the report, told Hoskins that Newkirk had worked on the ranch for about 3 1/2 months. He said she had asked him for a shovel, then rode off to look for a Christmas tree, despite the fact it was raining heavily.

About an hour later, Harper said he went looking for Newkirk, noticed a blinking orange light in the distance and walked to the area, finding Newkirk beneath the ATV.

Investigators also noted the Abrams missing person case, and Harper’s connection to it.

“Officer Hoskins informed me that Harper was under investigation related to the missing person report of the property owner of the ranch who disappeared over a year ago,” Wills said in his report. “Harper was living on the property and had numerous law enforcement contacts regarding the alleged involvement.”

Wills said he informed his sergeant that Harper’s account of events did not match up to findings at the scene, and suggested that investigators follow up. The case was subsequently turned over to the sheriff’s homicide unit, according to the report.

In February 2022, the coroner’s office concluded Newkirk’s cause of death to be acute methamphetamine toxicity. The manner of her death, however, was declared “undetermined.” Newkirk’s case remains open, said sheriff’s investigator Alberto Loureiro, the lead detective on both Newkirk’s death and Abrams’ disappearance.

The coroner’s investigation report noted that Loureiro did not rule out foul play in Newkirk’s death, and said there was no evidence to determine if she took the drugs herself or if someone else administered them to her.

Newkirk had been a meth addict since she was 15 years old and had numerous run-ins with the law, said her sister, Kelly Berkowitz, who added that the amount of methamphetamine in her sister’s system appeared to be extremely high, even for a lifelong addict.

“She was a professional user,” Berkowitz said of her sister’s drug use. “To me, it doesn’t make sense because she’s never had an overdose. Never!”

She said she last spoke with her sister, a horse trainer who took care of the animals at the ranch, in a phone call the day before her death. Berkowitz said her sister was upset that Harper allegedly pawned Newkirk’s horse to cover the cost of a bridge project at the ranch, and Newkirk was having trouble getting her horse back.

Berkowitz said her sister loved the outdoors, and considered employment at the ranch her dream job.

Harper, who responded to questions about Newkirk’s death via text message, stands by his story even in the face of law enforcement suspicion. He believes Newkirk was riding the ATV sidesaddle, with both feet to the left of the vehicle, when it tipped over on top of her. He said he has 20 years’ experience of having provided ATV tours at his former business, Outlaw Tours, in Durango, Colorado, and has witnessed many similar accidents.

As to Newkirk’s overdose, Harper said: “If Jodi had died from an overdose, why stage (an) accident to cover up an overdose, why not just report the death?”

Asked about the series of events involving Newkirk and Abrams, he said, “That’s tragic. The loss of one life is tragic, but the loss of many is overwhelming.”

Abrams amends trust

Two weeks before she disappeared, on May 22, 2020, Abrams amended her trust, which she had drafted in December 2016 initially naming her daughter, Crisara Abrams, as trustee. The amendment instead named Harper and Fedder as trustees of her estate.

Following the death of Clem Abrams, her husband of 34 years, in December 2018, Abrams filed a petition in San Diego County Superior Court to invalidate a prenuptial agreement executed before the two were married in 1984, claiming she signed it under duress just before her wedding.

Abrams also was seeking more than $6.7 million in assets from her late husband’s $11 million estate to fund a marital trust. Clem Abrams nominated his surviving children, Clinton and Crisara Abrams, as executors of his estate.

Abrams’ friends and Harper said Abrams’ relationship with her children was estranged, so much so that Abrams excluded her son from her trust, “leaving nothing but her love and affection to her son,” according to the trust. She subsequently excluded her daughter, thus setting off another legal challenge between Harper and Crisara Abrams over control of her mother’s estate following her disappearance.

Dia Abrams’ estate included the Bonita Vista Ranch, the Sky High Ranch, the Garner Valley ranch on Tool Box Springs Road, a Chase checking account and a 2006 Lexus.

Abrams family vs. Harper

Crisara Abrams pushed for the removal of Harper as trustee of her mother’s estate in a petition filed in Riverside Superior Court in July 2021, requesting that the court instead appoint a private professional fiduciary.

By that time, Fedder said she had already removed herself as a trustee because she sold her Garner Valley home and moved to Georgia to look after her ailing parents.

Crisara Abrams’ petition alleged financial elder abuse on Harper’s part as well as breach of fiduciary duty, including self-dealing, concealing his actions and refusing to produce records. She also noted Harper’s potential involvement in her mother’s disappearance that was under investigation and his criminal history in Colorado.

Law enforcement and court records show Harper had pleaded guilty in La Plata County District Court to third-degree misdemeanor assault on his ex-wife in March 2002 and was granted probation for one year. In 2011, he was convicted in San Juan County Superior Court in Colorado on two misdemeanor counts of unlawful sexual contact for fondling women during snowmobile tours at his former business, Outlaw Tours, in Durango.

Harper, however, contested his conviction, maintained his innocence and turned down probation, instead opting to serve a year in jail.

“I did nine months for choice that I would not do probation or pay their court cost,” Harper said in his 2022 deposition. “I was innocent of the charge.”

Harper was ordered to register as a sex offender following his 2012 conviction.

Harper also served time in federal prison for illegally operating his Outlaw Tours business on Forest Service land without a permit and for giving a false report and other information to a Forest Service officer. Randilee Giamusso, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Harper served three months of a four-month sentence at a facility in Florence, Colorado.

Crisara Abrams maintained in her petition that Harper was unfit to serve as trustee.

Harper fired back with his own court declaration. He said the estate battle between Dia Abrams and her children escalated following the death of Clem Abrams. Harper alleged the children cut off all financial support to their mother, even going so far as trying to take her 2006 Ford F-350 pickup, her only means of transportation.

“They have attempted a hostile takeover of their mother’s properties by financial strangulation and harassment,” Harper said.

On March 23, Harper and the Abrams siblings agreed to settle the matter. The agreement allows Harper to continue managing the ranch as a co-trustee until the ranch or the livestock is sold, and another co-trustee was appointed by the court to help oversee and manage the trust.

The agreement also calls for the court-appointed trustee to post a $300,000 reward for any information regarding Abrams’ disappearance.

On June 6, 2025, the trust will be split three ways, with Harper getting 50% and Crisara and Clinton Abrams each getting 25%.

Additionally, the settlement stipulated that any beneficiary “found to have been involved in Dia’s disappearance or death is disinherited and shall receive no distribution from the trust.”

Clinton Abrams said in an email that while his family is grateful to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for what it has done, he said it has not been nearly enough.

“Many individuals know the people and events that converged to bring about my mother’s demise,” he said. “Where there is a will, there is a way; with ironclad tenacity, this case can be solved.”

However, instead of being terminated for creating a hostile work environment, the manager — identified by multiple sources as grounds department supervisor Martin Robles — was inexplicably promoted.

“There were numerous instances where inappropriate language and racial slurs were used which appears to be a common practice,” a Veterans Administration investigative board said in a heavily redacted 61-page report obtained by the Southern California News Group. “Inappropriate and discriminatory hiring practices were found, which have contributed to the lack of trust, poor morale, and fractured culture.”

The Administrative Investigation Board recommended Robles be removed from employment because of “overwhelming evidence to support that the supervisor was intimidating, exhibited bullying behavior, threatening behavior, and contributed to a hostile work environment,” said a source familiar with the probe.

The AIB investigation, which began on Dec. 9, 2020, and concluded the week of Jan. 11, 2021, included 57 hours of testimony from 36 witnesses and 4,000 pages of exhibits.

Robles also was the focus of two other VA Loma Linda investigations in 2020 and 2022, which substantiated allegations that he fostered a hostile work environment. Details of those two investigations were not immediately available.

Promotion instead of discipline

About a month after the 2021 probe wrapped up, Robles was given increased management responsibilities at VA Loma Linda. His salary in 2022 was $75,000.

“Please join me in congratulating Martin Robles as he has been selected as the new Grounds Team supervisor,” David J. Grzechowiak, maintenance and operations chief, said in a Feb. 11, 2021, email to Facility Management Services employees announcing the promotion. “He will need all of your support to be successful in his new role.”

The AIB determined Grzechowiak ignored evidence of Robles’ misconduct and failed to hold him accountable.

“The board found there has been a long-standing mismanagement and acceptance of behaviors which have continued to perpetuate over time and which have built a culture within that could be described as dysfunctional, toxic, and demoralizing,” the AIB report says.

Information was not available about whether Grzechowiak was disciplined. Neither he nor Robles responded to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

VA Loma Linda officials declined to comment specifically on the AIB investigation involving Robles or any discipline he might have received.

“We aim to ensure a safe, harassment-free environment in a culture where all employees, veterans, and guests are treated with dignity and respect,” Mikaela T. Cade, a spokesperson for VA Loma Linda, said in an email Tuesday, May 16. “It is also incumbent on us to ensure that we do not infringe on the rights of an individual regarding the release of information while providing a clear and transparent response to agency disciplinary processes.”

Past problems

The controversy surrounding Robles follows other troubling incidents involving VA Loma Linda employees.

The VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, which includes the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center and several clinics, made headlines in 2019 when it was discovered that a manager had been convicted of murder.

Then, in 2021, a federal judge reprimanded VA Loma Linda’s top physician for failing to obtain treatment for his mentally ill son, allowing him to amass a small arsenal before torching a Texas synagogue.

Robles’ troubles also have caught the attention of lawmakers, who are demanding answers from the VA.

“Our veterans, the dedicated VA workforce, and taxpayers deserve to know why bad employees are still employed by VA and accountability is being swept under the rug,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, in an April statement.

Appropriate actions taken

Appropriate administrative actions have been taken as a result of the AIB investigation, VA Loma Linda’s associate director of resources, Maria T. Nguyen, said in a June 14, 2021, memo to Facilities Management Services employees.

Employee discipline can include verbal or written warnings, reprimands, suspensions or, in some instances, termination, according to the VA. Nguyen warned Facility Management Services employees in the email they could face discipline for publicly discussing the Robles investigation.

However, that admonition hasn’t silenced VA Loma Linda maintenance mechanic Martin Gonzalez, who is among more than a dozen whistleblowers to have repeatedly complained about Robles.

“As we can clearly see in the case of Martin Robles, he enjoyed a certain amount of protection when it came to the actions that he subjected his employees to,” said Gonzalez, a 40-year-old Corona resident. “Certain aspects of the senior executive leadership and human resources at VA Loma Linda failed to take proper action to correct the situation, which shows that there is a desperate need to overhaul both departments.”

Promotion ‘mind-boggling’

Joe Spielberger, policy counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit watchdog organization, described Robles’ continued employment and subsequent promotion at VA Loma Linda as “mind-boggling,” but not completely surprising.

“We have seen similar issues for years and years involving the VA failing to hold supervisors responsible and not protecting whistleblowers,” he said. “Misconduct by senior VA officials is pervasive and systemic.”

In 2014, POGO launched a secure website where VA workers can confidentially expose abuse and mismanagement at VA medical facilities. POGO received allegations from nearly 800 VA employees and veterans in 35 states who detailed complaints of patient neglect, medication errors and claims of whistleblower retaliation.

“A recurring and fundamental theme has become clear,” POGO said regarding the impact of the whistleblower website. “VA employees across the country fear they will face repercussions if they dare to raise a dissenting voice”.

In 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act was signed into law. The act increased the VA’s authority to fire employees at all levels, shortened the removal process, and ensured terminated workers are not kept on the agency’s payroll while appealing that decision

It also made it easier for the VA to remove poor-performing senior executives and replace them with qualified candidates. The law also established the VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection.

However, as of April 3, the VA has stopped using the Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, following an Office of Inspector General report that says the law has “floundered.”

“While Congress certainly should look to strengthen and clarify these statutory provisions, the VA historically has shown little interest in holding senior officials accountable for their misconduct and harm perpetrated against employees and veterans,” Spielberger said. “Unfortunately, this latest decision suggests this cycle of protecting corrupt officials will only continue.”

Whistleblower suicide

The Southern California News Group obtained more than a dozen emails and complaints filed with the VA over five years, all detailing Robles’ troubling interactions with employees.

Among the most prolific whistleblowers was Ryan Joseph Sperry, a former Marine and VA Loma Linda irrigation technician from Moreno Valley who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependency.

He was 43 when he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Aug. 9, 2022.

Sperry’s complaints were provided to the AIB

Sperry, in a five-page letter to the VA Loma Linda Human Resources Office written months before his death, detailed how working with Robles and the stress from an ensuing AIB investigation sent him into an emotional and physical tailspin.

“I have begun to drink more than normal, and have been hospitalized with gout, which was due to increased drinking, which I have never had before,” Sperry wrote. “I was hospitalized from chest pains … just starting at the beginning of the investigation.”

Retaliation, intimidation

Sperry complained that Robles has a reputation for taking advantage of new, probationary employees, frequently requiring them to buy him coffee and doughnuts and chauffeur him around for free.

“He basically tells them they need to do whatever he asks them to do, no matter how wrong it might be because he will get them fired or give them less hours if they don’t do so,” Sperry said. “He will intimidate, bully, threaten them.”

Sperry also said that over a two-month period, the grounds crew documented that Robles was tardy more than 15 times, sometimes arriving at work two hours late without putting in for leave.

“He works whenever he wants, starts whenever he wants, leaves whenever he wants, and uses flex time as the excuse,” Sperry wrote.

Another VA Loma Linda employee wrote in an Aug. 20, 2018, memo that he helped cover up Robles’ absences.

“He would call me and have me move his cart in front of the office to make it appear that he was there on time,” the worker said. “Next. he again, would call me to put his cart away to create the appearance that he ended his shift on time.”

On May 11, 2022, Sperry and three co-workers drafted a letter to Steven Simpson, acting assistant chief of Facility Management Services, pleading for a meeting to discuss Robles’ emboldened behavior.

“We can no longer stand for our rights being violated to the extent in which it is affecting our mental/physical health,” the letter says. “Many of us are no longer happy or even comfortable going in to work because of the hostile work environment that we experience regularly from our supervisor.”

In the weeks leading up to his suicide, Sperry was an emotional wreck and feared he was about to be unjustly fired by Robles due to an ongoing dispute over medical leave, said his partner, Juan Varela, 60, of Menefee.

“The bottom line is the VA didn’t do what they were supposed to do with Robles,” said Varela, who was on the phone with Sperry when he pulled the trigger on the handgun that sent a bullet into his skull. “If they had, Ryan would still be with me.”

Edgewater is a small city just west of Denver.

Other adult male initially left scene but called 911 to report his involvement and is currently being detained by @COEdgewaterPD.

— Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) May 3, 2023

The shooting happened around 9:40 a.m. in one of the six or so Tesla charging stations in the parking lot of the Edgewater Public Market, in the 5500 block of West 20th Avenue in Edgewater, Jefferson County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jenny Fulton said at the scene.

One man initially left the scene and then called 911 to report his involvement in the fight. Police arrested him later at his residence on Xavier Street in Denver.

The victim, who drove a Tesla, died at 10:20 a.m. after he was taken to a hospital, Fulton said. Both men had a vehicle in the parking lot, she said.

“Edgewater police don’t know yet what they were fighting over, just that it occurred in a Tesla charging station area. It was in that Tesla charging station,” she said.

“We are looking into why there was an altercation in the first place.”

We’re assisting @COEdgewaterPD with a shooting in the 5500 block of W 20th Ave. Initial info indicates 2 adult males were involved in an altercation that led to one being shot. The victim has since been pronounced deceased and the investigation is now a homicide. pic.twitter.com/jPH5JEQm8A

— Jeffco Sheriff (@jeffcosheriffco) May 3, 2023

Robinhood Markets Inc. will pay California and six other states as much as $10.2 million in penalties for operational and technical failures after an investigation by state securities regulators that was sparked by outages in 2020.

The settlement involves “deficiencies at Robinhood in its review and approval process for options and margin accounts, weaknesses in the firm’s monitoring and reporting tools, and insufficient customer service and escalation protocols,” the North American Securities Administrators Association said in a news release Thursday.

“Robinhood repeatedly failed to serve its clients, but this settlement makes clear that Robinhood must take its customer care obligations seriously and correct these deficiencies,” Andrew Hartnett, the association’s president, said in the release.

The settlement stems from an investigation by state securities regulators in Alabama, Colorado, California, Delaware, New Jersey, South Dakota and Texas.

“We are resolving this matter with the states and are pleased to put it behind us,” Lucas Moskowitz, Robinhood’s deputy general counsel and head of government affairs, said in a statement. “The settlement relates to past issues that Robinhood has since invested heavily in improving, including the launch of 24/7 chat and phone support, expanding our library of educational materials and strengthening the way we supervise our technology.”

California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said it found no evidence of willful or fraudulent conduct by Robinhood, and that the company cooperated with the investigation.

DFPI said the amount will be split evenly amongst the states. Separately, $12.6 million in restitution for consumers was covered in an order from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Southern California News Group contributed to this report.