Ex-Inspector Accused of Taking Kickbacks on Seismic Safety Repair Referrals

A former Los Angeles city building inspector has been charged with bribery and grand theft for accepting at least $22,500 in kickbacks from a contractor to whom he funneled work on buildings that did not pass city seismic safety inspections.

Joel A. Dellon, 49, of Sun Valley resigned from the city Building and Safety Department on Feb. 15 after he was threatened with discharge, city records show.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed charges against Dellon on June 19, and he surrendered Wednesday to the Los Angeles Municipal Court. He is charged with nine felony counts of bribery, one count of grand theft and one count of filing a false 1987 income tax return, said Sandi Gibbons, district attorney’s office spokeswoman.

Gibbons said Dellon appears to be the only city employee involved in the case.

Court documents show that all properties involved in the alleged bribery scheme were in older mid-Wilshire, Hollywood, Los Feliz and central Los Angeles neighborhoods, where Dellon had worked since being assigned to the city Fire Safety Unit on Aug. 11, 1986.

A victim in four of the bribery counts, Hermogenes (Gene) Icasiano of Greenhills Construction Co., told a Los Angeles police detective that he met Dellon in January, 1987, while trying to determine how best to bring a property up to city code, court documents show.

Icasiano said Dellon later hinted at the kickback arrangement, saying that 7,000 to 8,000 buildings in the city would soon require seismic renovation and that he would know the owners through his fire safety inspections, court records say.

Beginning with a $1,000 payment in August, 1987, Icasiano said, he paid Dellon $22,500 for job referrals through November, 1988, according to the documents. Icasiano said that amount represented about 10% of the fees his company charged for the repairs.

In exchange, when Dellon found violations during inspections, he recommended that the owners hire Icasiano, the documents say.

Icasiano said he paid the money in cash to Dellon--who also is known as Joel DeLeon--or in checks made out to Dellon’s son, Ruel Lina DeLeon, 26, or someone named Robert Lina, the documents say.

Checks to Lina obtained by police were endorsed by and deposited to the bank account of Evangeline Lina de Leon, 48, the documents say. Gibbons said she is believed to be Dellon’s wife, and Department of Motor Vehicles records list the same Sun Valley address for Dellon and Evangeline Lina de Leon.

Four other bribery charges filed by the district attorney identify as victims the managers and owners of properties where seismic work was done and a fifth charge involves a roofing job, Gibbons said.

Los Angeles Police Detective James R. Heisdorf was alerted to the case by Building and Safety Department investigators.

Heisdorf refused to comment on the case until it goes to court. But information he filed with the Municipal Court in July, 1988, to support a search warrant for various bank records related to the case explain that a complaint against Dellon led the Building and Safety investigators to Icasiano, who told them of the $22,500 in payments.

Dellon is free on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled for arraignment Aug. 1.