2 Charged After Probe of County Program

SANTA ANA —  An 18-month investigation into allegations of incomplete and shoddy work performed under a county-run housing rehabilitation program concluded Thursday with charges against one contractor and one resident.

The charges, which accuse the two of securing payments for work that wasn’t actually completed, stemmed from an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department and county prosecutors into more than 230 rehabilitation projects.

“We looked very hard but didn’t find much in the way of criminal violations,” said Matthew Anderson, senior deputy district attorney. “This was an in-depth investigation that covered two years worth of projects. Had there been something else there, I am confident I would have seen it.”

The investigation focused on the county’s Housing and Community Development Department, which provides about $1 million in grants annually to low-income residents for home improvements.

Louis Joseph Diorio, owner of Diorio Construction Co., is charged with one felony count of grand theft and two felony counts of filing false claims involving a 1996 rehabilitation of a trailer in Laguna Beach.

Diorio, a 56-year-old Laguna Beach resident, submitted $5,000 in claims for plumbing, roofing and electrical work on the trailer. But prosecutors allege that Diorio didn’t complete the work.

In the second case, Diorio is charged with two misdemeanor counts of filing false claims for work on another Laguna Beach mobile home. The home’s resident, Bonnie Johnson, 57, also faces the same two counts.

Anderson said that both Diorio and Johnson filed claims for work that was only partially completed.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who last year pressed the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office for a complete investigation of the department, said he was pleased that the matter was fully investigated.

“The criminal filings [Thursday] send a strong message to people who do business with the county,” said Spitzer, a former prosecutor. “If they rip the county off, they are going to be prosecuted.”

Some homeowners who participated in the rehab program have complained that incomplete work by contractors created hazardous conditions at their homes. But investigators found no instances of homes “in significant danger from improper or unfair repair work,” according to a Sheriff’s Department news release.

Diorio and Johnson will be arraigned Jan. 22 in Orange County Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel. Neither could be reached for comment Thursday.