At the top of my priority list right now is revealing the corruption within San Bernardino County’s Program Integrity Division, better known as the Welfare Fraud Unit, headed by Virginia Lugo. Welfare Fraud is the lowest of priorities in this county even though both internal and external fraud runs rampant.
I was discussing the issue with former San Bernardino County Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Bill Postmus this morning. It seems the two administrations since his have reduced the number of fraud investigators by over 75 percent in the past few years. This is just another example of how out of touch our current Board of Supervisors is with the public they have been elected to serve.
Also close to the top of my priorities is the scandals at the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. More information was provided to me last night regarding coverup, falsification of records, and malpractice. I hope to post some of the documentation soon.
Since getting the blog back up and running, I’ve been receiving an influx of anonymous email. It will take a while to get back to everyone, but rest assured we appreciate the tips and information.
Someone just sent me an email to the fact that everytime there is something about Virginia printed, she comes down and has closed door sessions with the “three stooges”, John Hurst, Bobby Weems and Kendall Taylor. It is obvious she is upset so we have to keep the pressure up. These three stooges have to be the most corrupt persons I ever met. They were mostly rejects from San Berdoo.
Did you and Postmus spark up the meth pipe? Birds of a feather flock together.
Dr. Basso, you are rude and probably hitting the pipe yourself. The truth hurts and this is your response. Must be hitting close to YOUR home. The guilty dog barks first and you are barking loud and clear.
I just threw that out there to see if any response by one of the 4 and “yes”, they are sensative. I am working on an article that will reveal how corrupt these people are. Anyone that has worked at the fraud unit probably has a good idea who wrote the response.
What’s rude are rat bastard crooks who hire a bunch of their politico friends and pay them a bunch of TAXPAYER money to illegally run their corrupt political machine. On top of it they’re meth heads. Keep supporting these jerks. Way to go San Berdo!
Dr, Basso, this is for you. As “a friend” puts it, “The truth hurts and this is your response, Must be hitting close to YOUR home”. What I wrote here is part of the article I am working on. Maybe others can write in and back up what I started so that someone up higher than Linda Haugen can take some type of action. Virginia and her Supervisors should not be allowed to create such a hostile work environment. There are still some good dedicated investigators hired by Dan Carr that are being treated unfairly for having been hired over “slugs” from San Berdoo.
I am no longer a member of this unit but I did work there for twenty years or so. I have seen it all. The late Billy Miller hired some of his friends from San Bernardino, mostly rejects that were fired, about to be fired or had serious mental [psychological] problems. Several were not allowed to carry concealed weapons when they left thier deparments. Yet, they got hired. One was actually hired that could barely walk as he had had either a back or neck surgery. I have no idea how he passed the physical but he was either a San Berdoo boy and/or a friend of thelate Billy Miller or one of the other supervisors. Another., Bobby Weems, who if he was to apply today, wouldn’t even make it past the application. He had been a janitor at one of the welfare offices. He made friends with some investigators, applied for a deputy sheriff’s position, got hired and worked at the jail until he was hired by the fraud unit without any investigation or detective background, a major requirement. He has no patrol experience.
When I was hired, I was very surprised as the number of investigators that actually worked a full shift. Some actually had day time or part time jobs at Patton State Hospital or at San Manual Casino, It was no secret, even the case workers in the welfare offices knew this. This unit was a joke. The golfers would actually brag about being at the golf course by 1 PM. One supervisor had an income tax business that during tax time, you wouldn’t see him for days.
To be continued
Leftee, you forgot to say that Weems worked his way up to a TAD supervisor before going to fraud and that Lugo worked for him before becoming a TAD supervisor herself. I’m SURE it had nothing to do with him becoming a supervisor last month for Lugo. What do you think? A little pay back maybe. Scratch-Scratch
Beautiful—that’s what I wanted to see. There has to be more investigators that are willing to bring to light what is really going on under Virginia Lugo’s regime. I understand she is going thru a melt down. She destroyed this unit.
I knew about Bobby being a supervisor and hiring Virginia as his EW3. In the survey that was done by PERC, it was brought up by investigators about the possible inappropriate relationship between Bobby and Virginia now and prior to her coming to this unit. The results of this survey were ignored by higher ups. It was obvious something was going on between them the way they would visit in the back of the unit, whispering and giggling like little kids. I just hope that some case worker out there will come forward with some good scoop on them.
What’s going on at the Public Defender?
I was also forced to retire under stress from the welfare fraud unit. I know of others that have lawsuits pending, that are in the same situation. It is true that every time a new blog shows up, Virginia has a closed door meeting with the three stooges. They just promoted Hurst to supervisor II and are now hiring a 3th supervisor in an attempt to appease some that say there is no upward mobility, unless your kissing her ass. That will make 4 supervisors for 12 investigators. One to watch the three that are watching 4 each. Is there anywhere else in the county with a ratio 1 supervisor for every 4 people?
CONTINUED FROM JAN. 12, 2010
When Billy Miller passed away, a replacement was sought outside the welfare unit as everyone knew that the four supervisors we had were incompetent. Along came Dan Carr, a 30 year man with Santa Ana PD, with outstanding credentials. Boy, was he surprised when he found out what went on in the unit. Some investigators got nervous and actually started to show up for work . I heard a story that Mr. Carr ran into one investigator several months later and actually asked him if he worked there as he had never seen him before. Some quit when pressure was placed on them to produce. One supervisor retired and another was caught dirty [possibly doing taxes on County time] and retired. Eventually only two of the four remained. One, John Hurst, was forced to work as he knew he was being watched. There were no more daily 3 or 4 hour “lunches” with his friend Cindy. He could not retire or leave probably due to his medical and psychological(certified) problems. I am sure he was livid having to be in the office all day. When Chief Carr settled in and some investigators left, he hired experienced investigators, none from San Bernardino. Some of the ones he hired included a retired SAPD commander, retired sergeants and other very qualified former detectives. You could tell that there were some former San Bernardino investigators that were upset when their friends were not hired. John Hurst and his San Berdoo boys were visibly upset as Mr. Carr was hiring very experienced investigators, non of them rejects from other departments. Soon, these new investigators were actually finding fraud that the former San Berdoo boys had failed to find. It was not uncommon to hear some of the San Berdoo investigators on the telephone calling and doing a “household comp” check by telephone and asking the client if the absent parent was still out of the home. Many a time I heard different investigators tell the client, if the absent parent does come home, please call your worker and let them know. Investigation Complete. The new investigators were finding and filing more than 20 or 30 welfare fraud cases throughout the year. Prior to that, investigators hired by Billy Miller actually worked the full year without coming across any fraud cases. Maybe there was no fraud at that time. Every case they did “investigate” was completed as unfounded. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why they couldn’t find fraud cases, they didn’t work.
Several years ago, Virginia Lugo was hired as manager of this unit. From stories I heard, she and Bobby Weems were very close as they had worked in one of the welfare offices together. It was no secret they were good, close friends. Bobby had a desk at the rear of the building next to the back door. Many times Virginia would come down and sit with Bobby for long periods of time or go into one of the empty offices and close the door. Soon after that, Virginia would pass the chief’s office , and have closed door sessions with Weems and Hurst regarding issues concerning the unit but Chief Carr was left out of the loop. It was very obvious that Bobby Weems was advising Virginia on possibly how Chief Carr had eliminated some of the good Ole Boys, friends of Bobby, Kendall and John Hurst. Virginia then started putting pressure on non San Berdoo investigators hired by Dan Carr. During the hiring process for new investigators, Virginia refused to hire those that had been referred by someone other than the San Berdoo Boys even though they had the highest credentials and made the top of the hiring list. There was one instance where she refused to hire a retired (30 plus years) former detective sergeant from Santa Ana and hired one who was a total joke. He never made probation after all of his trainers failed him as he was computer illiterate and could not retain from day to day what he had been taught. The detective from Santa Ana probably has been the best or second best candidate that has ever applied. He spoke fluent Spanish and would have been a great asset to this unit. Another replacement from San Bernardino also did not make probation. Virginia is being fed nonsense by Weems, Kendall Taylor and John Hurst and continues to hire incompetent workers, former San Bernardino officers or those referred by them. A survey was conducted regarding complaints about Virginia and the negative results, were ignored by Art Gomez and Linda Haugen. There has even been an investigation by the Grand Jury on this unit but from my understanding, Virginia and her staff might have given false information. Anyone else that knows exactly what happen with the Grand Jury investigation might want to comment on this.
Now that Virginia Lugo has gotten rid of the non San Berdoo investigators and Chief Carr, who were instrumental in making this a professional unit, she actually promoted John Hurst(certified nut who technically should not be allowed to carry a weapon] as Chief and Bobby Weems [no investigation or police experience] and Kendall Taylor(golfer) as supervisors. John Hurst will probably take it back to what it used to be with the help Virginia, Bobby and Kendall. Who cares if clients are committing fraud.
Along the same lines about fraud, there should be some investigation regarding fraud cases filed by investigators with the District Attorneys assigned to the fraud unit. At one time there were about 5 Das when Virginia was out of the picture and they were kept busy. My understanding is that now Virginia does not want them to have those found to be committing fraud to be prosecuted, just make it a collection case. These people found to have committed fraud do not see the inside of a jail and will not have any criminal record. If that is the case, the investigator finding the fraud can carry “voluntary payment agreement” forms, have the crook agree to pay back the money and let it go. In the old days, investigators had the discretion to do so. It would be easy for someone other than Art Gomez or Linda Haugen look into this. Maybe this new replacement for Mr. Uffer could have someone look into the workings of Virginia and the three Stooges.
Good Luck to those of you still in the unit having to work under Virginia and Bobby.
I worked with, and for, Virginia Lugo for many years. I have intimate knowledge of the the Program Integrity Unit, including the Fraud Investigation Unit which is included in PID.
The facts are as follows: Dan Carr was a joke. He had no clue wht his investigators were doing on a daily basis, nor did he make any attempt to learn the rules pertaining to welfare fraud. Hurst, Taylor and Weems know exactly what they are doing and have proved it by implementing procedures to make the investigators accountable. For almost 20 years that I know of, they were basically unaccountable and came and went as they pleased. Mrs Lugo should be given a medal for straightening out a very disorganized and unproductive group of employees who spent most of their time complaining and crying. The best description of them would be “primadonna’s”.
Well obviously “in the know” is definitely NOT in the know…. I suspect “in the know” is actually Virginia or one of her 3 stooges!!
But so everyone knows…..
The only thing suspected of having intimate knowledge of PID and Virginia is Bob Weems. The inappropriate behavior displayed by them both in front of the entire unit made things obvious. Most of the unit complained about this behavior to PERC, but it was swept under the rug, then Virginia promoted guess who….. What a surprise!!!
While Chief Carr was there at least welfare frauders were being prosecuted, unlike now!!!. And quality investigators were being hired!!!
What exactly should Virginia get a medal for???
Reducing the number of investigators while welfare fraud as a whole is increasing?
Reducing prosecution?
Altering the investigators reporting procedure so that it looks like there is less fraud in the County than there really is???
Firing or forcing out some of the best investigators we had?
How about taking the two individuals who worked the least in the unit and promoting them, (Bob Weems who DOES NOT have the qualifications to be an investigator at all!! His entire police experience is 1 year working at the jail, no street time, no investigations, NOTHING!!!, Everyone in the unit thinks he is a joke!!. AND Taylor… NOBODY that works for him trusts him, although one thing Virginia did do was reduce the amount of County time Taylor spent at the golf course!!
We actually don’t need to give out any medals at all!!! Virginia and Weems write enough praise about each other to fill that bill, Weems even got employee of the quarter or some other BS that was obviously written by Virginia..
Hurst is an IDIOT and a bully, he has lost every friend he ever had in the unit, no one trusts him, no one likes him, he is Virginia’s puppet, that’s why he has his current job. He left his last job over STRESS!! No other agency in the country would hire him or allow him to carry a firearm!!
Sooner or later the underhanded, sneaky, sometimes criminal actions (like fudging stats to show less fraud, and Constructive Termination..Virginia) these four so called managers have taken will come to light, and then everyone will see them for exactly who they are…
So…. “in the know”….. Now you know!!! And if you do work for PID, and only work WITH FIU..as you say… OPEN YOUR EYES!!!
No, “In the Know” is not Virginia or one her managers.
The fact is when the State switched from a monthly reporting system to a quarterly reporting system they also relaxed, and in some cases removed rules and regulations pertaining to the reporting of income. These changes implemented by the State is what is the chief cause for the reduction in welfare fraud investigations, as well as prosecutions. Virginia had nothing to do with these changes.
I know of no investigator whose employment was terminated or who deemed it necessary to leave who was worth keeping. For the most part these were the vagrants of FIU whose behavior would not have been tolerated by any of the police agencies they previously worked for. Why should PID’s expectations be different? The only that left who was a conscientious and productive investigator was Glenn.
Human Resources sets the standards for qualifications and Mr. Weems would not have been offered the job had he not the qualifications. Mr. Taylor has two separate Bachelor degrees and the fact that subordinates think he is a joke doesn’t change the fact that he has the job as well as the qualifications. I suspect that very soon Ray Santiago will get the same treatment as Bob, Kendall, and John. John hasn’t lost every friend he ever had because he’s still my friend.
Virginia doesn’t pick the person who is awarded the “employee of the quarter”. It’s done my a committee.
The criminal actions you refer to above regarding stats is inaccurate because the State determines what “stats” it wants from the counties. Again, a lot of this changed with the switch to quarterly reporting, none of which Mrs. Lugo had anything to say about.
Finally, I do not work ONLY for FIU, I have the opportunity to see the whole picture. By the way, what happened to the FIU being absorbed by the DA? Never happened did it. FIU’s reputation preceeded itself and the DA’s office wasn’t going to let themselves be infiltrated by a bunch of crybabies……… my advice to you is look at the big picture and ask yourself who would want to hire a complainer like me….