Postmus served with lawsuit

Former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus was served in court today with a lawsuit alleging he and former members of his executive support staff bilked county taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"I'm looking forward to the discovery process . . . and exposing the Board of Supervisors for their misdeeds," Postmus said following his court hearing, which was continued until July 21.

Postmus, who has not been charged with a crime, has been making regularly scheduled court appearances since his Jan. 15 arrest on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine. He posted bail shortly after his arrest.

He said he has been battling an addiction to methamphetamine for the last three years, and is currently wrapping up his third stint in a drug rehabilitation program.

Susan Mickey, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said that once a person posts bail, they are given an arraignment date, and if criminal charges have not been filed by the arraignment date, a new date is scheduled. She said the District Attorney has three years to file charges.

Investigators with the District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit have been investigating Postmus and former members of his executive support staff after allegations surfaced last year that Postmus was running a political operation from his elected office. Other allegations include widespread timecard fraud and drug abuse.

The county is alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, improper expenditure of public funds, unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy in its lawsuit. Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are former assistant assessors Adam Aleman and Jim Erwin, former taxpayer advocate Gregory Eyler, former intergovernmental officer and Rancho Cucamonga City Councilman Rex Gutierrez and Michael Richman, a political consultant who secured a controversial $49,200 purchase order contract with the Assessor's Office for public relations work.

Aleman, who has been charged with six felonies including preparing false evidence, offering false evidence, a public records violation and vandalism, also appeared in court today for a pretrial hearing, which was continued until June 30.

joe.nelson@inlandnewspapers.com