Former School District Aide Rigged Bids for 5 Years, Orange Police Say

A two-year investigation by Orange police alleges that a former maintenance supervisor bilked the financially strapped Orange Unified School District by rigging contracts for about five years.

No charges have been filed. But, according to documents filed in Orange County Superior Court on July 9, former district maintenance supervisor Steven Presson gave inflated contracts to a few companies between 1979 and 1984 in exchange for gifts, home improvements or money.

The documents are sworn affidavits by Orange Police Detective John Whitely based on a police investigation, and they ask for search warrants to check Presson’s banking actions. The affidavits say Presson deliberately issued vague job descriptions in “the rigging of bids” in the school district. They also allege that he received use of a yacht and improvements to his home in return for helping the contractors.

Police investigators and the Orange County district attorney’s office would not discuss the investigation Friday. They said the inquiry, begun in October, 1984, is continuing.

Now Lives in Florida

Presson, 32, resigned from the district in December, 1984, and reportedly now lives in Florida. He could not be reached for comment.

The sprawling school district serves Orange and Villa Park as well as parts of Anaheim and vast sections of suburban county land. The school district has had severe financial problems in recent years because of declining enrollment. In 1984, the district was on the brink of a multimillion-dollar deficit that was averted only by budget cutbacks and hiring freezes.

The documents do not say how much money the alleged rigging might have cost the district. But they say that two companies won 49 of 90 projects for district refurbishment projects between 1979 and 1984 and that those 49 projects totaled $2 million.

The two companies identified in the documents are Brock and Gustafson Construction Co. and Arboles Creative Woodesign Inc., both of Orange. The court documents say that Brock and Gustafson obtained 34 projects totaling $1.3 million and that Arboles was awarded 15 projects totaling $700,000 between fiscal years 1979-80 and 1983-84.

Arboles owner William Salling is giving evidence in the investigation in return for a grant of complete immunity from prosecution, according to the court documents.

The affidavits quote Salling as saying: “Mr. Presson would always inform Mr. Salling in advance of submitting bids whenever he was to be selected to be awarded a bid package. This would normally occur several days prior to the opening of sealed bids by the purchasing department.”

Told What to Bid

In normal competitive bidding, contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder whose proposal meets the need.

In the Orange district, according to the documents. “Mr. Presson would . . . tell Mr. Salling a specific amount of money that Mr. Salling was to bid to the Orange Unified School District for the project. . . ,” the affidavits read. “The dollar figure Mr. Presson directed Mr. Salling to submit to the school district generally exceeded the amount Mr. Salling had previously determined necessary to complete the project by anywhere from $3,000 up to $20,000.”

Presson allegedly asked the contractors for favors in exchange for the rigged contracts. The documents said that Salling “purchased a Criss-Craft power yacht for Mr. Presson” and that although the boat was kept in Salling’s name, it was “continuously available for the personal use of Mr. Presson.”

Salling also said, according to the documents, that he installed wooden cabinets, “an elaborate wine rack” and an oak wall unit in Presson’s home on Rocky Point Road in Anaheim. In March, 1982, the documents said, Salling gave Presson $5,000.

Brock and Gustafson Construction Co. paid for an alarm system installed at Presson’s home, according to the papers, and John Michael Manahan of the Jasmine Construction Co.paid for landscaping Presson’s home and constructing a patio there.

The documents described an elaborate bid-rigging that allegedly was designed to funnel money to William Gustafson, who was formerly an officer in Brock and Gustafson Construction Co. William Gustafson, who now has his own company in Santa Ana, could not be reached for comment Friday.

New Superintendent’s Role

The documents said Presson told Salling “to add $6,000 to his (contract) appraisal.” Presson then told Salling to add another $10,000 to the appraisal and to divert that amount to William Gustafson, “even though Mr. Gustafson was not going to be involved with any portion of the construction. Mr. Presson explained this conduct by telling Mr. Salling that he (Presson) needed to get some money to Mr. Gustafson,” the documents said.

Presson came under investigation in the school district shortly after the arrival of the new superintendent, Kenneth D. Brummel. Brummel said Friday that he was suspicious of how some district matters had been handled and began an internal investigation. “Later I asked the police to come in and take a look at some things,” Brummel said.

Brummel became superintendent in July, 1984, and Presson was placed on administrative leave in October while the investigation was in progress. Presson resigned in December, 1984, Brummel said. District records show that Presson began work for the district in 1974 as a custodian and worked his way up to being head of the system’s maintenance operations.

Brummel said Friday that none of the construction companies mentioned in the court documents as alleged participants in the contract rigging has done business with the district since August, 1984.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans said Friday that he did not want to speculate on when any charges might be filed. “This is a very complex case,” Evans said.

Sgt. Ed Falkenstien of the Orange Police Department’s vice division also declined to discuss the future of the case. “We’ll be glad when this is over, because we’ve been on this a long time, and that’s about all I can say,” he said.