3 Charged With Inflating Mountain Parkland Value

Encino real estate developer Jerry Oren was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on charges that he and two associates fraudulently inflated the value of a scenic tract of land that was sold to the National Park Service for $8 million, making it the most expensive parcel ever acquired for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Oren, 51, whose Oren Realty and Development Co. Inc., has dozens of real estate holdings in the Los Angeles area, was charged with wire fraud and making a false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and $11,000 in fines.

Charges of aiding in wire fraud were filed against Radoslav L. Sutnar, 56, a consultant to Oren at the time of the land sale, and Moshe Ziv, 36, a partner in a New York real estate firm, who allegedly fabricated a letter offering to buy the same land for $9.3 million.

The letter, which was supposed to have come from a client of Ziv’s, was later given by Oren and Sutnar to an appraiser, who used it as the basis for calculating the value of the property, according to the indictment. The resulting appraisal was $2.6 million higher than one conducted a short time before.

Sutnar and Ziv face up to five years in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted. They and Oren are scheduled to be arraigned March 23 in federal court in Los Angeles.

The indictment does not affect the land sale or the purchase price, officials said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles J. Stevens, who is prosecuting the case, would not say whether the government will seek a refund from Oren.

The 336-acre tract of oak-dotted hills and meadows north of the Ventura Freeway near Agoura Hills has been the focus of controversy ever since it was purchased from Oren’s firm in 1985 by the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation group that acquires land for later resale to local or federal parks agencies.

The San Francisco-based group resold the Cheeseboro Canyon land to the National Park Service, which had sought the parcel for years but lacked the necessary money.

Individuals within the Park Service and other landowners in the Santa Monica Mountains insisted that the price was far above market value. Even so, opposition was muted by the fact that virtually everyone involved saw the parcel as a “plum” acquisition, because the land is close to the Ventura Freeway and could serve as a convenient public-access point for the recreation area, said Daniel Kuehn, supervisor of the Santa Monica Mountains park.

“It’s unfortunate that it turns out we paid too much money for the property,” Kuehn said. But, he added, “Land values in the area are just escalating like crazy.”

Years from now, the acquisition will look like a bargain, he said.