Inquiry Targets Ex-Official of 2-County Firefighter Local

LOS ANGELES —  The district attorney’s office said Wednesday that it is investigating allegations that the former treasurer of a Los Angeles and Orange County firefighters union embezzled at least $350,000 during his 10 years in office.

Sources familiar with the investigation said Ronald Creath, a captain in a Los Angeles County Fire Department station in Whittier, is suspected of using union money to pay for personal expenses.

They said he is suspected of charging some purchases to his union credit card and writing union checks to pay off debts on his personal credit cards.

Creath, a 28-year Fire Department veteran, was defeated for reelection in November by members of Local 1014 of the International Assn. of Firefighters. He had been responsible for handling more than $1 million in annual union dues.

Local 1014 represents 2,500 firefighters in the departments of Los Angeles and Orange counties and in the El Monte Fire Department.

The local’s president, Dallas Jones, said that he made the district attorney’s office aware of allegations against Creath early this year after the union began an independent audit and that Creath had made a generalized admission of wrongdoing.

Creath, whose status as a fire captain has not been affected by the investigation, declined to comment.

Roger Gunson, head of the district attorney’s special investigations division, confirmed that Creath is under investigation but declined to discuss the case.

Jones estimated that the total allegedly embezzled is $350,000. However, another union source familiar with the case said he believes that hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional misappropriations had occurred, although they might not be classified as criminal violations.

Officials of the local hold regular firefighter jobs and are paid $350 a month for the time they devote to union affairs.

Creath was narrowly defeated last year by Ed Dahlen, a Los Angeles County firefighter who sits on the board of a credit union serving Fire Department employees and had run unsuccessfully against Creath in the union’s 1988 elections. While concern over financial practices was expressed in that campaign, no “hard evidence” was raised against Creath, sources said.

Union president Jones said indications of wrongdoing appeared only when Creath was preparing to leave office in December.

Jones said three days before a routine “exit audit” of the local’s books in December, Creath told him “in passing . . . that there might be some problems.”

The union hired an independent accounting firm, which reviewed expenses authorized by all union officials during the past decade. It “found that a year after Ron had taken office, the problems started to occur,” a member of the local’s board said.

Creath was described by union officials as the father of a large family, including several adopted children.

“He was looked up to by a lot of people in the department,” the board member said. “For those of us who know that these kind of things happen, we’re saddened by the whole thing.”