Lancaster Mayor Tells Ties to Fraud Case : Crime: Henry Hearns and a city commissioner referred business to suspect. They have not been charged and say they were taken in by him.

Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns acknowledged Wednesday he had referred loan business to a man charged this week in an Antelope Valley fraud case.

One of Hearns’ city commission appointees also was a business associate of Rayfield T. Johnson, 46, who was charged Tuesday with two counts of felony grand theft, court records show.

Hearns, a Baptist minister, and his aide, city Parks Commission member Arvid Orbeck Jr., claim they were taken in by Johnson, who remained at large Wednesday and is believed to have left the area.

Neither Hearns nor Orbeck has been charged with any crime. But their involvement in the case is likely to prove a political embarrassment to both.

According to sheriff’s records, the mayor and commissioner told authorities that Johnson, who had billed himself as a multimillionaire and former Liberian minister of finance, had come into town and offered his services to needy people.

Both men said Johnson came to Hearns’ church about 1 1/2 years ago claiming to be a top official with Golden Ruler’s Plus Inc., which Johnson described as a social service organization helping the needy. But state records show no such corporation exists.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department opened its investigation of Johnson after Phyllis Robinson, a 43-year-old Littlerock resident, said he had taken $1,750 and a property deed from her as a fee for a promised $25,000 business loan. But the loan never came through, and Robinson said she was forced to close a market she had just opened.

Robinson, listed as the victim in the theft counts filed Tuesday, said she trusted Johnson primarily because of Hearns’ recommendation.

“I didn’t have any reason to think anything was wrong,” she said.

In an interview Wednesday, Hearns acknowledged referring Robinson and several other people seeking loans to Johnson earlier this year.

Hearns, 58, pastor of the First Missionary Baptist Church in Littlerock, east of Palmdale, admitted that he used poor judgment in referring people to Johnson for loans without first verifying his claims and credentials.

“I gotta admit I went further than I should have with him,” said Hearns, who was elected to the council in April, 1990. “I really thought he was really fixing to do something for our community.”

At the same that Hearns was referring people to Johnson for loans, his commissioner, Orbeck, was working as an adviser to Johnson and aiding his social service goals. He also allowed Johnson to live in his home for several months.

Like Hearns, Orbeck said Wednesday he had believed Johnson was offering legitimate loans to help the needy. But Orbeck said he also knew of at least half a dozen people or organizations who paid Johnson fees for loans that they never received. Orbeck said he ended up refunding hundreds of dollars paid by several of those people after Johnson disappeared.

Hearns, who selected by his council colleagues in April to serve as mayor for the year, had another scrape in February when his city and church wages were garnisheed to pay a $1,478 apartment rental debt left by a homeless family he had tried to help. Friends later repaid him the money, Hearns said.

In the current case, prosecutors said there was no evidence of criminal intent by Hearns and Orbeck. “I think what we have here is a couple of people who wanted to help someone and through their misguided efforts caused damage to the victim,” said Stephen Cooley, head of the district attorney’s office in Lancaster.