Ex-mayor is jailed for fraud

During a six-hour sentencing hearing of former Huntington Beach Mayor Pamela Julien Houchen and three others, tears were shed and apologies were made. But in the end, sorry just wasn’t enough.

On Monday, Houchen, 49, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution for her role in a condo conversion scam, which robbed the city of a substantial amount of low-income housing and put a number of city residents in financial hardship.

The once-popular mayor was one of four sentenced by Judge David O. Carter at the U.S. district court in Santa Ana.

Along with Houchen, Harvey DuBose, Jeffrey Crandall and Michael McDonnell all received prison sentences of two-or-more years and were ordered to pay restitution totaling $1.2 million.

Judge Carter told Houchen her sentencing was far less than it would have been because of her cooperation with authorities after her indictment in December, 2004.

“At some time you’ve done everything, once the government became involved, to set things right and make contrition,” he said to Houchen.

However, her actions — violating a public position and the trust that comes with it — moved the judge to sentence her for a longer sentence than prosecutors recommended.

“Public officials will never be looked at quite the same way and that’s a stain on all of us,” Carter said.

Before she was sentenced, Houchen’s lawyer, John Barnett, pleaded with the court to allow Houchen home confinement so that she could help raise her 4-year-old daughters.

During the sentencing, Carter said he had considered the children’s need for their parent, but wondered if it would have been an issue had gender roles been swapped.

“I’m very sorry for the harm I’ve caused and the shame to my husband, family and the community,” she said during a tearful statement to the court.

Restitutions will go into a fund that judge Carter said will be made available to victims of the scams. Any amount left over could go toward the city of Huntington Beach, also considered a victim in the scheme.

Carter also said that Stewart Title — the company that DuBose was an agent for at the time — will not be reimbursed, contrary to prosecution’s recommendations.

Asking for help from probations and federal prosecutors to work out the “mechanics” of setting up a fund and an application process for victims, Carter said he planned to meet with Mayor Dave Sullivan to discuss how such a fund would work.

Emotionally charged statements were made to the court by three of the victims.

Renee and Scott Tarnow told the judge that their credit, finances, homeowner plans and even their marriage was ruined by the schemers, specifically Houchen.

The Tarnows purchased a supposedly renovated condominium from McDonell in 2002.

By the time escrow had closed, the house was condemned by the city, the Tarnows said.

Unable to move in for close to a year, the couple spent about $80,000 in construction fees.

“She’s not sorry for what she did,” Renee Tarnow said. “She’s just sorry she got caught.”

At one point in her statement, Tarnow looked directly at the mother of triplets, saying she had no sympathy for Houchen.

“I also have children,” Tarnow said.

Houchen pleaded guilty in September, 2005 to eight counts of mail and wire fraud in the illegal conversion of 15 apartment buildings.

She and seven others were indicted nine months earlier after the scheme became public.

Houchen must surrender herself into federal custody on Nov. 6.