Troubled Fil-Am leader avoid jail time after paying restitution

JOSEPH G. LARIOSA, GMANews.TV

CHICAGO, Illinois – Filipino-American community leader Ben Menor informed the Superior Court of Santa Clara in San Jose, California Thursday (Sept. 18) that he had paid restitution amounting to $51,000.

The payment was part of the “conditional offer" by Judge Ray Cunningham to Menor at his July 24 sentencing that would keep him from jail when he was ordered to pay restitution on two counts — $32,500 (assisted living program) and $16,000 (Naffaa conference). He was ordered to pay back over half of this amount prior to his sentencing.

The payment would, in effect, mean the dismissal of the two cases, according to Greg Macabenta, quoting Menor’s lawyer, Charles Hendrickson, deputy public defender.

Macabenta, a colleague of Menor in the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (Naffaa), covered the court story for his newspaper, Ang Panahon.

Menor had earlier pleaded “no contest" to count one – filing false financial statements – that could have landed him in jail or three years probation.

This felony will be reduced to a misdemeanor, Hendrickson explained, “with no jail term and would be immediately expunged."

“In effect," Hendrickson said, “it would be as if the case were just being initiated and the defendant were to enter a plea of not guilty."

Because of additional paperwork by the Department of Probation that would facilitate resolution of the case, Judge Cunningham reset the sentencing anew of Menor to Oct. 9. The sentencing was originally scheduled Sept. 18.

The cases against Menor arose from the charges filed by the City of San Jose in Menor’s capacity as president and CEO of the Filipino American Senior Opportunities Development Council (FilAm SODC) and as executive director of the Jacinto Tony Siquig Northside Community Center that he had used funds and facilities of the City and of the Center for unauthorized and illegal purposes, and that he had submitted false financial reports concerning payment of services rendered by the Center.

One of the charges for grand theft alleged that Menor had used City and Center funds for the August 2002 national conference of Naffaa, a national organization, of which Menor is a member. Another grand theft charge accused Menor of arranging for services that benefited his parents at the expense of the Center.

According to court records, the District Attorney’s office offered to have the two grand theft cases dismissed provided Menor paid restitution amounting to about $14,000 for the case involving Naffaa and around $32,000 for the case involving his parents or a total of $46,862.

The other condition was for Menor to plead “No Contest" to the third case, which alleged that Menor had unlawfully over-charged the City for services rendered to the Center’s clients. He was accused of overstating by 24,000 hours the amount of time he and his agency worked under contract with the city to run the Center, a senior housing and community center on North Sixth Street in San Jose.

Earlier, Deputy District Attorney Steve Lowney said, “a no contest plea has the same legal effect as a guilty plea."

When his criminal case is over, Menor will have to brace for the civil case filed by the City, which sought for monetary damages of at least “$219,414, plus interest," against Menor and “100 other Does," seeking “treble damages," “civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each false claim," “legally recoverable interest," “punitive and exemplary damages," “damages for time and money properly expended in pursuit of the converted property," and other costs, including “attorney’s fees."

The Center is a 16,500 square foot facility consisting of an apartment for ethnic seniors that is occupied20by up to 80 percent of beneficiaries of Filipino descent.

Menor, 57, who was born in the Philippines but immigrated to the US at the age of 12, raised a total of $8 million for the center and $17 million for the senior housing from grants from the City of San Jose, in Santa Clara, California and other sources, including funds made possible by the Community Reinvestment Act. Construction of the facility began in 2001. It was inaugurated in 2003.

Menor had been with the FilAm SODC since 1993. He left the Center when the charges against him were filed. - GMANews.TV

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Selling of balikbayan boxes online part of deal between sender, firm —BOC By JOAHNA LEI CASILAO, GMA Integrated News

Dozens injured after train derails in Netherlands: emergency services --- Agence France-Presse