Aleman's rationale
Assessor aide aimed to fix 'blatant errors'

Lauren McSherry, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/02/2008 10:28:18 PM PDT

Adam Aleman said he altered documents because he found some "blatant errors" and wanted to ensure the documents were "100 percent accurate for the grand jury," according to court records released Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials, however, saw the situation differently. They believed Aleman, the San Bernardino County assessor's 25-year-old top assistant, was attempting to mislead a grand jury investigation into political corruption.

Aleman was arrested Monday and charged with six felonies: three counts of preparing false evidence and one count each of offering forged or altered documents as evidence, destruction of public records and vandalism in excess of $400. He could face up to three years in jail for each count. He has been released on $150,000 bail.

The Assessor's Office, led by Bill Postmus, has become enmeshed in scandal this week with the release Monday of a grand jury report that chronicles misuse of power by the department head. The grand jury inquiry contributed to the investigation by the district attorney and Aleman's arrest.

The court documents released Wednesday describe the district attorney's raid on April 10 when law enforcement officials seized computers, documents and Aleman's Blackberry.

They also indicate that the district attorney's investigation began months before the grand jury notified the district attorney in November of possible criminal activity in the Assessor's Office.

In fact, the district attorney's investigation appears to have been spurred by a complaint filed in August by Paul Biane, the Board of Supervisors chairman and a longtime Postmus ally.

"I didn't know where it would go," Biane said. "I think that's the bottom line. It either could have vindicated or indicted anybody in the Assessor's Office, but that didn't matter to me. It had to be moved forward regardless of the outcome. I was willing to let the chips fall where they may."

Ted Lehrer, a spokesman for Postmus, called Biane's statements "bizarre and rambling" and clearly a "politically motivated witchhunt."

He said Postmus wanted to point out that Biane's top two staffers, Matt Brown and Tim Johnson, both do significant campaign consulting or advising. He noted that Brown is head of two political action committees.

"If Paul Biane wants to rid county government of politics and the appearance of impropriety, he ought to look at the political activities of his own staff," Lehrer said before verbally slapping Biane for his controversial purchase of digital binoculars with county funds.

"You don't need a pair of high-powered binoculars to see that Paul Biane's two government staffers are actively engaged in politics."

Biane's complaint centered on e-mails sent and received by Mike Richman, a campaign consultant the assessor contracted using county money. Biane said he was concerned the Assessor's Office was being used for political activity.

However, the court records unsealed Wednesday, comprised of an affidavit and search warrant, suggest the district attorney's investigation focused heavily on Aleman.

In one instance, Aleman asked a staff member to alter documents, telling her, "We're not really changing them, we're just fixing them because this is what it should have said originally," the documents say.

Susan Mickey, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, maintains the investigation is ongoing.

Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney John Goritz was in court arguing that certain passages of the documents should be redacted.

The documents were supposed to be released last month after a ruling by San Bernardino Superior Court Judge David M. Cohn, but the case, which became the center of a debate over government transparency, had been tied up in a Riverside court of appeals, which ruled Tuesday that the documents should be unsealed.

Goritz said the district attorney was seeking to protect the identities of witnesses interviewed for the investigation.

"Protecting identities is a concern that goes well beyond our case," he said.

Mel Opotowsky, a First Amendment Coalition board member, said the situation was suspicious because the documents concerning the raid were withheld from the public until after the grand jury issued its report.

Aleman has not returned calls seeking comment.