INDICTED PR TARGET SURRENDERS.Byline: James Nash Staff Writer A former top executive of Fleishman-Hillard surrendered Friday to authorities following his indictment on federal charges accusing him of overbilling the city Department of Water and Power for public-relations work. John Stodder, 49, turned himself in to the FBI at the Federal Building in Westwood, where he was arrested, handcuffed and placed in a holding cell. He made an brief appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge in the afternoon, and was freed after posting $10,000 bail. The former Fleishman-Hillard senior vice president faces 11 charges of wire fraud for allegedly directing employees to pad their hours by $250,000 in bills submitted to the DWP DWP Department of Work and Pensions (UK) DWP Drinking Water Program DWP Dynamic Weapon Pricing (gamin, Counter-Strike: Source) DWP Department of Water & Power DWP Drinking Water Protection . Stodder is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 7 on the charges, each of which carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Defense attorney Maurice Suh Maurice Suh, former Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles, is an American attorney. Suh was born on October 14, 1964 in Bronxville. said Stodder expects to be cleared of wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do .
``Mr. Stodder looks forward to having a full development of the facts in this case and when that occurs, it will show that he is innocent of the charges in this case,'' Suh said. Stodder and two other Fleishman-Hillard executives who oversaw the firm's $24 million in DWP contracts resigned last week after an internal investigation by the firm. Stodder's fall surprised many political observers, who said the mild- mannered former political aide seemed an unlikely candidate to mastermind a wide-ranging fraud scheme. But others speculated that the U.S. Attorney's Office served its first indictment on Stodder to compel more information on other figures in alleged City Hall corruption scandal. One of Stodder's attorneys, Jan Handzlik, said charging Stodder to get to other defendants would be a misuse of a federal grand jury. Stodder, who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes Rancho Pal·os Ver·des A city of southern California on a channel of the Pacific Ocean west of Long Beach. Population: 42,100. , worked as a public-relations and environmental aide to former Mayor Tom Bradley Noun 1. Tom Bradley - United States politician who was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles (1917-1998) Bradley, Thomas Bradley and former Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Supervisor Ed Edelman. He worked as the director of California public affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. and environmental practices for Edelman Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most before joining Fleishman-Hillard in May 2002. Hahn himself on Friday expressed surprise about Stodder's indictment. ``It isn't something I expected,'' Hahn said. ``But, it appears there is a culture in these firms where some people think it's OK to rip off customers.'' Hahn disputed accounts that he personally had benefited from the firm's public-relations campaigns, saying he had merely participated in some of the events it organized for the DWP. ``I went to some clean-energy and other programs for the DWP, things as mayor that I supported,'' Hahn said. ``And, they did some pro bono Short for pro bono publico [Latin, For the public good]. The designation given to the free legal work done by an attorney for indigent clients and religious, charitable, and other nonprofit entities. work for the city. But, doing pro bono work doesn't excuse them ripping us off.'' The federal indictment served Thursday on Stodder refers to two ``co- schemers'' who conspired to add hours to Fleishman-Hillard's monthly invoices to the DWP, the Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown. Also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT LA and two private clients of the public-relations firms. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Kamenstein refused to identify or elaborate on the co-schemers, but said the joint local-federal investigation into alleged corruption is continuing. Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report. James Nash, (213) 978-0390 james.nash(at)dailynews.com |
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