QUARTZ HILL MAN GETS PRISON FOR $2.2 MILLION GAS CO. THEFT.Byline: Daily News 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. - A Quartz Hill man accused in the theft of more than $2.2 million from the Gas Company was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for grand theft and tax evasion The process whereby a person, through commission of Fraud, unlawfully pays less tax than the law mandates. Tax evasion is a criminal offense under federal and state statutes. A person who is convicted is subject to a prison sentence, a fine, or both. , prosecutors said. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis Rappe also ordered Clarence B. Bonner, 53, to pay $2.2 million to the Gas Company and $176,589 to the Franchise Tax Board, prosecutors said. Bonner's 52-year-old wife, Sharon, 52, was sentenced to 16 months in state prison and also ordered to pay the Franchise Tax Board $176,589 in back taxes. Deputy District Attorney Eugene Hanrahan of the Major Fraud Division said the Bonners had pleaded guilty to charges in September. Clarence Bonner, a former Gas Company employee, pleaded guilty to one count each of grand theft and failing to file a state tax return. Sharon Bonner pleaded guilty to failing to file a state tax return. The Bonners were among eight people originally charged in the theft late last year. A superceding indictment naming the Bonners and five of the other six defendants was returned by the Los Angeles County grand jury in January. The eighth defendant, Robert Falcone, 53, of Rosemead, was not indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. . Falcone pleaded guilty to a grand theft count earlier this year and was placed on three years probation. Falcone on Friday was ordered to repay the Gas Company $5,000, Hanrahan said. All defendants in the case have now pleaded guilty or no contest, said Hanrahan. Some have been sentenced and others are scheduled for sentencing next month. Sentences so far have ranged from probation to state prison, and everyone has been ordered to pay restitution In the context of Criminal Law, state programs under which an offender is required, as a condition of his or her sentence, to repay money or donate services to the victim or society; with respect to maritime law, the restoration of articles lost by jettison, done when the . The thefts occurred between Dec. 7, 1995, and Jan. 3, 2002, and involved more than 300 fraudulent invoices to the Gas Company. The payments on the invoices were to an individual, a corporation and five sham False; without substance. A sham Pleading is one that is good in form but is so clearly false in fact that it does not raise any genuine issue. corporations. Clarence Bonner either got a split of the payment or his personal expenses were paid. His wife, a former paralegal paralegal n. a non-lawyer who performs routine tasks requiring some knowledge of the law and procedures, employed by a law office or who works free-lance as an independent for various lawyers. with a local law firm, received funds from the sham corporations, authorities said. Bonner had worked for the Gas Company (Sempra Energy Sempra Energy NYSE: SRE is a San Diego, California-based energy services holding company that was founded in 1998. Sempra owns the Southern California Gas Company, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sempra Commodities, and Sempra Generation. ) as a right-of-way agent. In that capacity, he processed payments to holders of rights of way for the Gas Company. Hanrahan said Bonner was placed on leave from the Gas Company on Feb. 8, 2002, after a financial analyst noticed that his budget was overspent. He later opened a soul food restaurant in Los Angeles. The case was investigated by the District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the California Franchise Tax Board The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) collects state personal income tax and corporate income tax of California.[1] History In 1879 California adopted its state constitution which among many other programs created the State Board of Equalization and the . |
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