Santos Kreimann Shifted out of Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office

By Brian Hews and Brian Hews

Acting Chief Deputy Assessor Santos Kreimann has been shifted into a new position by Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka out of the Assessor’s office that has been the center on a massive criminal probe for the past 18 months, Hews Media Group – Community News has learned.

On Friday, Fujioka sent a memo out to members of the Assessor’s office announcing that Kreimann will head the Operations Cluster at the County Hall of Administration.

Fujioka, in the same email, said that Kreimann will directly report to Chief Deputy CEO Bernice Culp and be responsible for the of the “Operations Cluster which includes Budget and Finance, Capital Projects and Space Planning.”

“Before his appointment as Director of Beaches and Harbor, Santos spent many years in our CEO Real Estate and Capital Projects teams, laying the early groundwork for the LAC + USC replacement hospital project, the Grand Avenue Project and the financing plans for Walt Disney Concert Hall,” Fujioka said.

HMG-CN was sent a copy of the memo from a source inside the Assessor’s Office.

Kreimann oversaw the operation of the Assessor’s Office as a Chief Deputy last year after current Assessor John Noguez was arrested on dozens of felony counts of accepting bribes and forgery.

Many inside the Assessor’s office lashed out at Kreimann and Fujioka after it was revealed by HMG-CN that Kreimann did not have an appraiser license for an operation that oversees a trillion dollar property tax role, the largest of any agency in America.

During a meeting with employees inside the Assessor’s office last summer, Kerimann was recorded on audio tape stating that he had, “been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to be doing as you all know I don’t really have a lot of experience at the assessor’s office, I’ve never worked at the assessor’s office.”

In the meantime, Noguez remains freed on a $1.16 million bail, and has been on a “voluntary leave of absence” since June 1, 2012. Noguez is still receiving his annual salary of more than $186,000 per year, and is still the Assessor of LA County.

HMG-CN will have additional updates on this situation.