By Joe Nelson

Posted: 02/10/2010 10:47:07 AM PST

Former Assessor William Postmus, 38, of Victorville, and former assistant assessor James Erwin, 47, of Highland, were arrested early this morning and booked into jail in lieu of $225,000 bail and $380,000 bail, respectively.

During a news conference at the District Attorney's Office, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos and state Attorney General Edmund G. Brown described a wide-ranging conspiracy to secure a legal settlement between the county and Rancho Cucamonga developer Colonies Partners in November 2006. 

Two Rancho Cucamonga developers, a public relations consultant for the developers, members of the Board of Supervisors and one chief of staff to a county supervisor conspired to illegally secure the landmark $102 million settlement, which was not signed off by any of the county's attorneys or their outside counsel. "What is significant here is the most appalling corruption case in decades, certainly in the history of San Bernardino County and maybe California itself," Brown said during the news conference. "Individuals corrupted public office and were able to grab more than $100 million of the taxpayers money through this scheme."

Brown called the case "a shocking example of how money can corrupt the government process and not only bring government in discredit, but cost the taxpayers so much money at a time when people are being laid off and the state, cities and the county are facing a real fiscal crisis."

Erwin is charged with two counts of corrupt influencing, two counts of offering a bribe to a supervisor, two counts of extortion, one count of misappropriation of public funds and one count of forgery. He faces a maximum of 12 years in prison.

Postmus is charged with one count of accepting a bribe, one count of conflict of interest and one count of misappropriation of public funds. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.

At the time of his arrest, Postmus was found in possession of methamphetamine, an addiction he has been battling for more than three years. He has a pending drug possession charge in San Bernardino Superior Court.

"Also part of a conspiracy we have five unnamed and uncharged co-conspirators, two of whom began the scheme to obtain tax dollars by corrupt means," Ramos said.

He said conspiracy is two or more people agreeing to commit a crime, which requires at least one overt act to commit the crime.

The criminal complaint listed 45 overt acts, beginning in 2005 with a trip to China and ending with overt act 45, a forgery, by charged defendant Jim Erwin in 2008," Ramos said. "The overt acts will detail the threats, the extortion, the inducements and the bribery."

He identified two general partners of Rancho Cucamonga-based Colonies Partners, one media consultant for Colonies, one chief of staff for a county supervisor and a county supervisor as the co-conspirators, all identified as "John Does."

None of the five co-conspirators have been charged because prosecutors do not feel they have gathered enough evidence to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, Ramos said.

The investigation, however, is far from over, Ramos said.

"I want to make this very very clear today, this is an ongoing investigation and things can change as to those uncharged co-conspirators," Ramos said.

In November 2006, the Board of Supervisors approved, after nearly four years of legal battle, the landmark $102 million settlement with Colonies Partners. Supervisors Bill Postmus, then the board chairman, Gary Ovitt and Paul Biane voted in favor of the settlement. The lawsuit stemmed from a dispute over costs for flood control improvements at the Colonies Crossroads residential and commercial development adjacent the 210 Freeway in Upland.

Within six months of the settlement, Colonies contributed $400,000 to political action committees tied to the three supervisors who voted in favor of the settlement and one operated by Erwin, who served as an intermediary on behalf of Colonies during the settlement negotiations.

Mark Kirk, Ovitt's chief of staff, ran one of the political action committees and took a $20,000 consultant fee once the contribution was received. Erwin also received a luxurious trip to New York City, a Rolex Daytona watch and the services of a prostitute from Burum for his role in the settlement negotiations, according to court records and officials law enforcement documents