Crew Boss Accused of Bilking Gas Firm

A Sunland man who oversaw work crews for Southern California Gas Co. was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of grand theft and forgery in billing the company for yard and construction work at his home and at a horse stable.

James R. McCormick, 45, was arrested at his home by Los Angeles district attorney’s investigators and taken to the Central Jail, where he was released after posting $8,500 bail.

Between August, 1983, and March, 1986, McCormick billed his employer $13,820 for work performed--sometimes by his company’s crews--at his residence and at a Sunland stable where he boarded horses, authorities said.

Workers erected fences, installed gates, dug drainage ditches and built corrals, said Al Albergate, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

“Sometimes he would just direct workers who worked for him to knock off work early and go over to his house and do some work,” Albergate said. On other occasions, Albergate said, McCormick forged receipts to make it appear that work involved company projects.

McCormick, a 23-year company veteran, was a district distribution supervisor in charge of crews operating out of a gas company work facility in Glendale. Albergate said an anonymous letter tipped off company officials to McCormick’s activities.

Denise King, a company spokeswoman, said McCormick was fired June 4, 1986, after the company investigated the allegations in the letter.