Special Assignments And Investigations

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― County workers are being paid by taxpayer dollars. Got a problem? It's their job to check public pipes. But there is evidence that some workers are using their county job to find and perform private work while on the clock.

In a CBS13 hidden camera investigation, we set out to determine if the allegations are true and what the county would do about it.

Our story starts with undercover video of a Sacramento county worker pulling up in a county sewer truck, in uniform, in the middle of the day, to line-up a little side action.
One exchange goes like this:
Jack Ortega/Sacramento county worker: "…wanna do it?"
Homeowner: "yeah, why don't we."
Ortega: "…okay, cool."

Jack Ortega is a Sacramento County sewer worker.
Ortega thinks he's talking to a real estate agent and a new homeowner in front of a house that he's told has backed up sewer pipes.

In reality Ortega is being recorded by an undercover CBS 13 crew.

Before we tell you how we caught Ortega working an illegal deal, here's a little background.

"Oh, it's crippling the business" says private plumbing contractor Jacob Sargeant.

He is one of 20 local plumbers -- business owners, competitors -- who've filled a small conference room at Ace Plumbing in Sacramento. They recently came together for a common cause -- to fight the Sacramento County Sewer District -- CSD-1 -- and some of its employees.

"…What we believe is corruption. What we believe is improper advertising. What we believe is conflict of interest" says Ace Pluming general manager Scott Faulk.

He and the other plumbers believe the county is stealing their business. S.O.S Plumbing owner Anthony Chance says, "I've lost probably $20,000-$30,000 worth of revenue in the last couple of months."

New ads by CSD-1 on the sides of their vehicles and in the yellow pages urge consumers to "call us first." But that's not the problem. State law says that's legal. These plumbers say many county sewer workers are soliciting their own private business while on the county clock, all over the greater Sacramento area.

With those allegations, we decided to investigate. We set up undercover cameras at two locations on two different days in March.

"I'm calling because I have a back-up," a CBS13 producer tells a customer service rep via phone after calling the CSD-1 phone number, the same number in the yellow pages ad.

CSD-1 sent out a crew which checked the county's section of sewer line at no charge. Everyone who pays for sewer service in Sacramento County pays for this service.

"When we flush the toilet, it starts bubblin' up in the tub" our "homeowner tells the CSD-1 crew after they arrive.

At both locations the CSD-1 workers arrived and checked the sewer lines. Our undercover news crew meets another CSD-1 crew at another home: "What's up? How are ya? Not bad."

County policy says its workers are not supposed to recommend a private plumber, nor are they to offer to fix any problems in exchange for money.

"Do you know anyone who could take care of this quick?" asks our "homeowner."

During our investigation we found that two of the three county crews we spoke with were above board.

"So, just, do you know of anybody off-hand to call?" asks the homeowner. The sewer worker replies, "Ya know, just go to the yellow pages."

They did not recommend a plumber and did not offer to fix any sewer problems, per county policy. But Jack Ortega did.

Ortega pulled up in a county truck owned by Sacramento taxpayers and within a matter of minutes he was ready to make a deal.

He tells our undercover plumbers "I'd just did a job like this a month and a half ago down by the river here," referring to the repair work he was proposing.

Our two undercover plumbers heard that Ortega was referring private plumbing work to himself while on the clock with Sacramento County.

The pitch continues: "I could complete it tomorrow," promises Ortega.

The plumbers posed as a real estate broker and a new homebuyer.  They called Ortega and a short time later he arrived in a county truck. He never inspected the sewer pipes, but it did not take long before he offered up his own repair services.

He made an offer to fix what he thought was a backed-up sewer pipe. Ortega's offer: "That's gonna cost you about, uh ... about $1,700 bucks"

The next morning there they were. Ortega brought in three guys with a jackhammer and they were soon tearing up a driveway and digging up the sewer line. This is a job Jack Ortega will likely regret for a long time. Not only did we catch him, on tape, selling himself as private plumber while he was being paid by Sacramento county taxpayers, but it turns out Ortega does not have a contractor's license.

Just a few hours after we witnessed Ortega and crew at work, officials from the California State Contractor's Board, the CSLB, arrived on scene and later slapped him with a $2,500 fine for contracting without a license.

We showed our undercover video to Ortega's supervisors, including Mary Snyder, the district engineer for CSD-1.

And we were frankly startled by her response. Here's one exchange:
Sam Shane: "…give me your reaction to what happened out there on videotape?"
Mary Snyder: an initial moment of thought, then "Turn off the camera please."

During our six minute interview Snyder instructed our CBS13 photographer to shut down his camera not once, but twice.

Shane: "…what they can advise or not advise homeowners when they go out to job site?"
Snyder: "Can you stop the camera for a moment."

When she did take our questions on Ortega, Snyder had few answers.
Shane: "…is he under investigation currently?"
Snyder: "I can't answer that question."
Shane: "…what could happen to him?"
Snyder: "I can't possibly comment on that."
Shane: "…are there other workers being investigated?"
Snyder: "I can't comment on that, it's an ongoing investigation."

"I'm just not going to comment on how she chose to conduct an interview" says County Supervisor Roger Dickinson.

He sits on the board that hired Mary Snyder.

We asked him if Snyder's resistance to our legitimate questions avoided accountability.

He tells us, "There is accountability and there needs to be accountability to the tax payers for the activities of government agencies."

He also promised us that there would be accountability following an investigation into the allegations surrounding CSD-1's sewer workers.

So what will happen to jack Ortega? Are his the actions of one or many? Dickinson and Snyder say the taxpayers, who pay her salary and Ortega's, will likely never know.

The results of their investigation, they say, will likely be kept secret calling it a personnel issue.

One important reminder: when hiring a plumber make sure they are licensed, otherwise you could be setting yourself up for future problems and liability.

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