SLO County Sheriff's Department: Fake "Los Osos Community Pool Association" a "Civil Matter"

"Your donation, as well as the donations of many others, has not yet been spent but will be used to build the community pool in Los Osos."
-- Pandora Nash-Karner, "President," "Los Osos Community Pool Association," August 31, 2001

"Results of search for 'LOS OSOS COMMUNITY POOL ASSOCIATION' returned no entity records. Record not found."
-- The California Secretary of State's web site, after conducting a business search on "Los Osos Community Pool Association"

Hey, Los Osos? How's that "community pool" treating you this summer? Must be nice, huh?

Wait. What's that? There is no "Community Pool" in Los Osos?

I don't understand. How can that be? After all, from the early 1990s through the early 2000s, "more than $150,000 in donations" was collected by something called the "Los Osos Community Pool Association" (even though the Secretary of State has "no record" of that "non-profit" "organization" ever existing).

And, in 2001, according to "Los Osos Community Pool Association," "President," Pandora Nash-Karner , those funds were going to "be used to build the community pool in Los Osos."

So, where's the "Los Osos Community Pool" in 2012?

Ah, I think I found it.

According to the Morro Bay Community Pool Foundation web site:

"The Los Osos Community Pool Association commissioned an Aquatics Needs Assessment Survey which was completed on May 29, 2010. They ("The Los Osos Community Pool Association") wanted to know if the community wanted a pool to be built in Los Osos or Morro Bay. As it turns out the results of the Study showed that the majority of respondents wanted the community pool to be built in Morro Bay."

So, there's your "community pool," Los Osos, that Los Osos residents donated "more than $150,000" to build. It's now planned for Morro Bay.

That's right, a decade after "Los Osos Community Pool Association," "President," Nash-Karner, told a donor that his "generous gift" "will be used to build the community pool in Los Osos," the "Los Osos Community Pool Association" (which, apparently, isn't even real), "commissions" a study, in 2010, that concludes, "As it turns out the results of the Study showed that the majority of respondents wanted the community pool to be built in Morro Bay."

And that's that.

So, now, in 2012, after collecting "more than $150,000 in donations" that were to "be used to build the community pool in Los Osos," there's no community pool in Los Osos, there's no longer a "Los Osos Community Pool Association" (which, by all indications, never legally existed in the first place), and even worse, all of those donations, apparently, are all but gone.

According to Barry VanderKelen, executive director at the SLO County Community Foundation, "The Los Osos Community Pool Endowment Fund," listed on the SLO County Community Foundation's web site, has "between $10,000 - $15,000 in it."

And, when I recently emailed Nash-Karner, asking her, "What happened to all of the Los Osos pool donations, are they in another account?," she never replied.

And that situation -- that, in 2012, there's no longer a "Los Osos Community Pool Association," and no Los Osos Community Pool, and no more plans on the table to even build one, and the money's, apparently, all but gone -- understandably, has some of those people that donated for a "Los Osos community pool" claiming "fraud," and, these days, they want their money back.

Take, Los Osos resident, Cinthea Coleman, for example.

According to Coleman, in 1993 (1993!), her father, Robert Stark, donated $12,000 to something called "The South Bay Community Pool Association," which, according to official records, actually DID exist, before it was "suspended" by the State of California -- "All of South Bay Community Pool Association's powers, rights and privileges in the State of California have been suspended" -- where, SBCPA "President, Pandora Nash-Karner," then, simply changed the name to "Los Osos Community Pool Association," and stayed in business.

And today, considering there's no pool in Los Osos, and no longer even any plans to build one, Coleman, understandably, wants her father's "generous gift" back.

In a recent email to SewerWatch, Coleman writes:

"Yes, I believe she ("Los Osos Community Pool Association," "President," Pandora Nash-Karner) is perpetrating Fraud on multiple levels and needs to return my Father's $12,000.00 donation to a FEDERALLY-tax exempt organization. I have Power of Attorney for this matter and the money can go to me, personally, or my non profit."

So, after SLO County Sheriff, Ian Parkinson, recently wrote to me in an email, "If you have a victim (of the "Los Osos Community Pool Association") then they can be referred to us and we would investigate," I referred Coleman to the SLO County Sheriff's department.

However, after filing a complaint with the SLO County Sheriff department earlier this month, where Coleman supplied the department with the details of her case, including a copy of the above-referenced, August 2001, letter from Nash-Karner, that was written on "Los Osos Community Pool Association" letterhead, when there is "no record" that the "Los Osos Community Pool Association" ever legally existed, and where Nash-Karner writes, "Your donation, as well as the donations of many others, has not yet been spent but will be used to build the community pool in Los Osos," and, "we are currently proceeding with plans to build the pool in Los Osos," and, "Your generous gift... is now irrevocable," AND, where I also supplied the SLO County Sheriff department with primary source information on:

-- How "The Los Osos Community Pool Endowment Fund," listed on the SLO County Community Foundation's web site, has between "$10,000 - $15,000" in it

and;

-- How "more than $150,000" in donations was collected for a "Los Osos community pool"

and;

-- How "All of South Bay Community Pool Association's powers, rights and privileges in the State of California have been suspended"

and;

-- How the "Los Osos Community Pool Association" has "no record" on the Secretary of State's web site

and;

-- How, 17 years after the now-"suspended" South Bay Community Pool Association was formed in 1993, something called the "Los Osos Community Pool Association" commissioned a study, in 2010, that concluded, "As it turns out... the majority of respondents wanted the community pool to be built in Morro Bay"

and;

-- How today, there's no Los Osos pool, no longer a "Los Osos Community Pool Association" (which never legally existed in the first place) no longer any plans to build a pool in Los Osos, and that the "The Los Osos Community Pool Endowment Fund" has less than $15,000 in it, after "more than $150,000" was donated to build a pool in Los Osos

and;

-- How Sheriff Parkinson, wrote, "If you have a victim then they can be referred to us and we would investigate," and then I referred to his department a "victim"

... the SLO County Sheriff Department, after receiving all of that information, recently told SewerWatch that they will not be investigating the fake Los Osos Community Pool Association, or Coleman's claim of "fraud."

"I believe this a civil matter, and not a criminal matter," Jason Nefores, Commander of the North Coast Sheriff station in Los Osos, told SewerWatch in a recent phone interview.

I then asked Nefores if his office phoned the Secretary of State's office to inquire why "all of South Bay Community Pool Association's powers, rights and privileges in the State of California have been suspended?"

He said, "no."

When asked if his department would investigate a case where someone was going door-to-door in Los Osos, and asking for donations for a "non-profit" organization that didn't legally exist, Commander Nefores said, "Yes, but that's apples to oranges."

I then asked him if his department went to the Secretary of State's web site, and conducted a search for the "Los Osos Community Pool Association," and he said, "To what end?"

I said, "Well, it'll show you 'no record' that the 'Los Osos Community Pool Association' ever legally existed, and, therefore, my hypothetical ('door-to-door/fake non-profit' scam), and the Los Osos Community Pool Association, is actually closer to apples to apples."

He reiterated, "I see this as a civil matter."

To complicate matters, Nash-Karner is also a current SLO County Parks Commissioner, appointed by County Supervisor, Bruce Gibson, where her official County position also makes her a client of chief County Counsel, Warren Jensen, who is also chief Counsel for the SLO County Sheriff's department.

"They (Warren Jensen's County Counsel office) do serve as counsel for the Sheriff's Office," Parkinson wrote to SewerWatch.

On her 2007 application for her Parks Commission position, Commissioner Nash-Karner writes:

"Re-established the South Bay Swimming Pool Association non-profit corporation to build a community pool"

and;

"Successfully lobbied MCI for a $50,000 grant for the South Bay Swimming Pool Association"

and (and this is verbatim);

"South Bay Community Pool Association (AKA Los Osos Pool Assoc), President, 1999 - "

In the official Minutes of the SLO County Parks Commission meeting on, February 24, 2011, it reads:

"Commissioner Nash-Karner spoke on efforts by the Coastal Estero Bay Area Aquatic and Recreation Center (formerly Los Osos Pool)... "

So, try to follow this: According to SLO County Parks Commissioner, Nash-Karner, "The Coastal Estero Bay Area Aquatic and Recreation Center," was formerly, "The Los Osos Community Pool Association," which wasn't even real, but where Nash-Karner described herself as "President," which was formerly, "The South Bay Community Pool Association," where Nash-Karner is also listed as "President," which was real, before it was "suspended" by the State of California in the early 2000s, for reasons the Secretary of State's office would not provide to this reporter.

And, of course, if you Google:

"Coastal Estero Bay Area Aquatic and Recreation Center"

... you get nothing, other than the Minutes I link to above.

Nash-Karner is also a marketing professional, where she practices, what she refers to as, "behavior-based marketing."

According to her business web site:

"We provide expertise in... public information programs. We use a wide range of tools, including advertising campaigns, newsletters, annual reports, meetings, focus groups, special events, direct mailings, and the media. Through the power of behavior-based marketing strategies, award-winning graphic design, compelling language, and sometimes a touch of the outrageous, we create communication that is out of the ordinary, attention-grabbing, and highly effective."

Past SewerWatch investigations have shown that Nash-Karner, in 2004/05, also formed her own Political Action Committee -- "Save the Dream, Pandora Nash-Karner, Chair" -- where she collected over $100,000 in donations, and then used some of those donations to hire and pay her own marketing business, Pandora & Co.

That story is at this link:

http://sewerwatch.blogspot.com/2010/11/plugged-holes-lead-to-closed-loops.html

Additionally, Nash-Karner, and her husband, Gary Karner, starting in 1997, developed, in their living room, an "alternative" sewer project to the county's then-"ready to go" sewer project for Los Osos.

Throughout 1998, she would heavily market her "project" in Los Osos as "better, cheaper, faster" than the County's then-"ready to go" project, despite the fact that the Karners would later confess to knowing that their "project" was "blown out of the water" in early 1998, and was never going to work.

Nash-Karner's "behavior-based marketing strategy" worked on Los Osos voters, and her known-to her-to-be-DOA non-project was the "basis" for forming the Los Osos Community Services District in November 1998, and electing Nash-Karner as one of the initial Directors, where she, and her fellow Board members, immediately voted to kill the county's "ready to go" sewer project, and begin pursuit of her known-to-be-DOA, "better, cheaper, faster", non-project.

Almost immediately after that decision, official LOCSD documents associated with the Karners' non-project began to contain the business name, SWA Group, where, according to his bio, Gary Karner "was in private practice with The SWA Group, Planners and Landscape Architects, with an international practice and eight offices nationally, as a Managing Principal and Senior Project Manager of the firm. He specialized in project management and risk management with SWA for 27 years and is currently retained by SWA to consult on risk management."

Two years later, in 2000, the Karners' "better, cheaper, faster" non-project failed, as predicted, and directly led to the next 12-years-and-counting of sewer delay in Los Osos, and wasted untold millions of the State of California's money, and resources.

That story is outlined at this link:

http://sewerwatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/exclusive-sewerwatch-investigation-how.html

Although the SLO County Sheriff's Department views Commissioner Nash-Karner's fake "Los Osos Community Pool Association" as a "civil matter," Commander Nefores told SewerWatch that his office did refer the "matter" to the SLO County District Attorney's office, Economic Crime Unit, where, according to its web site, "Complaints are forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement or regulatory agency that has jurisdiction."

The "appropriate law enforcement or regulatory agency that has jurisdiction" in Coleman's case, is the SLO County Sheriff Department.

Phone calls to the SLO County District Attorney's office were not returned as of press time.

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