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Watching Out For Storm Scams; Raging Fire Threatens L.A. Area Homes

Aired September 29, 2005 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The New Orleans Police Department is conducting an internal investigation into allegations police officers took part in a looting spree after Hurricane Katrina.
That probe comes after a report by CNN's Drew Griffin. A New Orleans hotel owner told CNN that eight police officers used his hotel as the base for a four-day looting spree. Earlier on LIVE FROM, I spoke about the allegations with New Orleans police captain Marlon DeFillo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Do you feel confident you know who those eight officers are, that you will be able to talk with them, and be able to hold them accountable if, indeed, they are found guilty. Do you feel confident about that?

CAPT. MARLON DEFILLO, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: Absolutely. Let me tell you -- I can't stress this enough to you and to the listening audience is that there is a zero tolerance. The New Orleans Police Department, the members of this department, are very proud to be members of this department and will not stand by idly and allow bad officers to taint this good reputation that this department has.

If you look back, for the last 30, 35 days, these officers and civilian members have worked under some very trying conditions. And we're not going to let a few officers disrupt that positive relationship that we've had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And as rebuilding efforts begin along the Gulf Coast, there are fears that some hurricane survivors could become victims again. Not victims of natural forces, but of human predators.

CNN consumer correspondent Gray Conner reports that when it comes to making a dishonest dollar, some con-artists find no disaster too tragic to exploit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG HUNTER, CNN CONSUMER CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the devastation was widespread. And once Hurricane Rita entered the radar, even greater damage was predicted.

Now the rebuilding has begun. It seems the worst is over. But there's very likely a second disaster brewing, something not on the radar.

(on camera): A cruel wave of scams, frauds, and ripoffs happened last year after a series of hurricanes tore across Florida. The storms caused more than 100 deaths and $42 billion in damage.

SHEILA MORTENSEN, HURRICANE IVAN VICTIM: Everybody's desperate and scared right after a hurricane. You're displaced from your home. You don't know what's going on. My mother died during the hurricane. I was very vulnerable. You will take virtually anything you can get.

BETH SCHACHNER, HURRICANE IVAN VICTIM: This man came in and I was desperate. I wanted my house back together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was another contractor that was supposed to do my roof, but he ripped me off for $5,000.

HUNTER (voice-over): Last year, these three women rushed to hire contractors to make repairs after Hurricane Ivan. Beth Schachner immediately hired a man who seemed well qualified. When he arrived, he told her...

SCHACHNER: I'm here to help you. I'm a general contractor from Mississippi and I'm in the area.

HUNTER (on camera): In the end, he got how much?

SCHACHNER: From me?

HUNTER: Yes.

SCHACHNER: I paid him $210,000.

HUNTER: And you got?

SCHACHNER: Well, you can see what I bought.

HUNTER: Nothing.

SCHACHNER: There's nothing -- nothing done to my house.

HUNTER (voice-over): Today, more than a year later, her home is still a hollow shell, and she's had to hire someone new to finish the job.

SCHACHNER: He took advantage of me. He took advantage of my money and did and messed up the house more than -- it's going to cost me more money to repair it than it would have been if I would have just got a contractor in here that was honest.

HUNTER (on camera): You feel ripped off.

SCHACHNER: I feel ripped off.

HUNTER: You think he intentionally did it or he's just a bad contractor?

SCHACHNER: No. He intentionally did it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My greatest concern is that they'll be made victims yet again.

HUNTER: Florida state attorney general Charlie Crist has files full of complaints received about scams, cons and price gouging that happened after Florida's record four hurricanes last year.

CHARLIE CRIST, FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: People literally came into this state like vultures trying to take advantage of our people during a time of suffering so that they could gain financially from their loss.

HUNTER (on camera): And that's the same thing that's happening right now with Rita and Katrina.

(voice-over): But the first wave of con men don't even have to set foot in a disaster area. They use the Internet to set up bogus Web sites soliciting donations for hurricane victims. Florida's attorney general Charlie Crist says this site was a scam in the making. Katrina-donations.com was stopped by a lawsuit filed by Crist. It was owned by Robert Moneyhan.

(on camera): Was he going to rip people off?

CRIST: Moneyhan was trying to rip people off. We're very fortunate here in Florida at our attorney general's office we have a cybercrime unit. They jumped on this thing so quickly that nobody had the opportunity to even make a donation before the time we got the injunction to shut it down.

HUNTER: (voice-over): Suspicions about the site were first raised by an Internet security professional working on his own time, Tom Liston. He says he knew this was coming.

TOM LISTON, INTERNET SECURITY PROFESSIONAL: Whenever there's been a large tragedy to hit -- 9/11, the tsunami, we've seen this type of scam.

HUNTER: Liston says the Katrina donation site was questionable, both because he never established it as a legal charity with the IRS and because he registered it in the name of an alias, called Demon Moon.

LISTON: All we can figure is he didn't want people to know that it was really him who was registering those domain names. He was trying to somehow cover his tracks.

HUNTER: In an answer to the attorney general's complaint Moneyhan denies he fraudulently solicited donations, or that he used an alias to conceal his true identity. He now faces three $10,000 fines if convicted. We went to Moneyhan's hometown to hear what he had to say.

(on camera): Mr. Moneyhan, this is Greg Hunter with CNN. I just want to let you know we're down the road from your house. (voice-over): We couldn't reach him by phone so, we went to his house.

(voice-over): Robert Moneyhan lives up this road behind this gate in a little secluded town called Yuley, Florida. It's just north of Jacksonville. We tried to get Mr. Moneyhan to come on camera for his comments, but he's not talking.

HUNTER (voice-over): Although he wouldn't speak to us, Moneyhan told a local reporter that he meant no harm, that he didn't want people snatching the domain names to make a profit from Katrina. The Internet security expert who initially identified Moneyhan showed me a list of 40 hurricane aid sites he suspects are bogus.

LISTON: It makes me mad because I hate to see somebody using their intelligence for evil. And this is really pretty darn evil.

HUNTER: Consider this impostor Red Cross site. The site on the left looks official, but it's a scam.

(on camera): They look almost identical to me.

LISTON: Yes.

HUNTER: But they're not.

LISTON: The Real Red cross site has links to other legitimate sites to donate from. That's missing on the bogus one because the people who are running it didn't want you to go to another legitimate site to make a donation, they wanted you to stay on this page and make your donation here.

HUNTER (voice-over): Liston says he expects to uncover another 40 bogus sites before Katrina scams run their course. And now he's on the watch for Rita sites.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The toilets were pulled out.

HUNTER: Remember Beth Schachner? She wasn't scammed over the Internet. She says her money was taken by a crooked contractor last year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he probably is a hurricane -- a person that goes from hurricane to hurricane or victim to victim.

HUNTER: The same man Schachner hired was hired by two other women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Vila Beckwith and I was ripped off $14,000.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Sheila Mortensen. I was taken for $20,500.

The top floor, the third floor, had to be totally gutted down to the two-by-fours. HUNTER: You lost your roof?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lost most of the roof, lost a lot of it anyway.

HUNTER: Like many others, these three women lost more than the use of their homes, they were hit by a second catastrophe, a financial disaster caused by a ripoff artist.

And so a full year after Hurricane Ivan, Mortensen, Beckwith, and Schachner, like many others, still suffer from a double catastrophe -- losing the use of their homes and losing so much of their hard-earned money to a ripoff artist.

(on camera): You've got to be angry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am very angry. I am very, very angry. Very angry. I don't want him doing this to other people. I want him to be stopped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, here's some tips to avoid getting taken. Make sure you get a background check on your contractor. The contractor in Greg Hunter's story had several complaints against him on record. And make sure that your contractor has worker's comp to cover his or her employees. You don't want a worker to get injured on your property and not be covered. And buy the supplies yourself. That way you're not writing a big check to someone with nothing to show for it.

And some tips for avoiding online scams from bogus charities. Never respond to e-mail solicitations from charities. And if you want to make sure you're giving to a legitimate online charity, pick up the phone and call them, don't just click onto a Web site.

Homes in the hurricane zone taken over by mold. Residents returning to find all their belongings covered in mildew and muck. We're going to speak with a homeowner in Metairie, Louisiana, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: New numbers coming in with regard to those car bombings in Baghdad, actually in the city of Balad, just north of Baghdad. We are being told 61 or 62 people reported killed now, more than 70 injured.

Insurgents in the Iraqi city of Balad had launched a string of car bombings earlier today. We had first reported it about an hour and a half ago, not knowing the numbers were so high. Those blasts went off about ten minutes apart, two of them in one location, the third in another, one in a vegetable market another one at a bank.

The three bombs were detonated in the city's center just about 50 miles north of Baghdad. That town's population is a mix of Shiite and Sunni Muslims. According to our Aneesh Raman, about 50 of the wounded were being treated at a U.S. military base there in Balad. We'll continue to follow the latest information. We're going to a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Straight to the L.A. County Fire Department, a presser right now on those fires that have devastated 17,000 acres in the L.A. County area. Let's listen in.

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY, L.A. COUNTY SUPERVISOR: Seventeen-thousand acres have been burned. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The total number of uniformed personnel who are deployed in this fire is approximately 3,000.

There's been one injury to a Los Angeles City firefighter who thankfully is doing well. About five percent of the fire is contained. There's been one single family dwelling burned, one detached garage burned, three out buildings and one storage building burned. There have been 2,000 buildings saved by the actions of these firefighters and other personnel over the course of the last 18 or 19 hours.

The situation is improved over what it was yesterday. We are guardedly optimistic. If the weather cooperates, if the public continues to cooperate as they have and follow the directives of our public safety personnel, this may end well for all of us. But weather is unpredictable in these parts and everybody needs to be on guard. This is far from over at this time.

The county of Los Angeles and I believe the city as well and the county of Ventura are -- have either or are in the process of declaring a state of local disaster, which enables us to formalize the mutual aid agreements we have with other agencies as well as potentially recuperate some of the extraordinary costs that are associated with this incident.

Last, I want to just say how -- again, how grateful we are to this incredible show of unity and coordination. These men and women train for this eventuality all year round. And it shows today.

This is what differentiates California from so many other parts of our country. And we are very grateful for that. I want to know ask the local -- the state assembly person from this area, Fran Fibbily (ph), to come forward for a brief remark.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Supervisor Yaroslavsky for your leadership. I know you've been involved in this fire for the last 24 hours. I'm going to share with you some of the phone calls I've received as a state assembly member. I represent Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Calabasas, essentially all the Santa Monica mountains west of the 405 and into Venture County.

The unified command has been a model. The main question I've received from residents I think because of Hurricane Katrina and what happened down there is do we have a seamless command system? And yes, we do. I have been so impressed. We have national parks involved, CDF from the state involved, the county of Ventura, the county of Los Angeles and the city of Los Angeles have done a wonderful job. I also just want to also commend the residents in our areas. I live right across the hill here in Liberty Canyon. Got phone calls all night long as people were evacuated in Old Agoura and other parts of Agoura Hills. People responding very well.

They respect highly the professional integrity of the firefighters here. They want to give them the space to do their job, and they are doing an amazing, amazing job. And so homeowners are still getting ready. They are putting their valuables in a safe place. They have got their pets wrapped up. And whether they are in the direct line of the fire or in those transitional areas, residents are responding.

The first thing we did in the Agoura Hills back in 1982 after that disastrous fire, we abandoned all shake shingled roofs. So almost all our homes now are different than they were just 25 years ago. They have fire retardant roofs. And again, thank you to the hardworking men of the fire department, and thank you, Zev.

YAROSLAVSKY: Next is the mayor of the city of Calabasas, Barry Groveman.

MAYOR BARRY GROVEMAN, CALABASAS, CALFORNIA: Thank you, Zev. I'm Barry Groveman, the mayor of Calabasas, a very grateful city because it appears as though we've avoided the brunt of this after what I would call a very tense evening.

Where we were, there was a lot of city officials down here last night. There were several communities that were evacuated safely, tremendous cooperation from the public. But I think what I've got to really say is how grateful we all should be.

What distinguishes us from what I think we are hearing around the country is an extraordinary mutual aid process that we have with OES in this state. I was able to see in neighborhoods last night, sheriffs and firefighters from all over the state, Tulare County, Stanislaus County, within hours. It's really an extraordinary feeling.

It should be a feeling of great comfort to all the communities. I would just encourage residents of Calabasas and the immediate area to stay tuned to the Calabasas Web site, which is cityofcalabasas.com. You can get e-mail updates. You will be told when it's OK to come back.

We ask people that were evacuated, please do no return until the fire officials give the go ahead so we can avoid needless traffic and interference with important firefighter efforts. This is extremely well done and people in the region should be very comfortable with the cooperation and the level of activity that's going on here. Thank you to everybody that's participated.

YAROSLAVSKY: Thank you, and the last elected to official will be Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks or Kathy (ph) come up. Both of you come up. Ventura County has been particularly hard hit by this fire.

LINDA PARKS, VENTURA CO. SUPERVISOR: I represent the communities of Bell Canyon and Oak Park and we are seeing some evacuations taking place. Very grateful for the heroic efforts of the fire department, but also thankful for the Red Cross who got out there right away, set up shelters, and evacuation centers that completely filled in Thousand Oaks.

We are very concerned about the wind because that is kind of where we are putting our fate right now is in the wind. We are looking at it heading towards areas in Thousand Oaks that I represent. So, we are watching. And I think the big message to get out there are to the residents. To let them know to prepare in case you have to evacuate. And you're -- better to prepare now just in case it does happen than not being ready.

And there are certain precautions that you can take, from loading up your car with your valuable possessions -- you know, having it face out towards the street. Certainly in your home, make sure your windows are closed, gather your animals together. And get yourself ready. When they come and they ask you to evacuate, please evacuate.

And I have to say also that the citizens have been wonderful. We have been seeing them being extremely cooperative, and that helps incredibly, both in terms of getting our fire personnel in there, but also getting them out of harm's way. So, so far, so good.

Amazing to see that we have, you know, basically saved 2,000 homes that otherwise could have been ruined. So, we are keeping your fingers crossed. And putting our faith in some excellent personnel. Thank you.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

I'm Supervisor Linda Parks from Ventura County. Parks, thank you.

JUDY MIKELS, VENTURA COUNTY SUPERVISOR, 4TH DISTRICT: Thank you, I'm Judy Mikels, Ventura County supervisor for the Fourth District, which includes Box Canyon, Santa Susana Knolls, which I have just been informed is being evacuated as we speak. And the one thing that I think that's critical for the public, if anything gets out, as Supervisor Parks said, please cooperate.

Be ready to move and move. That's the biggest deterrent to saving lives. And saving property, is people who refuse. It ties up our law enforcement personnel, it ties up our professional firefighting personnel. And it is not good for anyone. I understand people when they say I don't want to leave, it's my home, it's all I have. But you have to think of your personal safety and the safety of those around you.

So, so far, so good. Let's hope that the weather holds, we don't get more wind. But we can't stop working hard right now. And to the personnel who have been on this puppy all day and all night, I watched it from my office window starting at 1:43 yesterday afternoon and watched it all night from my home in the Simi Valley. You guys are doing a tremendous job. And the professionalism is greatly appreciated. And I hope the citizens stop you and say thank you when this is all over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure they will. It will -- I just want to acknowledge that...

PHILLIPS: Los Angeles County Fire Department, along with a number of other area officials, holding a news conference there, talking about the 17,000 acre wildfire that firefighters are dealing right now. The cause of this fire still under investigation. Three thousand firefighters working this fire. Only 5 percent of it contained right now. One family home burned, but 2,000 buildings saved. We're following this, of course, for you around the clock.

We want to take it now to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." The swearing in about to happen for the new chief justice -- Wolf.

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