Jesse Marx, and Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

District Attorney Mike Hestrin took $51K in donations from Jeff Darrow and Certified Tire

Certified Tire has been twice caught defrauding customers with unnecessary charges

Update: DA Mike Hestrin to return fraudulent auto shops' donations

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s biggest individual campaign contributor is an auto-body shop executive who’s been twice penalized for defrauding customers by transforming routine oil changes into pricey, unnecessary repairs.

Jeffrey Alan Darrow, who runs Riverside-based Certified Tire & Service Centers, donated $51,000 to Hestrin’s campaign in 2014 and 2015 — while his company was either under investigation or on probation for selling parts not needed and services that were never performed, according to a Desert Sun review of financial and legal documents. Certified Tire remains on probation.

Darrow's donations helped Hestrin repay a large portion of his post-campaign debt, which included personal loans that the candidate owed to himself.

Hestrin said Monday that he was unaware of the investigations into Certified Tire at the time he received donations from Darrow. When he discovered the investigations, Hestrin isolated himself from the ongoing case.

“I walled myself off, so the prosecution of that case continued," he said, but added: "I’m prepared to give the money back depending on the outcome.”

Darrow did not respond to multiple messages Monday.

Certified Tire operates about 40 stores in Southern California. The company has been the subject of consumer affairs investigations for a decade, and agreed in 2008 and 2015 to pay a total of $750,000 in civil penalties.

The first case was a joint investigation by Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties DA's offices, launched after more than 400 complaints were filed against Darrow's shops with the Better Business Bureau and the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

Certified Tire settled the case for $550,000.

What if politicians wore donors on their sleeve?

A few years later, the company was caught doing the same thing again — this time by an undercover investigation by the Department of Consumer Affairs. According to court documents, undercover agents took perfectly functioning vehicles to Certified Tire shops, where mechanics insisted the cars needed extensive repairs that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

A complaint accused the company of multiple counts of fraud, gross negligence, making untrue or misleading statements, violations of regulations, failure to comply with code and violations of the Automobile Repair Act. Certified Tire admitted that all of these allegations were true.

One of the most egregious examples occurred in March 2014, when an undercover agent brought a Chevrolet — which had been independently verified to be in good condition — to a Certified Tire shop in Upland for an oil change and tire rotation. The work was supposed to cost $53, but mechanics said the car needed repairs totaling more than $4,900. The undercover agent paid the bill, but a subsequent inspection revealed that much of the work was never actually done.

In another undercover operation in 2011, an agent brought a Honda to the Certified Tire in Banning. The car was in working order, but the agent had intentionally loosened the car’s gas cap, causing a malfunction light to appear on the dashboard. When the agent asked why the light was on, mechanics responded that the car needed a new timing belt, water pump, brake pads and battery — costing more than $700.

Certified Tire settled the Department of Consumer Affairs case in January 2015, agreeing to pay $200,000. The company is also on probation for three years, during which time it is subject to random inspections and monitoring that also involves the Riverside DA’s Office.

When reached for comment on Monday, Hestrin defended Darrow by suggesting that the businessman may not have been directly responsible for defrauding customers. Law enforcement officials have previously portrayed Certified Tire's fraud as "systemic," but Hestrin said the company was large and the wrongdoing may have been at the hands of lower-level employees.

“My understanding is that Mr. Darrow accepted responsibility, and those employees were fired, and that he was working with investigators from the state,” Hestrin said. “It is not as cut and dry as you are making it seem.”

To others, the problems with Darrow’s donations were very clear.

Lynda Starks, 62, of Riverside, said she was alarmed that the county’s top prosecutor would take money from a businessman who had intentionally overcharged customers.

In 2015, Certified Tire tried to charge Starks about $2,500 when all she wanted was an oil change. She took the dispute to court and ultimately settled the bill at $600.

“Every politician takes money, but they should know better if they looked at the background of Certified Tires. They are not legit," Starks said.

Political fundraising scams in 2016 spotlight

Darrow’s political donations began in the summer of 2014 with checks to Hestrin totaling $17,000. Yet he gave nothing to then-DA Paul Zellerbach, who was running for re-election, or to DA candidates in San Bernardino and Orange counties.

Hestrin took office in January 2015. Three more Darrow donations came between March and July of 2015, totaling $34,000.

Hestrin admitted Monday that he didn't look closely enough at the source of the money. He said he didn't realize he had accepted money from someone involved in an ongoing case until August 2015 — eight months into his term —​ at which point he isolated himself from the probation process. Hestrin said he announced his conflict to a room of prosecutors, telling them to proceed “as they normally would.”

Ultimately, Darrow's donations helped Hestrin pay down nearly $90,000 worth of campaign debt, a third of which had come out of his own pocket. Most of Hestrin’s money had come from unions, but no person gave the politician more money than Darrow and his company.

If Certified Tire skirts the law again, Hestrin might give the money back.

“It’s always an option to return the money,” the DA said. “It’s something I’m keeping an eye on."

Reporter Jesse Marx can be reached at jesse.marx@desertsun.com or @marxjesse on Twitter.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at (760) 778 4642, brett.kelman@desertsun.com or@TDSbrettkelman on Twitter.