Controversial NoHo Neighborhood Rep Named In Racketeering Scheme at Los Angeles College

Bombshell revelations about the Valley Academic and Cultural Center construction being used a scheme to defraud Pinner Construction in turn surfaced revelations about the Media Arts Department that the VACC is supposed to house. ‘Dozen LAVC Cinema Student Narratives challenges Erika Endrijonas’s LACCD Success Story’ pulled focus on what was really happening at Los Angeles Valley College.

Now focus turns to the role played by community members in the racketeering scheme.

The real question is why nobody blew the whistle about what was going on before 2022, when so many knew so much was wrong?

Half the answer is they did.

Two separate students filed accreditation complaints that were blown off. Dozens of students wrote letters and signed petitions to the school about problems that were also blown off. Students went to the LACCD Board of Trustees, the Accrediting Commission for Junior and Community Colleges. And documents posted in 'L.A. City College Presidential Hopeful Fostered Retaliation Culture as LAVC President' suggest whistleblowers faced retaliation.

But the Los Angeles Community College District is supposed to have safeguards to protect the taxpayers and students. All bond projects are supposed to have Citizen’s Building Oversight Committees, so why didn’t anyone at LAVC say something when the building failed to be completed on time in 2018?

‘Erika Endrijona faces new questions in LACCD Fraud’ touched on CBOC’s failed oversight noting:

“All Bond projects are required to have independent oversight from a Citizen’s Building Oversight Committee as a safeguard against the type of fraud alleged, but under Endrijonas’s leadership LAVC’s CBOC appears to have little oversight and a lack of independence. CBOC Minutes show meetings were only held once every three months. At the March 7, 2017 meeting, the entire committee, except for three LAVC employees, was absent.

During the next two years of Endrijonas’s leadership at LAVC, CBOC seats for Valley Village, Sherman Oaks, Student Representative were vacant. The independence of other seats also didn’t hold up under scrutiny. NoHo was represented by Jo Ann Rivas, a student in the Media Arts Department and sometime employee of LACCD. The Valley Glen Neighborhood Association was under the control of Richard Rossi, another LAVC Media Arts student and LAVC Community Services Instructor."

A review of LAVC’s CBOC Minutes show that Jo Ann Rivas was an unusual addition to the committee. Complaints from Pinner Construction were first raised at the November 7, 2017 CBOC meeting. This was also the first meeting that LAVC CBOC minutes show Jo Ann Rivas as a member. But suspiciously LAVC CBOC meeting minutes going back several years show that the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council had never had a seat on the committee prior to Rivas's appointment. And the November 7, 2017 meeting not only raised issues brought by Pinner Construction, but also included a discussion about management company Jacobs being awarded a contract over AECOM.

The Jacobs vs AECOM situation had been covered only months before in the Cerritos Community News.

And like LAVC’s racketeering scheme, The Los Angeles Times would run a news piece about corruption and fraud ‘L.A. Community College hit with whistleblower complaint over construction bond program’

Jo Ann Rivas is only listed as attending three meetings total and being absent from another. CBOC minutes stop at the end of 2018.

But CBOC wasn’t Rivas's only questionable appointment in relation to the LAVC Media Arts Department. According to Facebook Posts by LAVC’s IDEAS page, Rivas also attended an event known as 'Meet the Pros' in 2016, supposedly connecting Entertainment Industry Professionals with students. But Rivas is listed as attending as a Professional Expert, not a Student, and according to Transparent California Rivas was paid $735.00.

Rivas's however publicly available credentials don't add up.

A post from February 13, 2016 describes Jo Ann Rivas as “star pupil and writer now trying her hand as casting director.”

Two months later a post from the same account dated April 28, 2016 describes Rivas as a Pro for ‘casting’ after having just started as a casting director only two-and-half months prior.

This gets even dicier because Rivas’s Imdb lists only one casting credit and she is credited as only a ‘casting assistant.’ The movie ‘Canaan Land’ is an indie feature written and directed by and starring fellow Media Arts student Richard Rossi, who controlled the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association at the time, which also had a seat on the Los Angeles Valley College Citizen's Building Oversight Committee. Rivas’s sole writing credit is an episode of Rossi’s Facebook Live Show. Rivas is credited as an actress on both projects.

The documentation in ‘Did L.A. Valley College award Fake Degrees?’ Demonstrates that at least two individuals graduated solely through course substitutions and paperwork, with at least one Graduate being awarded multiple degrees in Post-Production, Directing, Broadcast Television and Cinema without taking Editing, Directing or Advanced Film-Making.

But Rivas’s questionable career history raises the possibility of professional ‘experts’ working with the LAVC Media Arts Department that either inflated or downright lied about their career history and qualifications at Los Angeles Valley College as well.

We know that in the Accreditation Complaint filed by Student 1 "falsified resumes" was specifically mentioned:

"College has allowed Media Arts Department Grant Director to submit falsified resumes to LACCD District Personnel Commission, hire students without college approval, turn-in time sheets to payroll months late or not at all. LAVC pay-roll office has brought their own complaints to CTE Dean both past and present without result. The situation has been on-going for three years."

And Jo Ann Rivas wouldn't be the only LAVC Media Arts Graduate guilty of this behavior. Other online profiles from Los Angeles Valley College graduates likewise post dishonest representations of their professional experience.

Another LAVC Grad is Radio Personality Diana Deville.

Deville’s website http://www.dianadeville.com bio includes the description:

“She also got her film degree in Media Arts/Cinema from Los Angeles Valley College and has worked behind the camera as well as stints at Dreamworks Animation, MGM, and the Oprah Winfrey Network.’

The Tennessee Entertainment Commission also includes this bio for Deville on their website:

“She also got her film degree in Media Arts/Cinema from Los Angeles Valley College and has worked behind the camera as well as stints at Dreamworks Animation, MGM, and the Oprah Winfrey Network.”

At first glance it would appear Deville had worked in key creative positions at major Hollywood studios. But Deville’s LinkedIn Profile is more honest listing her only as a ‘Temporary Administrative Assistant’ at these studios – not a creative working behind the camera.

Confusingly, Deville’s LinkedIn also lists Deville as having completed certificates in Cinema-Motion Picture Production Technician, Media Arts-Producing, Media Arts-Directing, Media Arts - Post-Production, which conflicts with the 2018 LAVC Media Arts Viability Report listing only one student completing the Cinema track and no students completing Media Arts: Post-Production.

Graduate 1, who due to the public promotion of her credentials on her website and LinkedIn Profile, can now be identified as Radio Announcer Summer James Still, also claims to have completed the Motion Picture Production Technician Certificate during the 2015 – 2016 school year.

It has been verified that Deville is not Graduate 2 mentioned in 'Did L.A. Valley College Award Fake Degrees?' meaning that now two different graduates are claiming the same Motion Picture Production Technician Certificate.

Either Deville’s credentials are fake OR Summer Still is misrepresenting her credentials, OR Los Angeles Valley College does not accurately track it’s own information about student success and completion in official reports submitted to the district and accreditation – or a combination of all three.

We already know that Still was able to graduate due to being allowed to skip multiple classes and required curriculum per her email with Student 1. This was made possible by Department Chair Eric Swelstad signing paperwork to this effect. We also know that Los Angeles Valley College submitted fraudulent reports to the LACCD and Accreditation Commission of Junior and Community Colleges, AND ONLY corrected the record after Student 1 filed a complaint with dozens of pages of documentation.

If LAVC’s Media Arts Department stacks educational events with fake experts and awards questionable academic credit to inflate student success rates, then were they also stacking the Los Angeles Valley College Citizens Building Oversight Committee with individuals that wouldn’t provide actual oversight?

What know is this:

Jo Ann Rivas joined the Los Angeles Valley College Citizen's Building Oversight Committee during the period of time that Pinner issues first were documented in 2017.

Rivas as a student in the LAVC Media Arts Department was in a unique position to provided oversight and to challenge any fraud that was happening and seemingly had a vested interest in doing so.

Rivas did not do so.

Private arbitration determined that Los Angeles Valley College was at fault awarding Pinner Construction millions of dollars. This was reported on by The Los Angeles Times 'Corruption and fraud beset long-delayed L.A. Valley college theater project, lawsuit alleges.'

Pinner has since filed a lawsuit naming every member of the LACCD Board of Trustees as accessories to the racketeering scheme against them and retained top lawyers, including advisers to the Clinton Administration.

Again given her position on the Citizen's Building Oversight Committee during the period that the racketeering occurred and her apparent dishonesty regarding her professional qualifications with the LACCD; what role did Rivas play in the racketeering scheme?

Even Rivas’s current membership of the NoHo Neighborhood Council should raise a few eyebrows.

In 2020, Rivas sparked controversy with a series of bizarre Tweets calling for public executions, photoshopped images of Gavin Newsom depicted as Adolph Hitler against a Nazi Flag, and was celebrated by another account @MAGAQueen4. Equally bizarre, Rivas also Tweeted she was soliciting two LAPD Senior Lead Officers too disobey Covid-19 mandates. Rivas’s account @JAGR213 has since been suspended for sharing content deemed too extreme for even Elon Musks’ Free Twitter.

Rivas is currently listed as serving on the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee.