2 Businessmen Accused of Padding Bills for UCSB Work

SANTA BARBARA —  The owner of a plumbing firm and the manager of a landscape company were arrested on suspicion of overcharging the University of California, Santa Barbara, $24,000 for services to pay for renovations on the house of a top university building official.

A Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said more arrests are expected in the continuing investigation of financial irregularities at the university.

Rudy Mosel, 54, owner of Goleta Plumbing & Heating Service Inc., is suspected of overcharging the university for services--including work at former Chancellor Robert Huttenback’s residence--by about $6,000, said sheriff’s spokesman Tim Gracey.

Details of the case were still not clear, he added. “I don’t know who got what.”

Suspected of Padding

Mosel, who was arrested Wednesday, is suspected of padding the cost of work for the university in order to pay for renovations done at the home of Holger Chris Ferdinandson, manager of the university’s buildings and grounds division. Ferdinandson was arrested Dec. 10 on suspicion of receiving kickbacks from contractors who worked at the university.

Ferdinandson has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of embezzlement. Some of the charges in the Ferdinandson case are related to university-financed improvements to Huttenback’s home.

And about $2,500 of the payments Mosel allegedly overcharged to the university was for work done at Huttenback’s residence, Gracey said.

Dan Rodriguez, manager of Griffin Tree and Landscape Co. in Santa Barbara, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of overcharging the university by $18,000, Gracey said. Landscaping was done at Ferdinandson’s house, Gracey said, and he “falsified UCSB paper work” during the project.

There is no indication that Huttenback knew of the activities involving Ferdinandson, Mosel or Rodriguez, Gracey said. Huttenback could not be reached for comment.

Huttenback resigned under pressure in July after it was disclosed that he had spent $174,000 in university funds on his home.

Ferdinandson, Mosel and Rodriguez were arrested during the course of a Santa Barbara County Grand Jury criminal investigation into the financial activities of Huttenback.

Sheriff John Carpenter said the investigation of the university’s buildings and grounds division will be completed next week, but that the Huttenback probe will continue.

Fund-Raising Probed

Last month, the state auditor general also launched an investigation into the UCSB Foundation at the request of state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), chairman of the state Senate Education Committee. UC auditors concluded last summer that the UCSB Foundation, the main fund-raising arm of the Santa Barbara university, violated sound business practices by making an unsecured $9,000 loan to Huttenback.