Carl Alameda, a former staff member at the City of La Cañada Flintridge, has been charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for the alleged financial crimes related to his work at the City. The alleged criminal activity involved insurance fraud and embezzlement. The alleged financial crimes committed between 2016 and 2022 were perpetuated using the City of La Cañada Flintridge name and the trust associated with Mr. Alameda’s role with the City. $193,086 in ill-gotten gains have been identified through the investigation.

See the May 15, 2025, Los Angeles County District Attorney Release.

Carl Alameda left employment with the City of La Cañada Flintridge in early 2023.

The City first learned of these accusations from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department (LACSD) when they launched an investigation triggered by suspicious checks arriving at the LA County Public Works Office. LACSD eventually contacted the former city manager for the City regarding the investigation. The suspect was placed on leave and subsequently ended employment with the organization. The City has fully cooperated with the investigation.

“This remains an ongoing investigation, so our comments will be limited to respect the legal and criminal investigation. The City has modified our internal controls to address the scenarios that allowed the alleged financial crimes to take place. Importantly, subsequent audits have thoroughly reviewed our strengthened financial controls,” noted Dan Jordan, city manager.

For additional information on this matter, the City will defer questions to the LA District Attorney’s Office or the LA Sheriff’s Department.

FAQs

The City has been fully cooperating with the LA Sheriff Department and the District Attorney’s Office. As such, we were strictly limited in what we could share in order to protect the investigation process. Seeking justice on this matter remains the highest priority. 

The City has worked with our outside auditors to modify our internal controls and address the scenarios that allowed the alleged financial crimes to take place. Subsequent audits by our third-party auditor have confirmed these controls are in place and no further concerning activity has been discovered.

The City was alerted to the irregularities by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in May 2022. Once the City became aware of the nature of the crime that was alleged, it began a thorough audit of the insurance claims management process and other financial control processes for the City. The work subsequently resulted in improvement suggestions by a third-party auditor, and the City implemented those changes.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and LA County Public Works contacted then City Manager Mark Alexander, to inform him of suspicious activity and unverified payment amounts that the County of Los Angeles could not verify. This triggered both an investigation by the City and the LASD. 

A significant portion of the funds at issue were derived from insurance fraud. The City was not expecting any of those funds, and none of those funds entered into the City’s bank accounts. Only a portion of the $193,086 were actually funds owed to the City. The City will request that the District Attorney seek reimbursement for these funds as part of the legal process and restitution. The City will also explore potential civil remedies that may be available.

As this is an ongoing investigation, sharing the information publicly could have compromised the investigative process, and the City wanted to fully cooperate with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the LA County District Attorney’s Office. The City Council has been appropriately briefed throughout the process. Additionally, as the individual was placed on leave and subsequently left the City, there was no ongoing issue that could be resolved by sharing the information publicly.

The District Attorney has identified $193,086 in funds that were allegedly directed to the benefit of Mr. Alameda under false pretenses. Only a portion of the $193,086 were actually funds owed to the City. The City will seek restitution of the funds that were owed to the City.