Del Terra's two decades of audits, lawsuits, and criminal charges, and the Board that keeps hiring the firm

On November 12, 2025, the Rio Hondo Community College District Board of Trustees voted 3 to 2 to award RFQ No. 2114, Project Management Services for Measure RH bond projects, to City of Industry-based Del Terra Group. Trustee Rosaelva Lomeli made the motion, Trustee Yarisma Rocha seconded it, and Trustee Oscar Valladares joined them in voting yes. Trustees Kristal Orozco and Anais Medina Diaz voted no. Eleven firms responded to the request for qualifications; Del Terra was scored ahead of Cordoba Corporation, Turner & Townsend Heery LLC, and Ledesma & Mayer Construction, Inc.

This was not a new relationship. Del Terra has managed the College's $250 million Measure A bond program for years and continues to manage the remaining Measure A projects today. In June 2023, the Whittier Daily News reported that Rio Hondo College was still contracting with the firm nearly a year after its chief executive had been charged in a public corruption case. The decision to add the $442.2 million Measure RH program, the largest construction program in the College's history, to the firm's existing Measure A role deserves a closer look at the company's record.

That record spans more than 20 years and several public agencies. In 2003, Santa Ana Unified School District fired Del Terra as its bond program manager amid disputes over cost estimates and budgets, then paid $600,000 in 2004 to settle a $17 million lawsuit the firm had filed. A 2010 report on Hacienda La Puente Unified's bond program, managed by Del Terra since 2001, found costs had risen by $10.8 million and the completion schedule had grown by 43 percent. In 2011, the City of Whittier paid Del Terra $850,000 to settle a claim the company filed over the Greenway Trail project.

The scrutiny intensified in 2017 and 2018. A Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) review found that Alum Rock Union School District in San Jose had paid Del Terra $3.25 million with scant documentation of the work performed, and the district's board later terminated the firm's program management contracts. In October 2018, a FCMAT audit of Montebello Unified School District called on Del Terra to either prove it had provided real services or refund the money. Earlier that year, the Securities and Exchange Commission sought documents from Montebello related to Del Terra's selection, and the district declined to renew the firm's contract.

In August 2022, the Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Del Terra chief executive Luis Rojas and former Bassett Unified School District Superintendent Alejandro Rojas with 12 counts of money laundering and one count each of soliciting a bribe and grand theft by embezzlement. Prosecutors allege the two men took part in a scheme to divert more than $1.4 million in voter-approved bond funds, including more than $1 million in Del Terra invoices for work that was never done. A separate case alleging that Del Terra made campaign contributions in the names of others was also headed toward trial in 2023. Del Terra and its chief executive have denied wrongdoing, and the charges are allegations that have not been proven in court.

Pinner Construction Litigation Over Rio Hondo's L Tower

Separate civil litigation concerns Rio Hondo College's L Tower project. In Pinner Construction Co., Inc. v. Rio Hondo Community College District, et al., Los Angeles County Superior Court case No. 23STCV21144, Pinner alleges that Del Terra and Luis Rojas intentionally interfered with the project's plan revision and submission process to prolong construction and increase Del Terra's compensation. Complaint passages reproduced in a February 29, 2024 tentative ruling allege 926 days of delay and almost $1 million in additional compensation for Del Terra. These are Pinner's allegations, not findings that the alleged conduct occurred. Del Terra contested the claims, and the District filed a cross-complaint against Pinner.

The litigation remained ongoing as of an indexed August 3, 2026 tentative ruling, which describes Pinner's third amended complaint against the District, Del Terra, and affiliated individuals. The archived page is currently unavailable, and the current docket status and any final outcome have not been independently verified for this update. The civil lawsuit is separate from the Bassett Unified criminal case described above.

The history and the Pinner allegations described in the February 2024 tentative ruling were public when Trustees Lomeli, Valladares, and Rocha voted to entrust Del Terra with Measure RH over the objections of Trustees Orozco and Medina Diaz. Lomeli and Valladares have served on the Board for the full eight years in which the College kept doing business with the firm, including through the 2022 charges, and Lomeli personally moved the 2025 award. Voters are entitled to ask why three trustees responsible for $442.2 million in public bond money chose a program manager with this history when ten other firms sought the work, and what safeguards, if any, were put in place. Concerned Staff at RHC will continue to follow Measure RH spending and encourages community members to attend Board and Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee meetings and ask those questions directly.