A former Stanton police officer working as an unlicensed private investigator was convicted last week of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.
The sentence pronounced last Thursday in Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Kevin Michael Sianez, 56, of Fountain Valley was stayed and he was ordered to serve one year in the Orange County Jail and make monthly restitution payments of $5000 until he fulfills the total losses of over $187,000 due his clients.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Sianez, who also worked previously for the Santa Ana Police Department, pleaded guilty to 17 felony counts of grand theft by false pretense, 11 felony counts of fraudulently using an access card, four felony counts of possession of a firearm by a felony (stemming from a 1988 conviction for stalking), six felony counts of obtaining services through false representation and one felony count each of perjury by declaration, computer access and fraud and possession of ammunition by a prohibited person.
He also pleaded guilty to three related misdemeanors.
Sianez was accused of working as a “private eye” without a license through KMS Investigations from November 2005 and June 2010, as well as Fore-Front and 4Front Investigations.
Authorities claim that Sianez led people to believe he had a nationwide organization when he in reality worked out of a small suite in Santa Ana with fewer than five employees, who were primarily family members.
He was further accused of defrauding his customers by doing “little or no work on their cases after payment,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Sianez worked for the Santa Ana and now-defunct Stanton Police Department from 1979 to 1986.
