LAVC Grant Director Falsified Resumes/Employment Histories

New documents being released show that the scandal at Los Angeles Valley College involved Grant Director Dan Watanabe asking student-workers and others to falsify their resumes and credentials to receive employment from the Grant he managed. Worse, in a number of cases he simply didn’t turn-in start paperwork for students at all – stealing wages from them.

This information was touched on in several prior articles with documentation, including an accreditation complaint from 2016 –

Erika Endrijonas faces new questions in LACCD fraud | May 2, 2023

START QUOTE

“In her response to Accreditation, Endrijonas acknowledged that the Department Instructional assistant had undergone job performance counseling to ensure lab access in the future, that LAVC’s Media Arts website was out of date and replete with inaccurate information, that courses required for graduation had not been offered, while claiming that alleged labor fraud committed against LAVC students in the Media Arts department was the result of “a mis-communication” but then contradictorily stated the college would “adhere to the policies of the Personnel Commission going forward” and that Media Arts Dept policies dissatisfactory to the student had been in place since the 1970s.”

END QUOTE

Controversial NoHo Neighborhood Rep Named In Racketeering Scheme at Los Angeles College | May 13, 2023

START QUOTE

"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.”

END QUOTE

Finally, Among the resumes that were questioned included Robert Reber, a student at Los Angeles Valley College, Dan Watanabe hired as professional expert in Cinematography. Reber’s LinkedIn page also highlights this resume conflict describing himself as a student worker for Los Angeles Valley College AND simultaneously a Professional Expert at the same time, despite having no work history and no degree to qualify him.

According to Transparent California, Reber was compensated during his period of employment with a gross pay of $63,174.00.

In fact Reber’s Imdb during this period is filled with mostly student movies filmed as projects for class at Los Angeles Valley College – Not professional cinematography.

Reber is now listed as Adjunct Faculty at the College of the Canyons as a Professor of Film-making.


We now know from new emails between student-workers and the LACCD Personnel Commission, that Dr. Erika Endrijonas was aware of the situation BEFORE it was forwarded to the Accreditation Commission’s desk and failed to fire Watanabe. That Annie G. Reed aka Annie Goldman Reed, a Dean of Students, was aware of the situation and threatened students that called out this criminal activity to cover-up criminal fraud, perjury and falsification of work histories to the LACCD Personnel Commission.

Annie G. Reed’s abuse her office to cover up misconduct was included in the Accreditation Complaint, and documented that she continued to retaliate against student whistleblowers – even going as far as to stalk one of them on social media upto a year after he left Los Angeles Valley College.

LAVC Omsbudsman Stalked Whistleblowers | August 8, 2023

Update: LAVC Administrator Retaliated Against Student Whistleblowers She Stalked | August 16, 2023

Caltech Labor Consultant Enabled Scott Svonkin’s Alleged Abusive Behavior | August 22, 2023

LAVC Full-Time Faculty Running Off Students – Preventing Graduation | Feb 5, 2024

We now know that the LACCD Personnel Commission was made aware of all these situations and there appears to be no evidence that they, or the LACCD Board of Trustees took any action against any of these individuals.

Dan Watanabe remained the Grant Director until 2018, when the State of California wisely decided not to renew the Grants.

Erika Endrijonas remained President of Los Angeles Valley College until 2018, when she left to become President of Pasadena City College until she was chased out with pitch-forks and torches last year. She is now at Santa Barbara City College, where she has already clashed with faculty and the community over how the school should be run.

Annie G. Reed remained as Campus Omsbudsman until around 2022, before giving an interview bragging about her psychopathic behavior. Notably, not once during her interview did she describe a single incident where she helped students with grievances attempt to successfully resolve problems with college employees. Far from it, she described her mode of operation being to use her office to intercept student complaints and then open secret investigations into students (including invading the private lives) to take down whistleblowers.