Black City Holds Felony Conviction Against Black Technologist

[JimNeusom]

City Temporarily Halts Award Of Contract to Convicted
Felon

By Gary Walker
Bulletin staff writer
http://www.thecomptonbulletin.com/news01_030905/index.html


The founder of an Internet publishing company to whom the City Council was set to award a $226,000 contract for city surveillance services has a felony conviction, the Bulletin learned last week.

James I. Neusom II, the founder of InterServe Networks Corporation, Inc., was found guilty of Social Security fraud in January 2003 in Los Angeles in federal court. He was sentenced to three years probation on Aug. 2, 2004 and ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Robert M. Takasugi to pay restitution.

Neusom maintains his innocence, claiming that he was framed by an “overzealous prosecutor.” In his online news journal, the City Lights Reporter, under Message from the Publisher, the founder of City Lights Software, Inc. continues to declare his innocence, calling the charges “false and trumped up” and asks readers to sign an online petition to support him.

The Bulletin learned of Neusom’s conviction on Monday, February 28, the day before the city’s governing body was set to approve a contract for a community-based surveillance network that will monitor targeted areas throughout the city that have been plagued by vandalism, illegal dumping and graffiti. Confronting and eliminating these three troublesome social ills has been a constant theme throughout the city and particularly at city council meetings, where residents have implored their elected officials for assistance in abating these seemingly ubiquitous problems.

The resolution would have mandated that InterServe receive $226,000, including maintenance fees, for installing 60 cameras in 20 locations around the city.

Nevada-based City Lights Software Inc. is the parent company of Interserve Networks Corporation. According to the company’s website, City Lights Software, Inc. (City Lights) is a multifaceted computer and Internet publishing company that creates and markets innovative, value added products, programs and software for the computer, satellite, Internet and cable industries. City Lights Software Inc. is the number one developer of Afrocentric and multicultural software in the country, says the site.

“We are to the computer industry what Motown was to records in the 1960s,” it boasts.|

Its primary products are content driven screen savers. Their site claims that they have represented artists such as George Clinton and the late Ray Charles, and corporate clients such as Boeing, Xerox and the MGM/Mirage Resorts and Casinos.

“Poison Fruit”
City Manager Barbara Kilroy asked the council to remove agenda item 4E as the body was examining the topics for discussion on the program. “We’re doing a background check on the person who owns the company,” Mayor Eric Perrodin explained to the audience. “That’s why (the item) is being pulled.

“We got word that the guy might have a legal problem,” the mayor clarified.

“I was notified by the City Manager’s office that the item would not be discussed that night,” Neusom said in an interview with the Bulletin last week, the day after the council meeting.

The CEO of City Lights Software feels that politics played a role in the city’s decision not to proceed with the topic of community-based surveillance. “This being an election year, and with the history of political scandals in Compton in recent years, it seems that I’ve become ‘poison fruit,’” he lamented.

Neusom insists that he did not receive a fair trial, and said that his appeal will be presented to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal this week. “The prosecutor in the case hid evidence from the jury, and a lot of evidence that could have been used at my trial later appeared after I was convicted,” he accused. Neusom, who acknowledged that he signed a document in front of federal agents prior to being arrested, claims that he signed the document “under duress” and later attempted to rescind it, to no avail.

Most cities in California, including Compton, often issue a Request For Proposal to the appropriate businesses that may provide a particular service when the municipality is seeking to outsource a specific service.

“Companies that do business with the city must have those licenses and credentials required for their specialty, must be fully bondable, must provide insurance and obtain a city business license prior to execution of a contract,” Kilroy answered via e-mail to a query posed by the Bulletin on Compton’s criteria policy for firms that apply for city contracts. “Other criteria vary depending on the nature of the service to be provided.

“The city selects contractors in different ways,” she continued. “Depending on the urgency of the issues, the city may circulate a formal RFP throughout the applicable service community.

“Generally, the city requires a minimum of three bids and selects the lowest responsible bidder,” the city manager explained. “ However, the city can select from a shorter bid list if it feels the available proposals are adequate or decide none of the proposals meet its needs and start over.

“Professional services providers (e.g., audit and legal firms) are usually selected through referrals and interviews, rather than through a formal RFP process.”

The city council, Compton’s governing body, makes the final determination if a contract is approved.

City Official Knew of Conviction
After he was found guilty, the CityLights Software chief launched an online campaign to garner moral support and funds for an appeal. Charles Evans, then of the Compton City Attorney’s Office was one of over 100 people who signed Neusom’s online petition for a new trial last year. “Jim Neusom is one of the most honest and sincere people that I have ever met. I hope that you will take his years of community service into consideration,” Evans wrote.

Evans, who is the assistant city manager and also works in Risk Management, did not return phone calls as the Bulletin went to press.

An ancillary benefit to the surveillance plan would be the financial rewards that Compton could reap, Neusom said. “The city could entice new businesses to Compton with this kind of system,” he believes. According to Neusom, “this is the first time that this concept is being used nationwide.”

Perrodin himself seemed to think that the proposed camera arrangement had merit. “It looks like an excellent program,” he said at the council hearing.

Neusom says that he is frustrated that he could lose a contract worth $226,000 because of his status a felon. “I am a recognized technologist,” he said proudly. “The fact I have a felony conviction should not be an impediment (to employment.)”

Calls to City Atty. LeGrand Clegg II, whose office reviews all contracts, were not returned.


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If you wish to voice your opinon on this matter, you
can contact the Mayor and City Council at
http://www.comptoncity.org/contact/contact.aspx