Bulletin: City Official Andrew Adelman Resigns After Rape Allegations

By Christine Pelisek Tue., Sep. 15 2009 at 6:20 PM

Categories: City News, Crime

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Andrew Adelman

Andrew Adelman, the general manager of the city's Department of Building and Safety Department, has resigned amid allegations that he raped an unconscious woman after a pub crawl organized by city employees in July. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has named Raymond Chan as Adelman's interim replacement.

Adelman, 52, was asked to take a paid leave by Villaraigosa in August after the allegations surfaced. Adelman, who had not been arrested for the alleged July 10 incident, hired celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos to represent him. Geragos recently represented rapper Chris Brown, who was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend Rihanna.

According to a search warrant affidavit describing the alleged attack, the victim says she passed out, then awoke mid-rape next to a nude, aroused Adelman wielding a trio of invasive sex toys. Several pages of the search warrant were first posted on the news website theenterprisereport.com.

Adelman was hired by former mayor Richard Riordan to run the huge Building & Safety Department in 1997. However, his tenure was marked by numerous lawsuits by disgruntled staff members who portrayed him as abusive, intimidating and fostering a hostile environment. In 2005, Adelman held a "casino night" in Hollywood to solicit donations from developers -- a major conflict of interest. (The money was going to such charities as the March of Dimes, the United Way and the Red Cross, but Villaraigosa became concerned that seeking donations from builders "may be perceived as coercive.") And, in 2006, his "case-management unit" gave special treatment to dozens of projects sought by political insiders including former city commissioners and donors to the mayor and City Council.

That same year, an audit by then-City Controller Laura Chick found potentially severe problems developing under his leadership. Among other things, the department was failing to supervise building inspectors, was giving patently preferential treatment to big developers, and was manipulating statistics -- essentially, lying -- to make Building and Safety seem efficient. Chick also found "tricks and games in how it oversees some of its funds."

Recently, one woman who asked to remain unnamed, and who is well-regarded in her profession, told the Weekly that Adelman grabbed and rubbed her leg under a table, refusing to stop. She found his behavior so over-the-top, "I figured he would get beat up by someone's boyfriend or husband."

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