FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: PUC Press Office, 415.703.1366, news@cpuc.ca.gov

PUC INVESTIGATION LEADS TO CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST ILLEGAL MOVER - GRACE COMPANY, INC.

SAN FRANCISCO, October 27, 2003 -- The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today announced that the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office jointly filed criminal charges on Sept. 9, 2003, against Grace Company, Inc., an unlicensed household goods mover based in Los Angeles. An investigation by the PUC's Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) determined that Jong Won Lee, president of Grace Company, a California corporation, continued to perform moving services without a valid household goods carrier permit.

Lee and Sergio Ortiz (Grace Company's employee-driver) are charged with seven misdemeanor counts: one count of operating a moving company without a permit; one count of advertising as a moving company without a permit; and five counts of failing to follow rules and regulations for the performance of services by a moving company. Lee was arraigned on Oct. 9, 2003, and trial is set for Nov. 5, 2003, in Superior Court.

In early May of 2003, the PUC has had telephone service shut off to Grace Company for continued operations as a moving company after PUC staff directives to cease and desist. Pub.Util. Code, Section 5322 authorizes the PUC to request a local phone company to cut off service to a carrier using the phone to operate illegally as a household goods carrier.

The Public Utilities Code makes it a crime to engage or attempt to engage in transporting used household goods without a valid PUC license. Consumers using unlicensed movers may suffer irreparable losses of personal belongings with little means of recovery.

For more information, please visit the PUC's website at www.cpuc.ca.gov.

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