Monday, September 21, 2026

County District Attorney to Join Town Hall on Fraud, Crime Against Eaton Fire Survivors

Nathan Hochman, L.A. County District Attorney via Facebook

The county’s top prosecutor joins a Pasadena NAACP community meeting on protecting Eaton Fire survivors during the recovery

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman will join a town hall in Altadena on Tuesday, Sept. 22, hosted by the Pasadena branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, aimed at helping Eaton Fire survivors guard against the fraud and crime that can follow a disaster.

The meeting will focus not on the fire but on those the District Attorney’s Office says have tried to profit illegally from it. The branch’s announcement says the crimes that can target survivors during recovery and rebuilding include contractor fraud, financial elder abuse, vandalism, looting and rent gouging.

The appearance follows more than a year of enforcement Hochman’s office has pursued in the burn zone.

The town hall runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena, a space that opened in October 2025 as a centralized recovery hub for fire survivors.

The Pasadena NAACP, which is hosting the event with the District Attorney’s Office, announced it on its Facebook page and framed it as a chance for residents to “get informed, ask questions, and learn how to protect yourself and your loved ones during the recovery and rebuilding process.”

The event is open to the community, and the announcement did not list an admission charge or a registration requirement.

Residents can reach the Pasadena NAACP branch at (626) 793-1293 or naacppasadena.org, and the branch asked people to spread word of the meeting to neighbors, relatives and other Eaton Fire survivors.

Hochman’s appearance connects to cases his office has brought since the January 2025 fire. In December 2025, prosecutors announced charges against people accused of contracting without a license inside the Eaton Fire disaster zone, cases the office said at the time remained under investigation with the Contractors State License Board. The office has also charged people in wildfire-related burglaries in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.

In July, Langham Hotels Pacific Corporation, owner of The Langham Huntington, Pasadena, agreed to pay $320,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office. The suit alleged the hotel charged guests more than 10% above its regular rates as advertised immediately before the emergency declaration; the company also agreed to at least $216,795 in restitution for eligible guests.

“It is reprehensible to overcharge and take advantage of wildfire victims who were in desperate need of housing as they fled their homes from raging fires last year,” Hochman said in the District Attorney’s Office news release announcing that settlement.

The town hall lands in Altadena, one of Southern California’s most historic Black communities, where the NAACP has kept a presence since the fire.

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, Altadena. For more call (626) 765-6037 or visit eatonfirecollaborative.org/thecollaboratory. The Pasadena NAACP branch can be reached at (626) 793-1293 or naacppasadena.org. Tickets: No admission charge or registration was announced.