Mayor Oscar Hernandez (and his wig)
Angela Spaccia
Victor Bello
Teresa Jacobo
Luis Artiga
George Mirabal
George Cole
Bell city officials
Posted on 09/21/2010 12:47:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley filed charges against eight current and former Bell officials Tuesday, alleging that they misappropriated $5.5 million in public funds. Robert Rizzo, Bell's former city manager, .. charged with 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest.
The charges come after a dramatic morning in which authorities swept through Bell and other cities, arresting former and current Bell officials.
Among those arrested were Rizzo; Angela Spaccia, former assistant city manager; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; councilmembers George Mirabal, Teresa Jacobo and Luis Artiga; and former councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello.
"This is corruption on steroids," Cooley said.
[Updated at 11:28 a.m.: Cooley said officials used the city's tax dollars "as their own piggy bank that they then looted at will."
He said that councilmembers, who earned salaries of nearly $100,000, received $1.2 million for "phantom meetings" -- many which never occurred or lasted only a minute or two.
Police Chief Randy Adams, who also stepped down after The Times reported he was earning $457,000, was not arrested.
"Being paid excessive amounts is not a crime," Cooley said, noting that the investigation is ongoing.
Bail for Rizzo has been set at $3.2 million. Bail for the others ranges from $130,000 to $377,500.]
Rizzo, whose high salary sparked the outrage that led to the investigations of the city, was among those arrested in the sweep. ..
In Bell, a neighbor of Hernandez said authorities used a battering ram on his front door after he failed to answer the door.
"They broke the door down," said the neighbor, who only gave his name as Jose. "They knocked down the door and they brought him out in cuffs."
The city of Bell released a statement about the arrests, calling it a "sad day" for the city.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
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Let’s hope this is a bellweather for change; local, County, State and Federal.
Liberty Bell!!!!!
It’s a shame that only local Govt. to be charged with stealing taxpayers money is the city Govt. when the county of L.A. through Mayor Tony Reconquista and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard gives $ millions of tax dollars to criminal illegal alien invaders with cash and welfare payments and Sanctuary City status.
It’s just a case of the bigger crooks swallowing up the smaller crooks, just like we saw happen with the bank bailouts at the Federal level. A crook is a crook but in politics the biggest crooks are rewarded.
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But having said that, would have liked to have watched the battering ram event....
This is one time when you could hope that the guy made a “furtive movement” in front of the SWAT team.
Hopefully this will help Cooney beat the wacko from San Fran for A.G
It;s a GOOD day for the residents of Bell!!
Anger is one thing but the law is another. These charges won’t stick. Like the gut said , makin a lot of money is not a crime.
I predict these guys skate.
Bring back tar and feathering.
It is not that they took the money but how they tried to hide that they got it that will get them convicted. The large unpaid loans will also be a problem. They also have the election fraud to look into. If they prove this group tried to hide the election from the public that made Bell a charter city then everything they did following the election could be fraud.
So, I’m going to assume (under the style guidelines for MSM) that because there is NO party affiliation listed for these politicians who are under arrest, that they must be Democrats, correct???
Would have saved a lot of money in the end....
According to John & Ken on KFI-640 AM, the defendants cannot use assets that they may have improperly received as collateral for their bail.
This should make things very interesting!
Mayor Oscar Hernandez (and his wig)
Angela Spaccia
Victor Bello
Teresa Jacobo
Luis Artiga
George Mirabal
George Cole
Bell city officials
Robert Rizzo’s bail is $3.2-million dollars!
He and the others who were arrested cannot use any of their illicit gains as collateral for their bail either!
Why do they look so damn happy in those mug shots? They got away with something?
“I predict these guys skate.”
Don’t bet your pension on it. Do you even have any idea of the facts of this case?
The bad days of corruption came because they were not paying attention? Was noboy watching? Was there no local blog?
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