Bell officials arrested as prosecutors are set to file criminal charges [Updated]

At least eight city of Bell officials were arrested Tuesday morning, a source said, as L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley prepared to announce criminal charges in the municipal salary scandal.

[Updated at 10 a.m.: Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose high salary sparked the outrage that led to the investigations of the city, was among those arrested in the sweep. No details have been released, but a source not authorized to speak publicly about the case said that Rizzo; former Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; Councilmembers Luis Artiga, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal; and former Councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello were among those arrested.

[Updated at 11:22 p.m.: Cooley filed charges against eight Bell officials Tuesday, alleging that they misappropriated $5.5 million in public funds. Rizzo has been charged with 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest.

Among those arrested were former city administrator Robert Rizzo, former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, councilmembers George Mirabal, Teresa Jacobo, Luis Artiga and former councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello.

"This is corruption on steroids," Cooley said.]

The charges are expected to be detailed at a morning press conference, according to a source with knowledge of the case who was not authorized to comment publicly. A witness told The Times he saw Councilman Luis Artiga taken away in handcuffs Tuesday morning.

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."]

For two months, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and state and federal authorities have investigated Bell, where high salaries earned by former City Manager Robert Rizzo and other top officials have sparked widespread outrage. The Times reported last month that Rizzo was set to earn more than $1.5 million in 2010. Additionally, he gave loans totaling $1.6 million to more than 50 city officials, including himself.

Cooley has said his office was examining whether the various financial transactions in Bell amounted to thefts of public funds. The office is also looking into allegations of voter fraud and whether the high salaries earned by Rizzo and others were legal.

Last week, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit against current and former Bell city leaders demanding that their pay contracts be nullified and that they pay back some of their salaries and pension benefits. Artiga was not one of those named in the lawsuit, and he said he was working with investigators.

Rizzo and other top city officials stepped down in July after the salary scandal broke. City Council members — who were earning nearly $100,000 a year — significantly slashed their pay.

The full audit by state Controller John Chiang's office has previously found that Bell illegally overtaxed residents and businesses by $5.6 million. In addition to the retirement funds, Rizzo received two city loans of $80,000, officials said.

After The Times disclosed the loans, city officials said they were suspending the loan program and were trying to determine how many of the loans were repaid.

-- Jack Leonard, Ruben Vives and Richard Winton

Photo: Photo of police outside Bell councilmember Geroge Mirabal's home Tuesday morning. The photo was supplied by a Bell resident who wished to remain anonymous. Below: Rizzo under arrest. Daily Pilot.

Comments

[Jim]

The Police Chief is just as bad. Congressman Cunningham was a Navy ace and served his country but that didn't stop him ffrom corruption. The police chief has disgraced his position and all those who geally deserve disability tax relief for their real service related disabilities. He is worse than Rizzo in my opinion.

[bigburd]

too bad cooley and rex parris (mayor of lancaster ca.) like to hold hands all the way to the bank together, because this same thing is going on here in lancaster. seriously cooley you need to put these one's also in their place. come on lets go for twofor. i highly recommend people looking into this. you can find a lot on the issues at "get parris out of lancaster" page on facebook.

[Dalmos]

The City of Bell political issues are great and there are many questions that have not been considered before the corruption in the city government was exposed. The taxpayers rights were violated and fiduciary concerns were not considered. This is a huge future concern for any city as well as for the City of Bell.
Elected officials have a duty to uphold the laws and work in the best interest of the people of their community. Not only that, public officials that are appointed by these elected officials must do likewise (At least the elected officials should make sure of that). That means they have a fiduciary responsibility. There are many good definitions of fiduciary responsibility or duty, but they all mean the same thing. You must act for the benefit of those you are representing. Here is part of the Wikipedia definition of fiduciary duty:
“A fiduciary duty is a legal or ethical relationship of confidence or trust regarding the management of money or property between two or more parties, most commonly a fiduciary and a principal. One party, for example a corporate trust company or the trust department of a bank, holds a fiduciary relation or acts in a fiduciary capacity to another, such as one whose funds are entrusted to it for investment. In a fiduciary relation one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably reposes confidence, good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation good conscience requires one to act at all times for the sole benefit and interests of another, with loyalty to those interests.”
Clearly this was not on the minds of those officials. Their minds were clouded by their greedy side. Did they violate that fiduciary duty? Did they have a fiduciary duty to the residents of Bell? I think the answer to this is yes.
The other issue here is should something that is illegal or looks illegal be considered before one joins in on the deal when they know that they will be violating the fiduciary duty if they accept money under false pretences? In the case of Randy Adams I think that he should have known that he was about to violate his fiduciary responsibility to those of the City of Bell.
That brings up another issue. Because of his position as a Chief of Police (He was Chief of Police for Glendale, Ca.), shouldn’t that fiduciary responsibility extend beyond the City of Bell. If he considered that a crime was being committed somewhere out of his jurisdiction (Which I am sure he thought there might be something wrong in Bell. If he didn’t have a concern, then wasn’t he in serious dereliction of his duty?), wouldn’t it be his responsibility to refer his concerns to another law enforcement agency or official?
This is just one example and I am sure it also applies to internal responsibilities as well. After all, there is such a thing as whistle blower situations that would apply here, just as they apply in the private business world.
The other thing is this. A law that does not have teeth (such as the miniscule fine to drivers that talked on their cell phone while they were driving, without a hands free device, that was first instituted) will not set a good example for others and they might consider it a rather minor issue. This might create another situation in the future that someone might try it again in the future. The court did not let Ford off lightly on the Pinto issue. They were rightly hit hard and were made an example of. The court considered their violation of the trust of their customers a serious issue and they had to be made an example so there would not be future violations. The business world looked upon this as a serious issue.
Should the court consider Bell officials that violated the trust of society, a lesser issue? I think not. I would think that this issue is even more serious. These people violated 100% of society. The Ford Pinto market share was extremely less. The crimes of the City of Bell officials is much larger than the Ford Pinto case.