Former Lynwood mayor re-sentenced in federal corruption case

The former mayor of Lynwood, who had appealed a 2006 corruption conviction, was re-sentenced Tuesday to more than 15 years in federal prison in one of the longest sentences handed down in a federal corruption case, authorities said.

Paul. H. Richards, 54, was convicted on a number of corruption charges, including steering city contracts to a front corporation he secretly owned. The scheme could have netted Richards more than $6 million, although he managed to siphon off only $500,000 before authorities intervened, prosecutors said at the time.

Richards had appealed his original 16-year sentence to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ultimately remanded the case back to a federal district court. In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner concluded that Richards was properly found guilty in the sweeping corruption case, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Klausner also denied a request by Richards to be released on bond while he asks for another appellate review. The judge said Richards posed a flight risk and was unlikely to prevail in his legal challenge, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Comments

[Manuel Delgadillo]

The City of Lynwood jumped the gun but the City of Bell takes cake.