City Councilman Loses Wallet, Dignity In Prostitute Hotel

Passed out drunk in a hotel used by prostitutes. Pants torn. Pockets turned inside out. No wonder Bell Gardens City Councilman Mario Beltran was seen blushing in the courtroom.

The city councilman--who also works as a legislative aide to state Sen. Ron S. Calderon--was arrested last summer for allegedly giving false information to police. Beltran, pictured, is on trial in Los Angeles, and if the testimony is correct, he was having a wild night at the downtown Hotel Huntington last June.

Charles Proctor from the L.A. Times has the details from the trial:

The security guard said Beltran arrived at the hotel after 2 a.m. and went upstairs. (Security guard Antonio) Hines said he was not sure if Beltran was alone, but previous witnesses had said Beltran arrived with Sherrilyn Ridgeway (who has worked as a prostitute.)

A few minutes later, Hines received a report of a man passed out upstairs. He found Beltran on the floor, unconscious and heavily intoxicated, with his pants torn and pockets turned inside out, the guard testified.

When Beltran fled, Hines followed and saw him run to a car in a parking lot occupied by two men, he said. Soon after, the same men arrived at the hotel and started knocking on residents' doors asking if they could help find the councilman's wallet and badge. "I'll give you $500 right now if you help me find the badge," Hines said one of the men told them.

Hines also testified that the men told at least one resident: "I can have 150 cops come up here and raid this whole hotel. We can … take all you guys down." Beltran then showed up and insisted that he had never been to the hotel. "I said, 'Yes, you were, sir. I woke you up just a few minutes ago,' " Hines testified.

After a few minutes, Beltran and the two men left without finding the wallet. Hotel resident Charlene Stratten testified that she heard Beltran call Ridgeway, who is African American, by a racial slur, saying, "Do you know who I am? I'm a congressman."

In his defense, Beltran's attorney said his client was so drunk he mistakenly told police he passed out and was robbed a block from the downtown Los Angeles hotel (pictured above in better days). Beltran now acknowledges he was at the Huntington Hotel, and denies he knowingly gave false information to police. The trial continues today.

Beltran works as a legislative aide in Calderon's district office, where he earns $55,248 a year. In addition, he was paid $24,000 last year from Calderon's Senate campaign committee and another $5,000 from Calderon's legal defense fund. Calderon's office did not have immediate comment.

"The incident did not occur on Senate time or involve Senate resources," said Alicia Trost, spokeswoman for Senate leader Don Perata, "so there is nothing for us to comment on right now."