Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Southern California city council member agreed to plead guilty to taking bribes in exchange for voting to ratify a police union’s contract

LAT:

In court files unsealed Tuesday, [he] admitted that he took $37,900 in bribes from a Baldwin Park police officer in 2018. [He] was serving as the city’s mayor pro tem at the time, and the officer was working undercover for the FBI.

In return for the bribes, [he] voted in March 2018 in favor of a three-year labor contract for the Baldwin Park Police Assn. that was approved by the council and required the city to pay officers $4.4 million, the court papers say.

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[He] agreed to forfeit $83,145 in cash seized by the FBI, including $62,900 that he had buried in his backyard 

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He has long been a controversial figure in Baldwin Park.