SOUTH EL MONTE >> The League of Women Voters of the East San Gabriel Valley is planning a candidate’s forum Tuesday with the two candidates vying to replace former South El Monte mayor Luis Aguinaga, who resigned and pleaded guilty in a federal bribery case last year.
The forum will be held at 7 p.m. at the South El Monte Senior Services Center, 1556 Central Ave., organizers said.
The two candidates on the March 7 special election will be Mayor Pro Tem Gloria Olmos and City Councilman Joseph Gonzales.
Former City Councilman Raul Pardo will not appear on the ballot, as the required signatures were not approved by the city, but will be running as a write-in candidate.
They are competing to replace Aguinaga, who resigned in August, a month before he pleaded guilty to accepting at least $45,000 in bribes from a contractor over the course of seven years.
Aguinaga faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his scheduled sentencing on March 2.
For more information on the candidate forum, the League of Women Voters of the San Gabriel Valley can be reached at 626-967-8055.
Category Archives: corruption
Ex-border protection officer from Pico Rivera sentenced for immigration bribery scheme
LOS ANGELES >> A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer, who also ran an immigration consulting service, received a sentence of more than three years in federal prison late Thursday for his role in immigration bribery scheme, officials said.
George Wu, 63, was convicted in August of conspiracy to bribe a public officials and five counts of bribing a public official following a week-long trial.
At his sentencing Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald handed down a sentence of 37 months behind bars, U.S. DOJ spokeswoman Thom Mrozek said in a written statement.
He faced a maximum penalty of up to 80 years in prison.
“This defendant attempted to corrupt our nation’s immigration system by offering bribes in exchange for benefits. It is critical to our national security that our nation’s immigration system functions properly and free from corruption such as this defendant’s,” Central District of California U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said.
Wu worked as a CBP officer until 2012, then started an immigration consulting business called Great Eastern immigration Services, authorities said.
Wu and co-defendants paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes, which they solicited from at least seven clients, to immigration officials top help secure citizenship and permanent legal status through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Mrozek said.
In one case, a client of Wu’s, “was allowed to pass an English proficiency exam even though she could not speak English,” he said.
Co-conspirator Michael Bui, who ran another immigration consultation firm, has already been convicted of conspiracy and bribery in connection with the case and sentenced to one year and one day in prison, officials said.
Eleven defendants in all are named in the case, and seven of them have already been convicted, Mrozek said. They include an attorney who paid bribes to a senior USCIS officials and arranging “sham marriages”; an ex U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent who lied to federal investigators about accessing immigration filed and providing the information to an immigration attorney; and a former USCIS officials who accepted an “illegal gratuity” from an immigration attorney after helping an immigrant gain legal permanent residence, officials said.
Corruption case wiretap details sex, drugs and other scams in tiny town of Cudahy
I like to call the region surrounding the 710 Freeway “The Corruption Corridor.”
UPDATED: Former Covina police records clerk sentenced for embezzlement
UPDATED: Former Covina police records clerk pleads guilty to theft, hiding record
The true face of the California Assembly — Mike Duvall (R-Brea)*
The Temple City bribery/perjury/campaign finance fiasco
The mayor, a former mayor and a campaign fixer/suspected bagman who hoped to be on the council face some serious felony bribery/perjury charges after finally appearing in court Wednesday.
If you believe what the DA alleges, small-time greed drove these political hacks to basically extort a developer who may have been in over his head in the first place.
The truth of the matter is Temple City is probably not only local government corrupted by the easy cash that flows from developer’s pockets. It’s just that most developers aren’t carrying around a pocket wire to record the transaction and burn the council. Here’s an excerpt from our story on Boss Wilson and her crew:
LOS ANGELES – Temple City’s mayor, its former mayor and a former City Council candidate were indicted Wednesday on felony charges of bribery, perjury and other counts related to a nine-month corruption probe into their dealings with a local developer.
The 21-count indictment was returned Monday by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury and unsealed Wednesday by Judge Patricia Schnegg at the criminal courts building in downtown Los Angeles.
Temple City Mayor Judy Wong was charged with six counts of bribery, three counts of perjury and one count of solicitation of bribery. Former mayor Cath Wilson was charged with three counts of bribery and three counts of perjury.
Former City Council candidate Scott Carwile, who was also once Wilson’s campaign treasurer, was charged with four counts of perjury and one misdemeanor count of failing to report a campaign contribution.
“It’s actually quite rare that we bring bribery charges, because of the nature of the crime,” said Deputy District Attorney David Demerjian, who heads the DA’s Public Integrity Division. “Normally, neither side involved in the bribery will report it to us. It’s usually beneficial to them to just continue on with the conspiracy.”
<snip>
Bail was set at $250,000 for Wong, $150,000 for Wilson and $100,000 for Carwile. All three posted bail, were booked, and were ordered to return July 9 for a pre-trial hearing.
Warrants served on Temple City Council members *
DA’s officials say search warrants were served at City Hall this morning and at 2 other locations. Three council members are under investigation for allegedly taking bribes from developer Randy Wang in exchange for providing smooth sailing to Wang’s proposed mixed-use development on Las Tunas.
*UPDATE 1:42 p.m. from reporter Alfred Lee:
Investigators searched City Hall and five (not two) residences: Mayor Cathe Wilson, council members Judy Wong and David Capra, former City Council candidate Scott Carwile (whom Randy Wang has accused of taking cash bribes for his campaign) and Jay Liyanage, the former project manager of Wang’s Piazza mall project.
San Berdoo County assessor arrested with meth
Property values in the Inland Empire are sinking to new lows, while the Assessor is suspected of fiddling with nose candy.
Bill Postmus, once a rising star in the Inland Empire’s Republican Party, was arrested Thursday morning in possession of a pile of meth. One can only guess what else investigators found when they raided his house, but it’s a well-known fact that meth addicts have addicts have a lot of proclivities that don’t make for family reading. Here’s the early story from the San Bernardino Sun:
Assessor Bill Postmus was arrested this morning after investigators say they found methamphetamine in his Rancho Cucamonga house while serving a search warrant for an ongoing investigation related to possible abuse of his authority as a county official.
About 50 San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office investigators and investigative technicians served 10 search warrants in six cities, including San Bernardino, Highland, Apple Valley, Victorville, Rancho Cucamonga and Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County.
District Attorney spokeswoman Susan Mickey said she could not disclose specific locations.
But she did confirm that a search warrant was also served at the office of Jim Erwin, a former assistant assessor who now serves