Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.

April 15, 2007

Current and Former Lynwood Council Members Charged with Misappropriating More than $100,000 in Taxpayer Money

COMPTON – Two current and three former Lynwood City Council members are scheduled to be arraigned Friday on charges they were fraudulently paid to attend city committee meetings and that they allegedly charged personal expenses to city credit cards, the District Attorney’s office announced.

The D.A.’s Public Integrity Division discovered the alleged crimes through a four-year investigation launched on April 15, 2003 following a tip by a former Lynwood city manager.

“This case is another example of PID aggressively investigating and prosecuting schemes for self-enrichment by elected officials at the expense of hardworking taxpayers,” Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said.

Charged in the criminal complaint are Lynwood Council members Louis Byrd and Fernando Pedroza and former members Armando Rea, Arturo Reyes and Ricardo Sanchez, said Deputy District Attorney Gary Nielsen with PID. All five are scheduled to surrender and be arraigned at 9 a.m. Friday in Compton Superior Court, Dept. D. They are charged in case No. TA090186 with one count each of misappropriation of public funds.

According to the complaint, the five council members each allegedly collected thousands of dollars by misappropriating public money under several different schemes, including charging personal expenses on city credit cards. For example, during a May 2002 trip to Guadalajara, Mexico to attend a sister-city conference, Pedroza, 41, charged $1,500 on a city credit card to pay for an evening at a gentleman’s club that included a dancer and private room.

But by far the largest amount of misappropriated money allegedly went to council members who paid themselves $450 per meeting per agency for their participation on two city agencies, the Lynwood Public Finance Authority and Lynwood Information Inc. The LPFA issues bonds for the city and the Lynwood Redevelopment Agency, and Lynwood Information Inc. was created in 1981 to keep residents informed through a newsletter, Nielsen said.

At the peak in 2000 and 2001, council members were earning up to $40,000 annually in addition to their council pay from both LPFA and LII meetings, which translates to about 80 to 90 meetings annually. This compares to city council salaries that are limited by state law to about $10,000 annually.

Nielsen said the Government Code section 36516 controls the salary for city council members in general law cities. The work council members performed in connection with these agencies was nothing beyond the normal responsibilities for a council member.

Byrd and Pedroza are current members. Rea and Sanchez left the council at the end of 2001 and Reyes left at the end of 2003.

If convicted, the defendants face up to six years in state prison.

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CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER

JOSEPH SHEMARIA

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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.