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Ex-Bell council members balk at deal, hearing delayed

1/17
Mayor Oscar Hernandez tells Bell resident Jose Orozco his time is up during a meeting filled with residents upset over the high salaries paid to city administrators. The overwhelming number of public speakers called for their resignations.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
2/17
The crowd erupts in anger at Monday night’s City Council meeting at the Bell community center.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
3/17
L.A. County sheriff’s deputies stand near the Bell City Council -- from left, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, George Mirabal and Luis Artiga -- during a meeting filled with residents upset over high salaries paid to council members.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
4/17
An angry Bell resident gestures toward the City Council during a meeting filled with locals upset about high salaries paid to members and other administrators.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
5/17
A police barricade keeps those in line from entering the Bell Community Center, which was at maximum capacity during the City Council meeting where a decision to cut the salaries of the mayor and three council members was made.  (Christina House / For The Times)
6/17
Robert Mackin, center, a Bell resident since 1941, covers his ears while fellow resident Enrique Martinez, right, yells out after hearing that no more people would be allowed inside the Community Center to attend the City Council meeting where a vote to cut the salaries of Bell’s mayor and three other council members was being taken.  (Christina House / For The Times)
7/17
Galileo Gonzalez, 21, pens a caricature of Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez on a sign protesting the salaries of the City Council.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
8/17
Bell businessman Joseph Lee, left, and 15-year Bell resident Hussein Saleh help hang signs outside the Bell Community Center a few hours before the City Council meeting where the vote to cut the salaries of Mayor Oscar Hernandez and fellow council members Luis Artiga, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal was to take place.  (Christina House / For The Times)
9/17
Officers Tony Lopez, center, and Jose Garcia guard the door to the Bell City Council chambers, where council members held an emergency meeting Thursday to consider the fate of three highly-paid top city officials.
See full story  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
10/17
Bell City Councilman Lorenzo Velez speaks to the media at the emergency meeting.
See full story  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
11/17
Bell resident Danny Harber reacts after he and other residents are told that a special City Council meeting on the controversy over high salaries paid to city officials will be closed to the public.
See full story  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
12/17
Bell City Atty. Ed Lee addresses the audience at the special meeting of the Bell City Council as City Clerk Rebecca Valdez watches.
See full story  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
13/17
Protesters gather at Bell City Hall to demand resignations of city officials whose salaries are among the highest in the nation.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
14/17
Police try to calm the crowd of protesters trying to get into the City Council meeting. The council ordered city staff to prepare a report on salaries for its July 26 meeting.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
15/17
Bell Police Chief Randy Adams, whose $457,000 salary is 50% higher than that of his Los Angeles counterpart, attended the council meeting Monday. City Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, whose salary is also causing an outcry, did not attend.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
16/17
As the City Council meeting got underway, people were collecting signatures demanding an audit of city finances.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
17/17
A number of people waved signs that read “Stop the abuse on our taxes” and “Welcome to Bell, where the City Council makes more than you do. Also, we have nice parks.” One person had a sign showing Mayor Oscar Hernandez with devil horns.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)
By Ruben Vives and Richard Winton
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Lawyers for five former Bell City Council members asked for more time Friday to consider whether to accept a deal in which their clients would get maximum four-year prison sentences in exchange for pleading guilty to corruption charges.

All five must accept the district attorney’s offer or it will be taken off the table. It appeared Friday that one or more of the former city leaders was balking at the deal.

The hearing was delayed until April 3.

Last year, all five were convicted on charges that they inflated their paychecks, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on nearly half of the counts. The former council members were accused of misappropriating public funds by drawing enormous paychecks for serving on boards and commissions that rarely, if ever, met.

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If George Cole, George Mirabal, Teresa Jacobo, Oscar Hernandez and Victor Bello refuse to take the district attorney’s offer, they would likely be ordered to stand trial again on the remaining charges – and face a judge who has indicated she is weary of the long-running corruption case.

In court on Friday, only Cole indicated he was willing to take the deal.

The salary scandal in the southeast Los Angeles County city broke in 2010 when the extreme salaries of the city officials were exposed.

That year, the part-time council members were making nearly $100,000 and the city’s administrator, Robert Rizzo, had a total compensation of $1.5 million, making him the highest paid municipal leader in California and likely the nation.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Rizzo had loaned out city money, wrote his own contracts and provided false documents about the size of his salary. The city was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy when Rizzo, his assistant and the police chief were forced to resign.

Rizzo pleaded no contest to 69 felony corruption charges last year and is set to be sentenced in March. He also pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud charges. The judge has said she probably will sentence him to 10 to 12 years in prison.

The city’s former second in command, Angela Spaccia, was convicted late last year on 11 corruption charges and is set to be sentenced Feb. 26. The prosecutor has recommended a sentence of more than 12 years. She is the only former Bell official already behind bars.

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Ruben.vives@latimes.com

Richard.winton@latimes.com

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Ruben Vives

Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.

Richard Winton

Richard Winton is an investigative crime writer for the Los Angeles Times and part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Known as @lacrimes on Twitter, during almost 30 years at The Times he also has been part of the breaking news staff that won Pulitzers in 1998, 2004 and 2016.

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