San Diego Official Indicted in Credit Card Case

The San Diego County Grand Jury on Wednesday indicted City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez on 28 felony counts of misappropriating and falsely accounting for public funds through the misuse of a city-issued credit card.

Martinez, who publicly apologized to his council colleagues for his spending habits and provided the grand jury with an 800-page accounting of his expenditures, will be arraigned on the charges Tuesday in San Diego County Superior Court.

Conviction on any of the charges would force Martinez from the council seat the Republican has held since his appointment to fill a vacancy in December, 1982. Each count also carries a maximum penalty of four years in state prison and a $10,000 fine.

The charges cover $1,880 worth of charges to Martinez’s city-issued credit card for 21 meals between November, 1984, and July 1985. The tabs ranged from an $8.50 bill at a local Italian restaurant to a $402.93 check for dinner for 11 at an expensive San Diego bar and grill near City Hall.

Martinez is charged with 10 counts of misappropriating public funds, 17 counts of making a false accounting of public funds and one count of attempting to misuse public funds.

Martinez’s spending first came under scrutiny in September, when several people whom the councilman claimed in city expense records to have dined with him denied having meals with Martinez. Others said no city business was discussed during the meals. The controversy was fueled by city reports that showed Martinez and his then-chief aide, Rudy Murillo, had charged about $9,500 in meals to the city in the year ending June 30, 1985--more than the combined total for the other seven council members and the mayor’s office.

Murillo, one of 71 witnesses listed as appearing before the grand jury in 12 days of hearings, remains the subject of investigation for his credit card spending, according to Steve Casey, a spokesman for Dist. Atty. Ed Miller.