San Diego Registrar of Voters Quits Amid Criminal Investigation by D.A.
County Registrar of Voters Ray J. Ortiz quit his job Wednesday amid a district attorney’s criminal investigation of him and his office.
Ortiz’s resignation came one day after a Superior Court judge released affidavits detailing the investigation that the district attorney had filed in support of search warrants. According to the statements filed in court, the district attorney’s office believes that Ortiz arranged for a private company doing business with his office to make payments to a friend of Ortiz and then recover the money by submitting falsified bills to the county.
The court papers also disclosed that a district attorney’s investigator suspects that Ortiz may have improperly steered more than $400,000 in contracts to an Escondido company owned by a man who was a close friend of the registrar.
Ortiz, 51, has not been charged with any crimes, and a deputy district attorney involved in the case said Wednesday that the investigation will continue indefinitely.
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