Investigation of Ex-Martinez Aide Ended

The district attorney’s office has ended its criminal investigation of Rudy Murillo, former chief aide to ousted San Diego City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, in connection with the credit card scandal that led to Martinez’s conviction and resignation.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Allan J. Preckel said Friday he had sent Murillo’s attorney a letter confirming that the investigation was closed.

Prosecutors launched a probe of the conduct of both Martinez and Murillo after newspapers reported that together the two men had charged $9,500 to city credit cards in the year ending June 30, 1985--more than the combined spending of all the other council members and aides who used city-issued cards. The Times and other newspapers found that in many cases Martinez had not eaten meals with the people he had claimed on his expense reporting to the city.

Martinez fired Murillo during the investigation last year.

Martinez ultimately pleaded guilty to two felony charges of misusing his credit card. He resigned from the council last week and was sentenced a day later to perform 400 hours of community service.

Preckel said Murillo had not used his credit card as extensively as Martinez and had explanations in many instances when his expense reports were inaccurate.

“There was not a type of pattern nor the frequency that we saw in the case of Mr. Martinez,” Preckel said. “Mr. Murillo . . . was able to proffer at least arguably understandable circumstances whereby a mistake as opposed to a knowing falsification may have been made in certain cases.”

Until he pleaded guilty, Martinez too had attributed discrepancies in his expense reports to mistakes and sloppy record-keeping.

Preckel, however, said prosecutors were not convinced by Martinez’s defense.

“Our analysis of the evidence in Mr. Murillo’s case was such that Mr. Murillo had a much better argument in that respect than the councilman could ever hope to have,” he said.

Murillo, now a communications and marketing consultant, said Friday that it was “a big relief” to learn that he no longer faced the threat of prosecution.

“It’s been 14 months, which was at times unbearable,” he said.