New Charges Filed Against Senator, Aide

A federal grand jury Tuesday added four new charges to its original indictment of Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) and a former top aide, Amiel A. Jaramillo.

Montoya will face two charges of bribery in addition to charges of using his office for extortion, racketeering and money laundering that were included in the original indictment filed against the two men last May. Jaramillo has been charged with added counts of extortion and conspiracy.

The grand jury action raises the total counts against the two men to 16, but several of the new charges are the result of alleged criminal acts included in the first indictment. The added charges are part of the legal maneuvering as prosecutors try to beef up their caseprior to a trial now scheduled to begin Dec. 4.

Both Montoya and Jaramillo have pleaded innocent to the charges against them, and a revised indictment with additional charges was expected by their attorneys.

A statement from U.S. Atty. David F. Levi minimizes the significance of the revised charges, describing them as “little changed from the original indictment.”

Jaramillo is accused of using his position as consultant to the Senate Business and Professions Committee, chaired by Montoya, to try to obtain payments from Jamie and Dieter Hundt, operators of a San Diego mail order contact lens business, Dial A Contact Lens Inc. The mail order operation was threatened by legislation sponsored by the California Optometric Assn., which would in effect bar mail order sales of contacts except by licensed optometrists.

Jaramillo’s attorney, Christopher H. Wing, said in an earlier interview that his client did nothing wrong in his contact with the Hundts and merely referred them to lobbyists when asked to do so.