No Pressure to Prosecute St. John, Tuttle Testifies

Los Angeles City Controller Rick Tuttle testified Wednesday that political pressures at City Hall and persistent media inquiries “had nothing to do” with his decision last July to seek criminal prosecution of Juanita St. John for violating a subpoena issued by his office.

“It was one of those times where I was going to go forward on this and do my duty regardless of what any politician said,” Tuttle said during the second day of St. John’s Municipal Court trial. “Also . . . I recognized a long time ago you can’t control the press.”

St. John, head of the city-funded Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations, faces one misdemeanor charge for failing to honor a subpoena issued by Tuttle as part of an audit. She is charged in a separate case with embezzling $180,000 from the task force.

Attorneys for St. John, the one-time business partner of Mayor Tom Bradley, say St. John has become a political scapegoat for problems surrounding Bradley’s financial affairs.