COMPTON : Ex-Councilwoman to Withdraw Guilty Plea in Bribery Case

Former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore said Monday she will withdraw her guilty plea to federal bribery charges, claiming that prosecutors pressured her into admitting she took a bribe.

A key figure in a 1991-92 federal probe into political extortion and bribe-taking among Compton council members, Moore has “decided to face the charges that have been alleged by the federal government head on,” said her attorney, Ollie Manago.

Federal officials denied that any undue pressure was exerted.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Madison said that “at no time was she pressured into pleading guilty or admitting the things that she admitted.”

Government prosecutors will not oppose Moore’s motion to withdraw her plea, Madison said, and probably will bring the case before a jury.

Moore, 46, pleaded guilty Nov. 14 to extortion and filing a false federal tax return. Agents alleged Moore took $9,100 in November, 1991, from an FBI agent posing as a representative of a firm that wanted to build a waste-to-energy plant in Compton.

According to FBI agents, both Moore and former mayor, now Rep. Walter R. Tucker III (D-Compton), told undercover agents they would support the plant, but only if paid. Tucker has pleaded not guilty to charges he extorted $30,000 from undercover FBI agents and is scheduled for trial Sept. 5.