Ex-Official in Compton Is Indicted : Law: Federal grand jury charges former Councilwoman Patricia Moore with 23 counts of accepting bribes worth $62,000. She earlier reversed guilty plea on extortion allegations.

Former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly accepting more than $62,000 in bribes from two companies seeking her political help to do business in the city.

Moore, who gained national prominence as an outspoken advocate of African American issues, was charged with 23 counts of extortion and two more of failing to file income tax returns.

The indictments were yet another turn in the case against Moore, who first pleaded guilty to one extortion charge late last year, then changed that plea to innocent in April, saying she wanted to clear her name.

Moore is charged with 23 violations of the Hobbs Act, which makes it illegal for public officials to extort payments in exchange for official action, such as a council vote. The indictment alleges that Moore, while serving on the Compton council in 1991 and 1992, extorted money from two companies with business pending before the council.

One company, Compton Energy Systems, was seeking approval to build a waste-to-energy facility. The other, Compton Entertainment Inc., was seeking a license to operate a card club.

The indictment alleges that Moore extorted $50,100 from the waste facility representative and $12,334 from the entertainment company.

The indictments are part of a federal probe of corruption in Compton city government. Also indicted in the investigation was U. S. Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, who was mayor of Compton when he allegedly extorted $37,500 from two waste disposal companies. He also is accused of attempting to extort $250,000 from Compton Energy Systems in 1991 in exchange for backing the company’s project.

Neither Moore nor her lawyer, Ollie Manago, could be reached for comment. Both were in Washington as part of their efforts to show that the former councilwoman was set up by federal authorities conducting the investigation, according to sources. A man answered the phone at Moore’s home and said she would not be available for comment until Tuesday.

Moore firstpleaded guilty to extorting $9,100 from the waste-to-energy company and failing to file her 1992 federal tax return. Then, saying that she wanted to “tell her story and clear her name,” Moore withdrew her guilty plea.

As part of the original plea bargain, Manago said Moore had agreed to be a key witness for the prosecution against Tucker. Later, Manago said the stress of being regarded as a “traitor” to the popular congressman played a role in withdrawing her guilty plea. She also said federal officials lied to her and “threatened to lock me up and throw away the key.”

In an interview in April, Manago said Moore had received numerous death threats from people who believed “that Pat had sold Tucker out in order to save herself.”

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Prosecutors said they have hundreds of hours of videotape and audiotape that show Moore extorting $50,100 from representatives of the waste-to-energy company on 20 separate occasions in 1991 and 1992. According to the indictment, Moore accepted her first cash payment of $3,000 from the waste disposal company in early October, 1991. During the next 11 months, she received 19 cash payments ranging from $350 to $10,000, the indictment said.

The indictment listed the dates of the 20 alleged payments. In several instances, the payments were only days apart. Two final payments of $10,000 and $5,000 allegedly were given to Moore in July and September of 1992.

When she originally pleaded guilty to the single extortion charge, prosecutors had shown Moore a videotape of her receiving a white envelope in November, 1991, from a man she thought was a financier trying to build a $200-million solid waste incinerator, according to sources. The so-called financier was an FBI agent.

When asked about the tape and her guilty plea, she replied she could not “be sure about its authenticity.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. John M. Potter said Thursday that federal authorities obtained a confession from Moore before she pleaded guilty in which she acknowledged taking money from the waste company. Later, she said it was money owed to her by the firm’s representative.

The maximum sentence for violating the Hobbs Act is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. The willful failure to file a tax return is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $25,000.

Moore is charged with failing to file tax returns in 1992 and 1993. Those two returns would have covered the years in which she allegedly extorted the money. The indictment states that Moore’s gross income was $52,470 in 1991 and $55,680 in 1992.