Riverside County Supervisors Focus of FBI Bribery Probe

FBI agents have filed subpoenas for the personal and office records of three members of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in a political corruption probe of Torrance-based Western Waste Industries, it was learned Friday.

The subpoenas were served earlier this week on Supervisors Bob Buster, Kay Ceniceros and Roy Wilson, as well as members of their staffs, according to county government sources.

Ceniceros said she was “more than happy to cooperate” with the FBI and had nothing to hide. Buster would neither confirm nor deny receiving a subpoena. Efforts to reach Wilson were unsuccessful.

Western Waste, the largest garbage hauler in Southern California, has been lobbying the board for permission to expand the capacity of its El Sobrante landfill near Corona from eight-million to 108-million tons, a increase of 1,350%.

Buster and Ceniceros have been the strongest supporters of the expansion, while Wilson has said he is undecided.

The remaining two supervisors, John Tavaglione and Tom Mullen, have strongly opposed the expansion. They were not served with subpoenas. Their opposition has been based largely on recent court testimony that Western Waste made bribe payments to former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore and to a Louisiana state legislator.

Moore, who was convicted of extortion this month in Los Angeles federal court, had previously confessed to receiving $500 to $1,000 a month from a Western Waste vice president while serving on the Compton City Council.

She also disclosed that Western Waste’s chairman, Kosti Shirvanian, and Shirvanian’s sister, Savey Tufenkian, were aware of the payoffs, according to a federal agent who testified at her trial.

In the Louisiana case, a onetime Western Waste vice president, Vernon Hizel, confessed to helping arrange a $150,000 payoff to state Rep. Michael Russo, who was helping the company obtain permits to open a landfill near Baton Rouge. Hizel received a fine and probation after cooperating with the FBI.

Aside from Hizel, neither Western Waste nor any of its executives were charged in either case, and officials have denied any wrongdoing.

In recent weeks, however, the FBI has reactivated an investigation of Western Waste, with particular emphasis on its activities in Riverside County.

“Given the allegations that were made in Compton, I think it’s very appropriate for the FBI to look at all actions that involve Western Waste to either confirm or eliminate their concern over the company’s behavior,” Ceniceros said.

The Board of Supervisors approved the landfill expansion last spring on a 4-1 vote, with Tavaglione the lone opponent. But after the corruption allegations surfaced, Wilson switched sides and the board agreed to postpone final action until Oct. 29.

In light of the probe, Ceniceros said she now doubted that the proposal would be approved on that date.