Official, Wife Accused of Uprooting Political Signs

The district attorney’s office is reviewing claims that a Maywood council member and his wife uprooted political lawn signs advertising rival candidates, authorities said.

No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed, but Maywood police have recommended that misdemeanor vandalism charges be brought against Councilman Tomas Martin and his wife, Georgina, Maywood police Cmdr. Bruce Leflar said.

District attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said investigators were not conducting a formal investigation but are “reviewing the material provided to us by police.”

Tomas Martin on Wednesday denied that he and his wife were involved in tampering with political signs. He said they were driving around the evening of Jan. 14, at the time of the alleged incident, counting the number of his signs that had been torn down. He said the allegations were invented by people trying to unseat him.

“They try everything to win,” he said.

Police said three campaign workers for City Clerk Sam Pena, who is running for council, told investigators they noticed that night that Pena’s lawn signs were being knocked down.

The three staked out a house that had a lawn sign supporting Pena and his running mates. They told detectives they saw Tomas and Georgina Martin pull up around 11:45 p.m. and watched the councilman’s wife knock down the sign while her husband remained in the car, police said.

Seven candidates are running for two council seats--now held by Martin and Elvira Moreno de Guzman--that are being contested in the March 2 election.