Monrovia Mayor Resigns as Rialto Development Director

Monrovia Mayor Robert T. Bartlett, facing charges that he beat and kidnapped his former girlfriend, has quit his job as the city of Rialto’s director of economic development and redevelopment.

Bartlett, 60, was suspended from the job May 1 after Rialto’s city administrator learned of the charges.

City Administrator Walter Kane said Friday that Bartlett late last month submitted a written resignation, which is effective Aug. 19.

“He resigned for personal reasons,” Kane said. “I talked to him beforehand. . . . I had suspended him and he decided to resign.”

Kane declined to disclose whether he had discovered anything to prompt Bartlett’s departure after four years with the San Bernardino County city.

Bartlett, known as “Mr. Monrovia,” could not be reached for comment Friday.

Monrovia officials said Bartlett has given no indication that he plans to step down from elected office. “He’s still the mayor,” said Councilman Rob Hammond.

According to city officials, Bartlett was just in Washington lobbying federal officials and was recently reelected president of Foothill Transit, which oversees bus service throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

Bartlett faces felony charges for allegedly abducting Monica Godfrey--who was seven months pregnant--from a San Bernardino home, physically abusing her and threatening to throw her from a bridge. Godfrey, 35, had bruises on her arm and swelling on her face consistent with being struck by someone after the mid-April incident, police said.

Bartlett was released on bail after pleading not guilty to felony counts of making terrorist threats, battery of a cohabitant and false imprisonment. He is scheduled to appear in court June 20.

Bartlett has maintained his innocence since his arrest, saying that all the allegations are part of an extortion plot. On April 20, he filed a report with Monrovia police accusing Godfrey of forgery and grand theft. The Monrovia police referred the matter to the district attorney’s office for investigation.

Godfrey, the mother of Bartlett’s 4-year-old son, made allegations of domestic abuse against the mayor last year while obtaining a restraining order. In August, San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Bobby Vincent approved a three-year restraining order against Bartlett on the basis of Godfrey’s allegations that on July 12 the mayor physically abused her and their son.

In early May, the San Bernardino district attorney’s office ordered Bartlett to pay $2,123 in child support for their son and the child Godfrey is expecting. That child support was based on Bartlett’s Rialto salary of more than $80,000 a year.