Conflict Alleged in Probe of Official

Bell Gardens’ defense attorneys say the political corruption case against City Manager Maria Chacon is marred by conflicts of interest because the district attorney’s top investigator was once an employee of Bell Gardens.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos wants the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office removed from the case because its chief of investigations, Steve Simonian, was a “vital cog” in the process leading to Chacon’s controversial hiring last year.

Prosecutors dismiss the allegations, saying they are just the latest claim meant to delay the case. Simonian, who was Bell Gardens’ assistant city manager for part of 2000, strongly denied accusations that he was a key player in Chacon’s hiring.

“I was not in a position to do that. . . . That is absolutely not true,” Simonian said. “[The defense attorneys] know it. I know it. And the court will know it.”

The allegations threaten to complicate the case against Chacon. The former City Council member stands accused of pressuring fellow members to appoint her city manager. If the district attorney’s office is disqualified, the case will be taken over by the state attorney general’s office.

Simonian was hired earlier this year by Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley to head the bureau of investigation. Simonian also is an elected official, serving as mayor of La Habra.

Simonian worked for Bell Gardens for most of 2000, first as interim police chief and assistant city manager and then as a part-time consultant. He worked on many city projects, including gaming and Police Department issues.

The extent to which Simonian was involved in the Chacon matter is unclear.

Anil Gandhy, Bell Gardens’ acting city manager, said that although Simonian did participate in several discussions about the possibility of the council naming Chacon city manager, he played no role in her appointment.

Prosecutors from the public integrity division contend that Simonian’s participation in meetings about Chacon does not pose a conflict of interest. They draw the analogy of a district attorney’s employee witnessing a crime on the street.

“Just because one person witnessed a robbery, it doesn’t mean that the entire [district attorney’s] office is precluded from prosecuting a case,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Wilson, the lead prosecutor on the Chacon case.

Wilson is part of the public integrity division of the district attorney’s office, a unit formed this year to root out political corruption.

But Geragos said that this case is unique because Simonian was not only a witness in Chacon’s case, but also a direct supervisor of the person assigned to investigate her appointment. As such, he said, the case “reeks of an irreparable conflict of interest.”