Ex-Water Official Is Sentenced for Corruption

An influential politician was sentenced to 41 months in prison for bribery and fraud Monday, becoming the 12th person to be convicted in a wide-ranging federal investigation of corruption in the city of Carson.

R. Keith McDonald, son of Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) and once president of the West Basin Municipal Water District board, asked for leniency. Most of the charges he faced had to do with his role at West Basin, which provides water to a number of cities across Los Angeles County from Malibu to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and east to Carson.

“Take the measure of my 41 years, not that of a brief trial that I believe shed no light on my values and core principles,” McDonald said through tears in a Santa Ana courtroom.

U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler said a shorter sentence would be “unjust” for a crime involving “a betrayal of the public trust.”

“It would not be reflective of the seriousness of this offense,” Stotler said.

In a letter to Stotler, Millender-McDonald wrote that her son was in an “unfortunate situation” and deserved leniency. “Keith is confronted with many challenges right now,” she wrote.

Neither McDonald nor his mother answered questions after the hourlong hearing. Eight other family members accompanied McDonald to court, and Stotler received at least 20 letters on his behalf from officials, including Carson City Manager Jerome G. Groomes.

McDonald was convicted in October of taking $30,000 in kickbacks in exchange for the award of a multimillion-dollar pipeline contract. The jury also found that he funneled $15,000 in kickbacks to three members of the Carson City Council in exchange for their votes on a municipal bus contract.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Kevin Smith scoffed at McDonald’s characterization of himself.

“The defendant should have known better,” Smith told Stotler. “The defendant would like to set himself out as a role model for the community, but you can’t do that when you’re lining your pockets at the cost of the public trust.

“It definitely sends a message in the Southland that we will not tolerate public corruption,” said Smith. “It will be punished.”

McDonald, 41, is a former professional football player turned venture capitalist. His mother, the congresswoman, who attended the trial in Santa Ana federal court, was not implicated in the corruption case.

Former Carson Mayors Daryl Sweeney and Pete Fajardo and former Councilman Manny Ontal testified that McDonald gave them envelopes stuffed with $5,000 in cash in exchange for their votes to renew a municipal bus service contract with Transportation Concepts Inc. of Irvine.

Most of the charges against McDonald revolved around his activities as president of the West Basin board. The water district serves 17 communities, including the South Bay beach cities, the Palos Verdes Peninsula cities, Carson, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Gardena, Malibu, Culver City, West Hollywood, Ladera Heights, Lennox and Inglewood.

Jurors also found that McDonald demanded a $50,000 contribution to his unsuccessful state Assembly campaign from a political consulting firm that represented the district.

Stotler’s sentence was 10 months shorter than prosecutors’ recommendation but substantially longer than the defense’s 20-month request.

McDonald will probably serve his sentence at the federal prison in Lompoc. He was ordered to surrender to the prison or the U.S. marshal’s office by noon April 8. Stotler denied his request to start his sentence after June 10 so that he could help his 9-year-old son Miles complete his fourth-grade year.

John Potter, McDonald’s attorney, said he would appeal.