Beaumont city councilman pleads guilty to seeking bribes and falsifying rival’s campaign documents
A Beaumont city councilman pleaded guilty Thursday to perjury and bribery for crimes he committed while in office, Riverside County prosecutors said.
Mark Orozco, 40, faces six months of home confinement and three years of formal probation for soliciting a bribe from a local property developer and ordering a subordinate to falsify campaign documents tied to a council rival.
He also faces $10,000 in fines, a lifetime ban from public office and must resign his council seat when he’s expected to be sentenced Oct. 24, authorities said.
Orozco was elected to the council in November 2014.
According to prosecutors, in January 2016 the City Council was considering the appointment of a new member after the death of Councilman Jeff Fox. That appointee was going to be in position to cast the deciding vote on a development proposed by Pardee Homes, prosecutors said.
Orozco allegedly told Pardee Homes officials that, in exchange for $15,000, he would support the council appointee who supported their project. Instead of paying Orozco the money, however, Pardee Homes officials went to authorities.
Orozco’s perjury conviction stems from actions he took last year after the election, when he improperly had control over a local political action committee.
Prosecutors said that when Councilwoman Nancy Carroll voted to seat Lloyd White — not Orozco — as Beaumont’s mayor, he retaliated through the PAC. Orozco ordered the PAC’s treasurer to change the category of entries listed for Carroll’s campaign from expenditures to contributions, which have a stricter reporting requirement under state law.
After the changes were made, rumors swirled that Carroll had lied on her campaign disclosure forms, which triggered an investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission.
She was eventually cleared.
Prosecutors said the charges against Orozco were unrelated to a pending criminal case involving seven former top Beaumont city officials accused of an elaborate scam involving the sale of municipal bonds for projects handled by companies in which they had financial interests. Prosecutors also alleged that officials secured interest-free loans for friends and colleagues with taxpayer money.
That scheme dates back more than two decades and cost taxpayers nearly $43 million, according to the district attorney’s office.
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