StormX
Banned
[h=2]Robert Rizzo and other city officials helped themselves to inflated salaries and bonus packages of some $800,000 and $1.5 million a year, respectively, in a small city of only 36,000 in Southern California. Rizzo previously pleaded no contest to 69 counts including conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds and falsification of public records.[/h]
The former city manager of Bell was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison and ordered to make restitution of $8.8 million in a corruption scheme that nearly bankrupted the small, blue-collar city.
Robert Rizzo apologized during sentencing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, telling Judge Kathleen Kennedy he breached the public’s confidence. “It is a good thing to hear that he is sorry, and I’ll take him at his word that he is sorry,” Kennedy said before addressing Rizzo directly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that, Mr. Rizzo, you did some very, very bad things for a very long time.” The judge pointedly dismissed suggestions that she might sentence him to as few as five years, and she referred to the famous quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” “That is the theme of what happened in Bell,” Kennedy said. “There were no checks and balances to control Mr. Rizzo and those that were in power in the city.” She said Rizzo and the other officials “gradually just chiseled away at any controls that anyone else would be able to assert.” Rizzo previously pleaded no contest to 69 counts including conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds and falsification of public records.
It was revealed in 2010 that Rizzo was giving himself an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 million in the city where a quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty line. His $800,000 in wages alone was double that of the president of the United States.
On Monday, Rizzo was sentenced separately to 33 months in federal prison for income tax evasion after he acknowledged reporting more than $700,000 in phony deductions to reduce tax liability on money authorities say he stole from Bell.
The sentence in the corruption case will run concurrently with the federal term. Rizzo will serve the first 33 months in federal prison then go to state prison. He will be on parole for three years after he serves his time. He was ordered to surrender by May 30. At the time of his plea in the corruption case, Rizzo had offered to help prosecutors convict his chief assistant, Angela Spaccia, who was later sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...uption-scheme-article-1.1758564#ixzz2z5S0NnHa
Another corrupt democrat goes to jail......
Robert Rizzo apologized during sentencing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, telling Judge Kathleen Kennedy he breached the public’s confidence. “It is a good thing to hear that he is sorry, and I’ll take him at his word that he is sorry,” Kennedy said before addressing Rizzo directly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that, Mr. Rizzo, you did some very, very bad things for a very long time.” The judge pointedly dismissed suggestions that she might sentence him to as few as five years, and she referred to the famous quote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” “That is the theme of what happened in Bell,” Kennedy said. “There were no checks and balances to control Mr. Rizzo and those that were in power in the city.” She said Rizzo and the other officials “gradually just chiseled away at any controls that anyone else would be able to assert.” Rizzo previously pleaded no contest to 69 counts including conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds and falsification of public records.
It was revealed in 2010 that Rizzo was giving himself an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 million in the city where a quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty line. His $800,000 in wages alone was double that of the president of the United States.
On Monday, Rizzo was sentenced separately to 33 months in federal prison for income tax evasion after he acknowledged reporting more than $700,000 in phony deductions to reduce tax liability on money authorities say he stole from Bell.
The sentence in the corruption case will run concurrently with the federal term. Rizzo will serve the first 33 months in federal prison then go to state prison. He will be on parole for three years after he serves his time. He was ordered to surrender by May 30. At the time of his plea in the corruption case, Rizzo had offered to help prosecutors convict his chief assistant, Angela Spaccia, who was later sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...uption-scheme-article-1.1758564#ixzz2z5S0NnHa
Another corrupt democrat goes to jail......