{"id":25627,"date":"2016-07-28T19:36:45","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T02:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=25627"},"modified":"2016-07-30T11:48:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:48:22","slug":"el-monte-mayor-admits-accepting-bribes-contractor-business-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=25627","title":{"rendered":"El Monte Mayor Admits Accepting Bribes from Contractor Doing Business with City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"LosThe Mayor of South El Monte was charged with bribery for accepting money from a contractor doing business with the city, as well as accepting a bribe during an FBI undercover operation, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Luis Aguinaga<\/strong>, 48, of South El Monte, plead guilty Thursday to one count of bribery.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a plea agreement filed today in U.S. District Court, Aguinaga admitted that, from 2005 to September 2012, he took bribes from a contractor doing work for the City of South El Monte.<\/span><\/p>\n

The payments were rewards in connection with the approval of city contracts for the contractor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The plea agreement describes a Sept. 12, 2012 meeting monitored by the FBI where Aguinaga accepted a bribe:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant was nervous about meeting with CW because Cudahy city officials, including the Mayor, had recently been arrested and charged with accepting bribes. While defendant was speaking with CW, defendant showed CW his cell phone on which he had written \u2018don\u2019t talk\u2019 or \u2018don\u2019t saying anything,\u2019 and defendant asked CW several times to accompany him to the bathroom. Once they went to the bathroom, CW left an envelope with $2,000 cash on the counter near the sink. Defendant took the envelope containing the money and kept at least $1,000 for himself.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aguinaga admitted receiving at least $45,000 from the contractor, according to the evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contractor \u2013 identified in the court documents as a confidential witness, or CW \u2013 made payments to Aguinaga approximately every two to three weeks, shortly after the contractor was paid by the City of South El Monte, according to the plea agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the contractor failed to pay Aguinaga within a few days of being paid by the City, Aguinaga would call and ask for his payment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bribe amounts were initially $500, and later they increased to $1,000. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the plea agreement, the contractor made the bribe payments by placing cash in envelopes that were left in a bathroom at the South El Monte City Hall or were left inside the passenger side pocket of a car.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis long-running corruption scheme compromised the effective governance of South El Monte,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. \u201cCorruption like Mr. Aguinaga\u2019s is a threat to government institutions and undermines the public\u2019s trust in all government officials.\u00a0 The residents of South El Monte deserve better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Aguinaga abdicated his civic duty when he made decisions for the city based on bribes he demanded, instead of for the good of the people he was elected to serve,\u201d said Deirdre Fike, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. \u201cThe FBI will not tolerate corruption by city officials, nor should the residents of South El Monte.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aguinaga will be arraignment in federal court on Aug. 10. He is facing up to 10 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0LOS ANGELES The Mayor of South El Monte was charged with bribery for accepting money from a contractor doing business with the city, as well as accepting a bribe during an FBI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[307,2909,2910],"class_list":["post-25627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-bribery","tag-luis-aguinaga","tag-mayor-south-el-monte"],"yoast_head":"\nMayor Admits Taking Bribes from Contractor Working for City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The mayor of South El Monte plead guilty to taking bribes from a contractor who was doing business with the city. 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