'Corruption on steroids': Calif. city's mayor, officials arrested

LOS ANGELES — The mayor, former city manager and six other current and former officials of the suburban city of Bell were arrested Tuesday on charges of looting public money in what a prosecutor called a "feeding frenzy of corruption."

They were charged with multiple counts of misappropriating more than $5.5 million, including making illegal personal loans with city money and taking pay for attending phantom committee meetings.  

"Corruption on steroids" is how Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley described the case after an early morning sweep by police took all eight into custody.  

Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez, 63, was arrested at his home after police used a battering ram. Robert Rizzo, 56, who resigned as city manager in July following disclosures by the Los Angeles Times that he was being paid nearly $800,000 annually, was arrested at his luxury Huntington Beach home. 

Rizzo faces 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest, Cooley said. He faces arraignment today, and prosecutors were seeking to have bail set at $3.2 million.  

Cooley alleged that Rizzo wrote his own employment contracts that were never approved by the City Council. He said the charges also allege that Rizzo gave nearly $1.9 million in unauthorized loans to himself and others.  

Also arrested were former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, 52; Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, 52; council members George Mirabal, 60, and Luis Artiga, 49; and former council members George Cole, 60, and Victor Bello, 51. Bell's city elections are non-partisan.  

The district attorney said records show that between 2006 and this year, council members were paid nearly $8,000 a month for meetings on four boards that never took place or lasted just a few minutes, in violation of state law. The pay totaled a combined $1.25 million, prosecutors charged. 

Bell, a city of 40,000 people, was paying its officials far more than those of other cities, small or large, in the state. Last week, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a suit accusing Bell officials of defrauding taxpayers by granting salaries higher than warranted.