Former Bell Top Brass Robert Rizzo Gets 12-Year Sentence

Former Bell chief administrative officer Robert Rizzo was sentenced today to 12 years in state prison after pleading no contest in October to all 69 counts brought against him in a massive public corruption probe that also resulted in the convictions of six other former city leaders.

"I did breach the public confidence," Rizzo told the court before sentencing. "I am very, very sorry and I apologize for that."

Bell City Councilwoman Violetta Alvarez said she was unmoved by the apology and urged  L.A. County Superior Court Judge Kathleen G. Kennedy to hand down the maximum possible sentence. The judge appeared to be of a similar mind.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," she said in sentencing. "That is the theme of what happened in Bell."

Kennedy said  that no one among the corrupt officials "wanted to upset the apple cart because they were paid so well."

"Mr. Rizzo, you did a lot of very bad things for a very long time," she said. He was ordered to surrender on May 30.

Rizzo was also sentenced Monday to two years and nine months in federal prison for tax fraud in connection with the corruption in Bell.

Rizzo, who had a total compensation package of roughly $1.5 million when he retired in 2010, also will have to pay restitution to his former employer as a result of the state case and will go on parole after his term ends.

Less than a week before jury selection was set to begin in his trial, Rizzo pleaded no contest Oct. 3 to 46 counts of misappropriation of public funds, six counts each of conflict of interest, perjury by declaration and falsification of public records by an official custodian, along with two counts each of falsification of an official record and secretion of an official record and one count of conspiracy to misappropriate public funds.

Jurors wound up hearing the case against former Bell assistant city administrator Angela Spaccia, who had been set to be tried along with Rizzo. She was convicted last December of  11 counts, including misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest, and was sentenced last week to 11 years and eight months in state prison. She was also ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution to the city.

Meanwhile, five former Bell city council members are awaiting sentencing at hearings in June and July on charges that they misappropriated public funds by accepting inflated salaries for sitting on city boards that the prosecution contended rarely met.

Former Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez and former council members Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal were each convicted March 20, 2013, of five counts of misappropriation of public funds and acquitted of five others. Former Councilman George Cole was convicted of two counts and acquitted of two others, while former Councilman Victor Bello was convicted of four counts and acquitted of four others.

Jurors deadlocked on a handful of counts against the five, with the prosecution announcing last May that it intended to retry those charges. Kennedy had urged both sides to try to work out a deal, eliminating the need for a retrial and bringing the Bell corruption saga closer to an end.

At a hearing last week, the five pleaded no contest to two felony counts each of misappropriation of public funds. It will be up to the judge to determine what sentences the five will actually face, with the minimum term being probation and the maximum being a four-year "lid" that will include the crimes on which they were convicted at trial.

The five are also expected to be ordered to pay restitution.

Anthony Taylor, an attorney for the city of Bell, said the restitution amount could total nearly $1 million, noting that restitution has been calculated "to the penny" for each of the defendants.

--City News Service