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Former Bell City Councilwoman Teresa Jacobo surrendered Monday to begin serving a two-year state prison term for misappropriating public funds through inflated salaries for sitting on city boards that rarely met.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy denied the defense’s request to allow Jacobo, 61, to remain free on bail or her own recognizance pending an appeal of her prison sentence.
Jacobo’s attorney, Leo J. Moriarty, told the judge the appeal was based on “the issue of disparity and lack of uniformity” with the sentences handed down to four other former council members who were also convicted of misappropriating public funds.
“I don’t think there’s much chance of prevailing on an appeal,” the judge said in refusing to stay Jacobo’s sentence.
Jacobo received the toughest sentence handed down to any of the five former City Council members.
She was convicted in March 2013, along with former council members George Mirabal and former Mayor Oscar Hernandez, of five counts 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.
The five pleaded no contest April 9 to two felony counts each of misappropriation of public funds in a plea deal — charges on which jurors had deadlocked — to resolve the case against them.
Jurors exonerated former Councilman Luis Artiga of all 12 charges against him.
In sentencing Jacobo on July 25, the judge noted Jacobo was in a different position than the other City Council members because of her background in real estate.
“She should have known more than the other defendants because of the experience she had in real property law,” Kennedy said.
Jacobo also was ordered to pay more than $242,000 in restitution.
Mirabal, 64,was the first of the five to be sentenced July 11, receiving one year in county jail, five years probation, 1,000 hours of community service and nearly $243,000 in restitution to the city. He surrendered July 25 to begin serving his jail term.
Cole, 64, was sentenced July 23 to 180 days of home confinement with electronic monitoring, along with 1,000 hours of community service, five years probation and more than $77,000 in restitution to the city. The judge went along with the defense’s request for no additional jail time for Cole, who was given credit for two days already served behind bars following his arrest.
Hernandez, 67, was sentenced July 31 to one year in county jail, five years probation and 1,000 hours of community service, along with being ordered to pay more than $241,000 in restitution.
Bello, 55, was sentenced Aug. 1 to one year in county jail, 500 hours of community service and ordered to pay more than $177,000 in restitution.
During the trial, prosecutors contended the council members were paid illegal salaries for sitting on four city boards that rarely met, with their salaries reaching $100,000 in a city that was 2 1/2 square miles and where the median household income was $35,000.
Defense attorneys countered that their clients were wrongly accused, saying they worked diligently for the city and earned their salaries.
Hernandez and Bello are each set to surrender Friday to begin serving their jail terms. Bello has already gotten credit for 340 days of jail time he spent behind bars following his arrest in 2010.
The five were charged in September 2010 along with former City Administrator Robert Rizzo and former Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia for what then-District Attorney Steve Cooley called “corruption on steroids.”
Rizzo pleaded no contest last October to all 69 charges against him and was sentenced April 17 to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution.
Spaccia was convicted last December of 11 felony counts, including misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest. Jurors acquitted her of one count of secretion of a public record involving former Bell Police Chief Randy Adams’ employment contract, and deadlocked on another count — misappropriation of public funds involving an alleged $75,500 loan of taxpayer money in 2003 — that was eventually dismissed.
Spaccia was sentenced in April to 11 years and eight months in state prison and was ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution. She is appealing her conviction.
—City News Service