"I got so excited that, oh my God, I couldn't breathe," said Violeta Alvarez, who as lived in Bell for 31 years. "I'm excited. I'm happy. I have tears of joy in my eyes." Another woman, Christina Garcia, said the wheels of justice have been turning too slowly. "From day one, we've been asking, 'Why aren't these individuals in jail?'" Garcia said. "I think today everyone's feeling vindicated for everything they've been doing." The officials were being arraigned Wednesday on 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. Prosecutors were seeking to have bail set at $3.2 million. Rizzo, who was making nearly $800,000 a year, was booked on 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest. Messages left at his home and with his attorney were not returned. 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. Spaccia was making $376,288, and four of the five City Council members were paying themselves nearly $100,000 a year. Bell's city elections are non-partisan. Bell's interim chief administrative officer Pedro Carrillo said the arrests marked a sad day for the city. "It's clear that Rizzo and Spaccia were at the root of the cancer that has afflicted the city," he said. 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 suit accusing Bell officials of defrauding taxpayers by granting salaries higher than warranted. Contributing: William M. Welch in Los Angeles; the Associated Press You might also be interested in:
The mayor and ex-city manager of the Los Angeles suburb of Bell were among eight current and former city officials arrested Tuesday in a corruption scandal that authorities said cost the city more than $5 million.Corruption charges bring cheers, tears in California suburb 
EnlargeBy Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, right, said Monday that the eight officials, who included the former mayor and former city manager, misappropriated more than $5.5 million in public funds for excessive salaries and illegal personal loans.
LOS ANGELES — Corruption charges brought against the mayor and seven other
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
current or former officials in the suburban city of Bell were met with honking horns,
cheers and tears of joy by area residents who have been following for weeks the
stories claiming misused millions.From staff and wire reports
IN BELL, CALIF.: City leaders' pay sparks outcry
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