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Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arellano: In this city, politics feels like Wrestlemania. Who should we cheer?
In the eternal spinning wheel that's political scandal in southeast L.A. County, the ticker is now on Huntington Park — and it looks like it'll be stuck there for a while. The blue-collar, overwhelmingly Latino city faces a lawsuit by former Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo, who alleges she was illegally removed in February in the wake of an investigation that determined Castillo didn't live within city limits and was thus ineligible to serve. Mayor Arturo Flores is battling a recall by opponents who claim on social media he's a 'reckless alcoholic' and abuses women while offering no evidence to back up the scurrilous claims. His predecessor, Councilmember Karina Macias, woke up on Feb. 26 to the sound of L.A. County district attorney's office investigators outside her apartment with a search warrant as part of Operation Dirty Pond. That's an investigation into a proposed $25-million aquatics center for Salt Lake Park that was first announced in 2019 but so far has nothing to show except half a football field and a fenced-off field of dirt and dying grass. Also served were Councilmember Eddie Martinez, two former council members and City Manager Ricardo Reyes and even Huntington Park City Hall, which saw yellow caution tape block off the front entrance as investigators carried out evidence. Then there's longtime City Atty. Arnold Alvarez-Glasman, who resigned during a special council meeting in early March just two days after the Operation Dirty Pond raids. He claimed that Flores and his council allies had made his job 'unreasonably difficult.' Is it any wonder that City Council meetings nowadays easily dissolve into even more municipal desmadre? Read more: 'It's a tale as old as time': Huntington Park residents lambaste leaders over corruption probe While malfeasance in politics happens in all parts of Southern California, the level of skulduggery, and sometimes outright thievery, by council members in southeast L.A. County cities over the past three decades has made this area's politics infamous. There was South Gate, where former Mayor and Treasurer Albert Robles was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2006 on corruption charges and an elderly council member survived a gunshot wound to the head in a case that was never solved. Bell, where five former council members and two city staffers were convicted in the mid-2010s of fleecing residents for decades. It's local politics as Wrestlemania. Huntington Park was supposed to be different, a city where a new generation of politicians who helped to take out the previous baddies repeatedly reassured the public they would break the corruption cycle. That's what they told me last year, when I did a series on the history of Latino politics in Los Angeles. Well, here we are. At the April 7 meeting, Flores bragged that he wore Macias' vote against him to succeed her as mayor 'like a badge of honor because I definitely do not want [her] support,' which the audience reacted to with groans and mutters of 'Oh, God.' A few weeks later, as Nancy Martiz was being sworn in to fill Castillo's former seat Macias focused on her cellphone like someone waiting for an Uber ride. 'Your background is just corruption,' Rudy Cruz told the council at the April 7 meeting during the public comments section. 'It's like oysters to a rock. It's hard to get them off.' Afterward, I asked him if he thought Flores' ascension represented a fresh start for Huntington Park. The 48-year resident laughed. 'There's others, waiting like vultures for an animal to die," Cruz replied. "Here [in Huntington Park], the immoral becomes moral, the illegal becomes legal.' I interviewed Flores and Macias at the site of their choice to size them up and decide who came off as truthful and who was full of it. The loquacious Flores, a self-admitted 'peleonero' — a fighter — who's serving his first full term, showed up to Salt Lake Park in a Carhartt jacket embroidered with the city seal and his name. Macias, calm and dressed in a modest black blouse and jeans, picked a Mexican ice cream shop where she slowly enjoyed a scoop of rocky road inside a waffle cone. Both are children of Mexican immigrants who grew up in blue-collar neighborhoods — Flores in South L.A., Macias in Huntington Park. They have worked in jobs that require selflessness and attention to detail — Flores was a Marine bomb dog trainer with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, while Macias became a full-time caretaker for her parents. They were former political allies who previously worked on political campaigns for Efren Martinez, the southeast L.A. County power broker who lost an Assembly race last year and whose residence and consulting business were also searched as part of Operation Dirty Pond. 'This is the Karina Macias legacy, you know?' the 36-year-old Flores told me as we walked around Salt Lake Park. People jogged around the fenced-off lot, which was once a skating park. 'It's a failed pool project riddled with inconsistencies, riddled with questionable acts and questions of legality and incompetence.' "They're [Flores and his allies] putting a gray, dark cloud on something that can change the lives of the community," Macias, 38, replied when I shared his thoughts. She has sat on the City Council since 2013. 'There was no wrongdoing or things being hidden or money misspent or being stolen. What he's saying, there's nothing of that, you know?' Both used 'You know?' a lot in our conversations, like any typical Latino Angeleno. Both claim the 'community' is behind them and welcomed any and all scrutiny. 'I'm not panicking, you know what I'm saying?' the 36-year-old Flores boasted. 'I'm cool like a cucumber.' 'If you don't have enemies, then you're not pushing the buttons or trying to do good for the community,' Macias, 38, offered with a hint of pride. Read more: Huntington Park was promised a $24-million pool complex. It was never built. Where did the money go? This isn't her first brush with scandal. In 2017, the D.A. investigated and ultimately cleared her for raising money for an Efren Martinez Assembly campaign from companies that sought to do business with Huntington Park. This time around, Macias presented me with a folder of documents that included a timeline of the Salt Lake Park aquatic center complete with all the council votes in its favor, including a 2023 motion that gave Huntington Park's city manager the authority to execute all contracts associated with the project. Among the yes votes then? Flores. 'The mayor decided just to make something out of nothing because he's known about the project since the time that he started,' Macias said matter-of-factly. Later on, as we walked down Pacific Avenue and she handed me her business card, she noticed it was out of date. 'It still says mayor,' Macias said, a small smile on her face. 'Don't tell the mayor.' Flores handed me no documents, but something perhaps more powerful: a confessional. After working in L.A. County politics for a decade, including serving as a body man for Antonio Villaraigosa during his failed gubernatorial campaign, Flores moved to Huntington Park in 2018. 'I'm not going to say there wasn't a political ambition there,' he admitted. He helped on the successful 2020 City Council campaigns for Eddie Martinez, Graciela Ortiz, and Marilyn Sanabria; the latter two also saw their residences searched as part of Operation Dirty Pond. Flores said they and Macias initially sold him on the Salt Lake Park pool project. 'I felt inspired. I thought it was a beautiful thing," he said. "I'm like, 'This is what we need. Latinos need this.' Why can't we have nice things in our communities, right?' They told him that criticism by watchdogs were just 'los haters.' But Flores said his perspective changed once he was appointed to the City Council in 2022 and he went to City Hall during a rainstorm. 'The staff had 30-gallon trash cans filled up with water. There's mold on the walls. The roofs are leaking. I went to the city manager's office and I said, 'Hey, like, you know, excuse my French, but what the f—'s going on here?'' The subsequent fire hose of allegations he unleashed during our hourlong chat seemed haphazard compared to Macias' measured responses. Humblebrags by Flores like 'Every time that they've tried to maneuver against me, they're met with an insurmountable reaction because I've already anticipated that that's their tactics' sounded like the words of someone asking to be hoisted by their proverbial petard. But Macias did herself no favors when she insisted Efren Martinez had 'zero involvement with' the Salt Lake Park pool project. One of the clients he listed on campaign disclosure forms for his failed 2020 Assembly race was the construction company whose owners saw their residence searched for Operation Dirty Pond as well. Flores and Macias were both pleasant unless the subject was each other. They struck me as earnest about improving Huntington Park and confident they're innocent of what opponents claim about them. But one of them has to be wrong, right? As a tiebreaker, I called up former Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, who entered politics a quarter century ago to help cleanse his hometown of South Gate. He's now executive director of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, which advocates for 27 cities stretching from Montebello to Long Beach to Cerritos and all the southeast L.A. County cities, and has worked with Flores and Macias in that capacity. De La Torre praised both of them for their 'dedication' to better Huntington Park, and urged they let Operation Dirty Pond investigators do their job. But in a wearied tone, he told me 'in SELA, sometimes it isn't about someone getting rid of corruption and cleaning up the city." (SELA is the nickname for southeast L.A. County.) 'Sometimes, it's two different factions, both as shady as the other," he said. "And the swings are not from corruption to good government; they're from one type of corruption to the other.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
In this city, politics feels like Wrestlemania. Who should we cheer?
In the eternal spinning wheel that's political scandal in southeast L.A. County, the ticker is now on Huntington Park — and it looks like it'll be stuck there for a while. The blue-collar, overwhelmingly Latino city faces a lawsuit by former Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo, who alleges she was illegally removed in February in the wake of an investigation that determined Castillo didn't live within city limits and was thus ineligible to serve. Mayor Arturo Flores is battling a recall by opponents who claim on social media he's a 'reckless alcoholic' and abuses women while offering no evidence to back up the scurrilous claims. His predecessor, Councilmember Karina Macias, woke up on Feb. 26 to the sound of L.A. County district attorney's office investigators outside her apartment with a search warrant as part of Operation Dirty Pond. That's an investigation into a proposed $25-million aquatics center for Salt Lake Park that was first announced in 2019 but so far has nothing to show except half a football field and a fenced-off field of dirt and dying grass. Also served were Councilmember Eddie Martinez, two former council members and City Manager Ricardo Reyes and even Huntington Park City Hall, which saw yellow caution tape block off the front entrance as investigators carried out evidence. Then there's longtime City Atty. Arnold Alvarez-Glasman, who resigned during a special council meeting in early March just two days after the Operation Dirty Pond raids. He claimed that Flores and his council allies had made his job 'unreasonably difficult.' Is it any wonder that City Council meetings nowadays easily dissolve into even more municipal desmadre? While malfeasance in politics happens in all parts of Southern California, the level of skulduggery, and sometimes outright thievery, by council members in southeast L.A. County cities over the past three decades has made this area's politics infamous. There was South Gate, where former Mayor and Treasurer Albert Robles was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2006 on corruption charges and an elderly council member survived a gunshot wound to the head in a case that was never solved. Bell, where five former council members and two city staffers were convicted in the mid-2010s of fleecing residents for decades. It's local politics as Wrestlemania. Huntington Park was supposed to be different, a city where a new generation of politicians who helped to take out the previous baddies repeatedly reassured the public they would break the corruption cycle. That's what they told me last year, when I did a series on the history of Latino politics in Los Angeles. Well, here we are. At the April 7 meeting, Flores bragged that he wore Macias' vote against him to succeed her as mayor 'like a badge of honor because I definitely do not want [her] support,' which the audience reacted to with groans and mutters of 'Oh, God.' A few weeks later, as Nancy Martiz was being sworn in to fill Castillo's former seat Macias focused on her cellphone like someone waiting for an Uber ride. 'Your background is just corruption,' Rudy Cruz told the council at the April 7 meeting during the public comments section. 'It's like oysters to a rock. It's hard to get them off.' Afterward, I asked him if he thought Flores' ascension represented a fresh start for Huntington Park. The 48-year resident laughed. 'There's others, waiting like vultures for an animal to die,' Cruz replied. 'Here [in Huntington Park], the immoral becomes moral, the illegal becomes legal.' I interviewed Flores and Macias at the site of their choice to size them up and decide who came off as truthful and who was full of it. The loquacious Flores, a self-admitted 'peleonero' — a fighter — who's serving his first full term, showed up to Salt Lake Park in a Carhartt jacket embroidered with the city seal and his name. Macias, calm and dressed in a modest black blouse and jeans, picked a Mexican ice cream shop where she slowly enjoyed a scoop of rocky road inside a waffle cone. Both are children of Mexican immigrants who grew up in blue-collar neighborhoods — Flores in South L.A., Macias in Huntington Park. They have worked in jobs that require selflessness and attention to detail — Flores was a Marine bomb dog trainer with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, while Macias became a full-time caretaker for her parents. They were former political allies who previously worked on political campaigns for Efren Martinez, the southeast L.A. County power broker who lost an Assembly race last year and whose residence and consulting business were also searched as part of Operation Dirty Pond. 'This is the Karina Macias legacy, you know?' the 36-year-old Flores told me as we walked around Salt Lake Park. People jogged around the fenced-off lot, which was once a skating park. 'It's a failed pool project riddled with inconsistencies, riddled with questionable acts and questions of legality and incompetence.' 'They're [Flores and his allies] putting a gray, dark cloud on something that can change the lives of the community,' Macias, 38, replied when I shared his thoughts. She has sat on the City Council since 2013. 'There was no wrongdoing or things being hidden or money misspent or being stolen. What he's saying, there's nothing of that, you know?' Both used 'You know?' a lot in our conversations, like any typical Latino Angeleno. Both claim the 'community' is behind them and welcomed any and all scrutiny. 'I'm not panicking, you know what I'm saying?' the 36-year-old Flores boasted. 'I'm cool like a cucumber.' 'If you don't have enemies, then you're not pushing the buttons or trying to do good for the community,' Macias, 38, offered with a hint of pride. This isn't her first brush with scandal. In 2017, the D.A. investigated and ultimately cleared her for raising money for an Efren Martinez Assembly campaign from companies that sought to do business with Huntington Park. This time around, Macias presented me with a folder of documents that included a timeline of the Salt Lake Park aquatic center complete with all the council votes in its favor, including a 2023 motion that gave Huntington Park's city manager the authority to execute all contracts associated with the project. Among the yes votes then? Flores. 'The mayor decided just to make something out of nothing because he's known about the project since the time that he started,' Macias said matter-of-factly. Later on, as we walked down Pacific Avenue and she handed me her business card, she noticed it was out of date. 'It still says mayor,' Macias said, a small smile on her face. 'Don't tell the mayor.' Flores handed me no documents, but something perhaps more powerful: a confessional. After working in L.A. County politics for a decade, including serving as a body man for Antonio Villaraigosa during his failed gubernatorial campaign, Flores moved to Huntington Park in 2018. 'I'm not going to say there wasn't a political ambition there,' he admitted. He helped on the successful 2020 City Council campaigns for Eddie Martinez, Graciela Ortiz, and Marilyn Sanabria; the latter two also saw their residences searched as part of Operation Dirty Pond. Flores said they and Macias initially sold him on the Salt Lake Park pool project. 'I felt inspired. I thought it was a beautiful thing,' he said. 'I'm like, 'This is what we need. Latinos need this.' Why can't we have nice things in our communities, right?' They told him that criticism by watchdogs were just 'los haters.' But Flores said his perspective changed once he was appointed to the City Council in 2022 and he went to City Hall during a rainstorm. 'The staff had 30-gallon trash cans filled up with water. There's mold on the walls. The roofs are leaking. I went to the city manager's office and I said, 'Hey, like, you know, excuse my French, but what the f—'s going on here?'' The subsequent fire hose of allegations he unleashed during our hourlong chat seemed haphazard compared to Macias' measured responses. Humblebrags by Flores like 'Every time that they've tried to maneuver against me, they're met with an insurmountable reaction because I've already anticipated that that's their tactics' sounded like the words of someone asking to be hoisted by their proverbial petard. But Macias did herself no favors when she insisted Efren Martinez had 'zero involvement with' the Salt Lake Park pool project. One of the clients he listed on campaign disclosure forms for his failed 2020 Assembly race was the construction company whose owners saw their residence searched for Operation Dirty Pond as well. Flores and Macias were both pleasant unless the subject was each other. They struck me as earnest about improving Huntington Park and confident they're innocent of what opponents claim about them. But one of them has to be wrong, right? As a tiebreaker, I called up former Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, who entered politics a quarter century ago to help cleanse his hometown of South Gate. He's now executive director of the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, which advocates for 27 cities stretching from Montebello to Long Beach to Cerritos and all the southeast L.A. County cities, and has worked with Flores and Macias in that capacity. De La Torre praised both of them for their 'dedication' to better Huntington Park, and urged they let Operation Dirty Pond investigators do their job. But in a wearied tone, he told me 'in SELA, sometimes it isn't about someone getting rid of corruption and cleaning up the city.' (SELA is the nickname for southeast L.A. County.) 'Sometimes, it's two different factions, both as shady as the other,' he said. 'And the swings are not from corruption to good government; they're from one type of corruption to the other.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In scandal-plagued Huntington Park, the abrupt ouster of a council member raises alarms
In February, the Huntington Park City Council met behind closed doors to discuss a seemingly routine item on their agenda — potential litigation the city was anticipating. Everyone on the council was allowed to attend the meeting but one — then-Councilmember Esmerelda Castillo. Barred from the closed-door discussion, the 22-year-old was later seen on camera picking up her things from the dais and making a quiet exit. When the council met again a week later, Castillo was no longer listed as a member. On the agenda instead was an item to fill her seat. As Castillo would come to learn, the city had quietly launched an investigation to determine if she was a city resident and concluded she was not, kicking her off the council — all without her knowledge. While residency requirements for municipal seats are common, Huntington Park's move to investigate one of its own council members, then remove her unilaterally, is virtually unprecedented, experts say. "I've never heard of a city doing it that way. There's always someone complaining to the district attorney, usually from an opponent," said Steve Cooley, who oversaw about a dozen residency cases during his time as Los Angeles County's top prosecutor. Two weeks ago, in response to a lawsuit filed by Castillo against the city, the council and the city manager, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Huntington Park from filling the vacant seat. Castillo's removal from office has angered residents in this scandal-plagued city. Amid the ongoing legal fight to regain her seat, several current and former council members are embroiled in a corruption probe with the D.A.'s office over the alleged misuse of public funds. On Feb. 26, D.A. investigators executed search warrants as part of "Operation Dirty Pond," a probe into the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds allocated for a $24-million aquatic center that hasn't been built. No one has been charged. The search warrants were executed at the homes of then-Mayor Karina Macias, Councilman Eduardo 'Eddie' Martinez and City Manager Ricardo Reyes. Search warrants were also executed at the homes of two former council members, a contractor and a consultant. Altogether, the turmoil is making Huntington Park residents weary. "I feel sad, defrauded, angry and powerless," said Maria Hernandez, 50, a longtime Huntington Park resident who attended last week's court hearing to support the former councilwoman. Castillo declined to be interviewed for this story, but her attorney, Albert Robles, said his client has been caring for her ailing parents while maintaining a full-time residence in Huntington Park, which he said is permitted under state and city election laws. He said Castillo's removal was politically motivated. 'Here, defendants not only acted as judge, jury and executioner, but to further highlight defendants' self-directed unjust political power grab, [they] also conducted the investigation,' Castillo alleges in her suit. The city notified Castillo via letter she'd been investigated and removed from the council as a non-resident but did not allow her to attend the Feb. 18 closed-door meeting when the results of the probe were discussed, Robles said. He claimed it was retaliation for Castillo accusing the members of bullying and harassment in a formal complaint to the city in January. But Andrew Sarega, whom the city hired to oversee its investigation into Castillo, disputed those claims and said the probe into Castillo began months before she filed her grievance. He said a complaint was filed in August with the district attorney's Public Integrity Division, which looks into criminal allegations made against public officials. According to an email obtained by The Times, the D.A.'s office declined to take the case, saying the matter was civil, not criminal. That put the case back in the lap of Huntington Park authorities, who looked at the city's municipal code that says when a mayor or council member moves out of the city or leaves office, their seat "shall immediately become vacant." 'It doesn't say you have to go to court, you don't have to do X, Y and Z; that's what the black letter law says,' Sarega said. 'And so, based on the investigation and everything that had been discovered that seat was deemed vacant.' Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor who teaches ethics, said although the council's actions may not have been best practice, it appears legally sound. 'It was her action that created the vacancy and the city council had no obligation to vote on anything necessarily because it's an automatic trigger,' he said. 'But it all boils down as to whether or not it's true, and it does seem like a full investigation with transparency is in order.' Cooley, who created the D.A.'s Public Integrity Division that looks into potential wrongdoing by public officials, agreed with Cummings and said local and state prosecutors should take up these cases to combat the appearance of conflict. The city launched its investigation into Castillo in November, after the city manager heard multiple complaints alleging Castillo did not live in the city, Sarega said. The investigation included surveillance, court-approved GPS tracking, and search warrants at her Huntington Park apartment and parents' home in South Gate. Investigators also interviewed five witnesses, including Castillo, according to Sarega. He said investigators tracked Castillo's vehicle for a month in January and found that she had stayed at the Huntington Park apartment only once. Someone else was living there, but she had mail sent there too, Sarega said. The Times visited the former councilwoman's apartment for several days in February with no one answering the door. Most neighbors in the area said they had not seen Castillo when shown photos of her. Robles, Castillo's attorney, disputed the city's allegations. In a declaration to support the restraining order against the city, Castillo wrote that she moved into the Huntington Park apartment near Saturn Avenue and Malabar Street after the owner of the house her family was renting planned to use it for their own family. "My neighbors across the street," she wrote, "whom I have known most of my life and considered family, offered to allow me to stay in a room in their home, until I could afford my own apartment." She wrote that her parents moved to South Gate, where she started visiting frequently because her mother's health had worsened, requiring more visits to a physician and a specialist. She said that included overnight stays. Robles said regardless of which city his client lives in, she was never given due process guaranteed under California law. He worried that a ruling against his client could set precedent for cities across the state who may take similar actions when dealing with cases in which an elected official is being accused of not living in their city. "If you don't think other cities are going to do it, you're mistaken," he said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
In scandal-plagued Huntington Park, the abrupt ouster of a council member raises alarms
In February, the Huntington Park City Council met behind closed doors to discuss a seemingly routine item on their agenda — potential litigation the city was anticipating. Everyone on the council was allowed to attend the meeting but one — then-Councilmember Esmerelda Castillo. Barred from the closed-door discussion, the 22-year-old was later seen on camera picking up her things from the dais and making a quiet exit. When the council met again a week later, Castillo was no longer listed as a member. On the agenda instead was an item to fill her seat. As Castillo would come to learn, the city had quietly launched an investigation to determine if she was a city resident and concluded she was not, kicking her off the council — all without her knowledge. While residency requirements for municipal seats are common, Huntington Park's move to investigate one of its own council members, then remove her unilaterally, is virtually unprecedented, experts say. 'I've never heard of a city doing it that way. There's always someone complaining to the district attorney, usually from an opponent,' said Steve Cooley, who oversaw about a dozen residency cases during his time as Los Angeles County's top prosecutor. Two weeks ago, in response to a lawsuit filed by Castillo against the city, the council and the city manager, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Huntington Park from filling the vacant seat. Castillo's removal from office has angered residents in this scandal-plagued city. Amid the ongoing legal fight to regain her seat, several current and former council members are embroiled in a corruption probe with the D.A.'s office over the alleged misuse of public funds. On Feb. 26, D.A. investigators executed search warrants as part of 'Operation Dirty Pond,' a probe into the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds allocated for a $24-million aquatic center that hasn't been built. No one has been charged. The search warrants were executed at the homes of then-Mayor Karina Macias, Councilman Eduardo 'Eddie' Martinez and City Manager Ricardo Reyes. Search warrants were also executed at the homes of two former council members, a contractor and a consultant. Altogether, the turmoil is making Huntington Park residents weary. 'I feel sad, defrauded, angry and powerless,' said Maria Hernandez, 50, a longtime Huntington Park resident who attended last week's court hearing to support the former councilwoman. Castillo declined to be interviewed for this story, but her attorney, Albert Robles, said his client has been caring for her ailing parents while maintaining a full-time residence in Huntington Park, which he said is permitted under state and city election laws. He said Castillo's removal was politically motivated. 'Here, defendants not only acted as judge, jury and executioner, but to further highlight defendants' self-directed unjust political power grab, [they] also conducted the investigation,' Castillo alleges in her suit. The city notified Castillo via letter she'd been investigated and removed from the council as a non-resident but did not allow her to attend the Feb. 18 closed-door meeting when the results of the probe were discussed, Robles said. He claimed it was retaliation for Castillo accusing the members of bullying and harassment in a formal complaint to the city in January. But Andrew Sarega, whom the city hired to oversee its investigation into Castillo, disputed those claims and said the probe into Castillo began months before she filed her grievance. He said a complaint was filed in August with the district attorney's Public Integrity Division, which looks into criminal allegations made against public officials. According to an email obtained by The Times, the D.A.'s office declined to take the case, saying the matter was civil, not criminal. That put the case back in the lap of Huntington Park authorities, who looked at the city's municipal code that says when a mayor or council member moves out of the city or leaves office, their seat 'shall immediately become vacant.' 'It doesn't say you have to go to court, you don't have to do X, Y and Z; that's what the black letter law says,' Sarega said. 'And so, based on the investigation and everything that had been discovered that seat was deemed vacant.' Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor who teaches ethics, said although the council's actions may not have been best practice, it appears legally sound. 'It was her action that created the vacancy and the city council had no obligation to vote on anything necessarily because it's an automatic trigger,' he said. 'But it all boils down as to whether or not it's true, and it does seem like a full investigation with transparency is in order.' Cooley, who created the D.A.'s Public Integrity Division that looks into potential wrongdoing by public officials, agreed with Cummings and said local and state prosecutors should take up these cases to combat the appearance of conflict. The city launched its investigation into Castillo in November, after the city manager heard multiple complaints alleging Castillo did not live in the city, Sarega said. The investigation included surveillance, court-approved GPS tracking, and search warrants at her Huntington Park apartment and parents' home in South Gate. Investigators also interviewed five witnesses, including Castillo, according to Sarega. He said investigators tracked Castillo's vehicle for a month in January and found that she had stayed at the Huntington Park apartment only once. Someone else was living there, but she had mail sent there too, Sarega said. The Times visited the former councilwoman's apartment for several days in February with no one answering the door. Most neighbors in the area said they had not seen Castillo when shown photos of her. Robles, Castillo's attorney, disputed the city's allegations. In a declaration to support the restraining order against the city, Castillo wrote that she moved into the Huntington Park apartment near Saturn Avenue and Malabar Street after the owner of the house her family was renting planned to use it for their own family. 'My neighbors across the street,' she wrote, 'whom I have known most of my life and considered family, offered to allow me to stay in a room in their home, until I could afford my own apartment.' She wrote that her parents moved to South Gate, where she started visiting frequently because her mother's health had worsened, requiring more visits to a physician and a specialist. She said that included overnight stays. Robles said regardless of which city his client lives in, she was never given due process guaranteed under California law. He worried that a ruling against his client could set precedent for cities across the state who may take similar actions when dealing with cases in which an elected official is being accused of not living in their city. 'If you don't think other cities are going to do it, you're mistaken,' he said.
CBS News
01-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
After her home is searched in corruption probe, Huntington Park mayor speaks out at meeting
After her home was searched in an ongoing public corruption probe, Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias addressed the investigation during a special city council meeting Friday — alleging "misinformation" has surfaced since it was made public. Just a day earlier, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced prosecutors were looking into allegations that millions of dollars in taxpayers' money was misused by city officials. "Operation Dirty Pond," as the probe is called, was launched in November 2022 to investigate the potential misuse of millions for a promised aquatic center. On Wednesday, the DA's office confirmed that Macias was one of three city officials whose homes were searched along with Huntington Park City Hall. During a special council meeting, Macias suggested the DA's office collect evidence in the case another way while alleging "misinformation" has been spread since the investigation became public. "Our hardworking city staff is working diligently with authorities to make sure they received any and all information related to the Salt Lake Park aquatic center," Macias said at the meeting "This information could have been easily requested via public records requests and could have prevented all of the politically driven chaos and misinformation." With amenities including an indoor pool, the planned aquatic center was expected to be built at Salt Lake Park, a 23-acre public park in the city that has several athletic fields and courts. In 2018, the city of Huntington Park released renditions of what it would look like. But more than six years later, the site where it was supposed to be built remains an empty lot. Vice Mayor Arturo Flores estimated about $14 million has been spent by the city. "And that from those funds, the residents of the city have only received an empty lot with dead grass — and nothing to show for those millions of dollars," he told reporters Wednesday. Some of the concerned residents who spoke during the Friday's meeting slammed city officials involved in the project while others said the children of Huntington Park are who has been really affected. "Millions of dollars gone. Not a single child in our city has been able to swim in that complex," one person said during the meeting, while another accused public officials of betraying the "hardworking people" of Huntington Park. "And that's a shame. And you should be embarrassed," she told the council. When the DA announced its investigation Thursday, Macias and another leading city official whose home was searched —Councilmember Eddie Martinez — did not respond to requests for comment. Prosecutors said their homes were among a total of 11 locations searched by investigators, including the homes of Huntington Park City Manager Ricardo Reyes and three former city officials. In the statement released Thursday, the DA's office did not confirm any other details about the ongoing public corruption probe. "My office is committed to ensuring that public officials uphold the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and transparency," District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in the statement from his office. "When concerns arise about the use of public funds or the actions of those in office, it is our duty to investigate thoroughly and protect the public's trust."
