XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: mick@none.com   
      
   Two Irwindale city councilmen and a former councilwoman, who are   
   accused of misappropriating public funds, pleaded not guilty   
   Friday to felony charges.   
      
   Irwindale’s current mayor, Mark Breceda, and current mayor pro   
   tem, Manuel Garcia, are charged along with former Councilwoman   
   Rosemary Ramirez.   
      
   Breceda, 54, faces five counts each of misappropriation of   
   public funds, embezzlement by a public or private officer and   
   conflict of interest.   
      
   Garcia, 52, is charged with one count of embezzlement by a   
   public or private officer.   
      
   Ramirez, 53, is charged with two counts each of embezzlement by   
   a public or private officer, conflict of interest and   
   misappropriation of public funds.   
      
   Breceda, Garcia and Ramirez are due back in a downtown Los   
   Angeles courtroom on Oct. 17, when a date is scheduled to be set   
   for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to   
   require them to stand trial.   
      
   Former city finance director Abraham De Dios — who was charged   
   along with the three — pleaded no contest April 7 to one count   
   of conflict of interest. He was immediately sentenced to three   
   years probation, ordered to pay about $5,300 in restitution to   
   the city and more than $4,000 in fines, and to perform 100 hours   
   of community service for Habitat for Humanity, which he had   
   already completed.   
      
   The four were initially charged in October 2010 and then   
   indicted in December 2011, but a judge dismissed embezzlement   
   charges against them in August 2013 in light of a state   
   appellate court panel’s decision. Hours later, the prosecution   
   refiled the case and added more counts.   
      
   In the April 2013 ruling, the three-justice appellate panel   
   found that the District Attorney’s Office withheld “exculpatory”   
   evidence from the grand jury and that the defense was   
   “substantially prejudiced by the failure of the prosecution to   
   provide two significant documents” to the grand jury.   
      
   Defense attorneys had challenged the indictment, arguing that   
   certain documents should have been provided to the grand jury.   
      
   “This evidence consists of two Irwindale documents, a 2002   
   resolution and a 2002 city manager memorandum, which appear to   
   state a policy, or — at least — a practice that each Irwindale   
   official is entitled to a daily $75 allotment while traveling on   
   city business, even if that official’s meals were paid for by a   
   third party,” Associate Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson wrote in the   
   appellate court panel opinion.   
      
   The appellate justices noted in that 30-page ruling that two   
   prosecutors who went before the grand jury in connection with   
   the case were not aware of the documents, although the District   
   Attorney’s Office was.   
      
   “The knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of the two deputies is of   
   no moment,” the appellate panel found in the ruling vacating the   
   embezzlement charges. “It is the duty of the office of the   
   district attorney to gather all the information made available   
   throughout the office and present that information to the grand   
   jury. The grand jury, not the prosecutor, has the duty to sift   
   through the evidence and weight it to come to a fully informed   
   conclusion.”   
      
   Ramirez also was indicted on a charge of dissuading a witness   
   from testifying — on which the appellate court panel expressed   
   “no opinion” and which is still pending against her.   
      
   In July 2013, the California Supreme Court refused to review the   
   appellate court panel’s decision.   
      
   http://mynewsla.com/crime/2014/09/19/2-irwindale-city-councilmen-   
   former-councilwoman-plead-guilty-criminal-case/   
      
        
      
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