Albert Robles

Albert T. Robles (not to be confused with Attorney Albert Robles, a Director of the Southern California Water Replenishment District since 1992 ) is an American politician and former mayor, councilman, treasurer, and deputy city manager for the City of South Gate, California. He also served as an elected Director of the Central Basin Municipal Water District in Carson, California. In 2005 he was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.[1]

Another politician from Carson shares his name, Albert Robles, who also is a publicly elected Director to the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, but in Lakewood, California, since 1992. He works full time as a criminal defense and real estate attorney. After being charged with Elections Code violations for alleged deceptive mailers, he ran unsuccessfully for District Attorney of Los Angeles County, receiving the second highest percentage of the vote out of 3 candidates in the June 2008 primary. On November 4, 2008, this Albert Robles was easily re-elected to a 5th term on the Water Replenishment Board.

Contents

Political career

Legal controversies

Robles was accused of making threatening statements to State Senator Martha Escutia and Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh. He was tried in 2002 but all charges were dismissed when the jury deadlocked on all counts. His attorney argued that his statements were merely the kind of language typical of South Gate politicians and not literal threats.[6]

Robles was indicted on federal corruption charges in 2004. This stemmed from his award of contracts worth millions to friends and business associates as well as funneling money through the awarded contracts to himself and family members.[3] He was found guilty of 30 counts of bribery, money laundering, and depriving the electorate.[4] He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and ordered to pay the city of South Gate $639,000 in restitution.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Becerra, Hector (2006-11-29). "Robles sentenced to 10 years". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-robles29nov29,1,2110069.story?coll=la-news-politics-california. Retrieved 2006-11-30. 
  2. ^ Marosi, Richard (25 January 2003). "The Freebies Pile Up as South Gate Goes to Polls ; Some residents say the city's largess before a recall vote resembles the graft they saw in Mexico". 25 Jan 2003 Issue (Los Angeles Times). http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/280534801.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jan+25%2C+2003&author=Richard+Marosi&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=THE+NATION. Retrieved 2006-12-04. "Have Third World politics come to South Gate? As three council members and the treasurer face a closely watched recall election Tuesday, many residents say the answer is yes." 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g McGrath, Roger D. (19 May 2003). "South Gate: Mexico Comes to California; How an all-American town became a barrio". 19 May 2003 Issue (Amerian Conservative). http://www.amconmag.com/05_19_03/feature.html. Retrieved 2006-12-01. 
  4. ^ a b Rosenzweig, David; Lee, Wendy (29 July 2005). "Ex-South Gate treasurer convicted in bribery case". 29 July 2005 Issue (Los Angeles Times). http://www.cityethics.org/southgate. Retrieved 2006-12-01. 
  5. ^ "South Gate Voters Clean House; Ousted Robles Said He May Seek Office Again". KNBC Los Angeles. 29 January 2003. http://www.nbc4.tv/news/1942556/detail.html. Retrieved 2006-12-01. 
  6. ^ Salladay, Robert (2006-12-15). "Brawl Began Over Political Boss Charged with Rape Threats". LA Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/politicalmuscle/2006/12/dymally_de_la_t.html. Retrieved 2008-04-05.