LOS ANGELES, April 16 (UPI) -- Residents of corruption-plagued Bell, Calif., denounced former Robert Rizzo, the former city manager, as he was sentenced to 12 years in prison Wednesday.
Rizzo was also ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution to Bell, a small city in Los Angeles County that paid him a salary higher than President Obama's. Judge Kathleen Kennedy credited him with money already repaid.
Violetta Alvarez, who was elected to the city council after Rizzo's downfall, said the prison term is justified. She was one of a number of Bell residents who spoke during the hearing.
“The damage has been done and the money is gone,” she told the judge.
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An investigation into Bell's government began after the Los Angeles Times reported that many of its officials were extraordinarily well paid. Rizzo was the highest-paid government official in California -- and on track to get the state's highest government pension -- and the police chief received a bigger paycheck than the head of the much bigger Los Angeles department.
Rizzo got a three-year federal sentence for tax fraud Monday. While the federal judge said he would not get a "bulk discount" in the form of concurrent sentences, Kennedy allowed her sentence to run together with the federal one.
The judge said Rizzo was a "godfather of sorts" in Bell. He pleaded no contest last year to the state charges.
“If I could go back and make changes. I would,” Rizzo said. “I've done it a million times in my mind."
Rizzo is the second former Bell official to be sentenced. His deputy, Angela Spaccia, who was convicted in December, received 11 years and 8 months.
[Los Angeles Times]
