Last of Ex-Bell Officials Sentenced to Jail in Corruption Scandal
NBCLA | Aug 1, 2014
The last of seven former Bell city officials convicted in a public corruption scandal that outraged the community south of downtown Los Angeles was sentenced Friday to jail and ordered to pay restitution.
Former Bell Councilman Victor Bello, 55, was sentenced to one year in county jail and five years probation. He was ordered to complete 500 hours of community service and pay more than $177,600 in restitution to the city of Bell.
Bello and the other former council members were convicted last year of misappropriating public funds and boosting their pay for their involvement on city boards that rarely met and did little, if any, work. Bello’s salary, like those of the other city officials, increased significantly from the time he began serving on the council. He earned $434 per month when he became a member in 1998, but was earning about $100,000 per year by the time resigned in the wake of a Los Angeles Times report that exposed the corruption.
Bello and his colleagues pleaded no contest April 9 to two felony counts each of misappropriation of public funds — charges on which jurors had deadlocked — to resolve the case against them. Bello will get credit for 340 days of jail time he already served.
Read more at: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Bell-City-Council-Corruption-Scandal-Victor-Bello-269596251.html