Leader of Huntington Park Investigation on Corruption

Add Huntington Park to the list of Southeast Los Angeles County cities that were shocked by allegations of political corruption.

Three of the city's four council members and city managers accepted civil lawsuits at a special city council meeting Friday night – Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office two days later Nearly twelve search orders were executed Related to investigations on corruption, allegedly abused millions of dollars in funding to build a $24 million aquatic center that has not yet been built.

At the same meeting, the city attorney filed a resignation and the mayor tried to end the meeting by threatening to go out and go out – all of which were ridiculed by sly comments and angry residents. A woman was accompanied by a pair of policemen as they yelled and yelled.

In a heated speech, Councilman Arturo Flores, one of the two city leaders who were not investigated, claimed that the recall efforts against him were led by a consultant, who recently searched his home and office by a district attorney along with contractors, mayors, city managers, city managers, and three current council members.

“I will fight for war for my community,” Flores said. “Let’s focus on investigating failed pool projects, let’s focus on tracing millions of undetermined money and restoring the faith and trust of the local government in the people.”

Witnessing the event that night was Emmanuel Carreras Ruedas, 26, a slim, long black hair sitting in the back of the parliamentary chamber.

Rudas is not a resident of the city. He lives in Cudahy, but like many young people in the Southeast, he says he is tired of the political corruption that has long plagued some working-class cities.

this Southeast It consists of about 26 cities and communities, located between Los Angeles and Orange County. Because they are the entrances to the two counties, they are also called gateway cities.

At the heart of the area are about a dozen communities, including Compton, Cudashi, Vernon, Commercial, Bell and Huntington Park. They sit between Highways 110 and 710, two main commercial arteries connecting to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. They are close to highways and industrial sectors cut offely Pretending Their large immigrants and the health of the Latino population.

For decades, it was these towns Shocked by political scandalsso much so that lawmakers often refer to small areas as “corridors of corruption.”

Cities include South Gatesomeone tried A member of parliament was assassinated in the early 2000s. In 2010, the city Bell was in the spotlight of the country When it was revealed that the city manager and several council members were getting high salaries and putting town inventory as their own personal bank.

Two years later, KudakhiIt's a 1.2-square-mile city that made headlines when the mayor, council member and a long-time executive were arrested and charged in a federal bribery case. A photo Members surrender to federal agents After a five-hour deadlock, there was a stalemate spread across the country.

A scandal in a town, Vernon, So epic that they become the inspiration for a season HBO's “Real Detective”.

And now, Huntington Park finds itself on the list.

As city leaders face heated and legal questions faced by heated and legal questions, the town's alleged abuse of public funds is Councillor Esmeralda Castillothey claim not to live in the city. Los Cerritos Community News first reported on her removal.

A copy of the arrest warrant reviewed by The Times shows investigators are studying allegations of bribery, misappropriation of public funds, conflicts of interest, money laundering and conspiracy. The warrant also took the “case name” as Efren Martinez.

Martinez, who has a unified consulting service, is the same consultant, according to a statement from the District Attorney’s Office.

Martinez has run for the state legislative office several times but failed and he was unable to comment by phone or through his company's website.

This is not the first time Martinez has caused controversy in the city.

The Times investigation found that as a political adviser, Mayor Karina Macias plans to raise funds for Martinez when he runs for the state legislature in 2016. But he never ran.

Some contributors are associated with Macias and the majority of contract-granted companies in the city, including bus service and dial operators, its street cleaning and bus stop maintenance suppliers and trailer companies.

The district attorney asked Macias about her political consulting work but did not file any charges against her. Macias insisted she never did anything wrong.

In a statement to residents on Friday, Macias said city staff are working diligently with authorities to ensure they receive all information about the Salt Lake Park Aquatic Center project, including the Olympic-sized swimming pool and synthetic football stadium.

Macias said environmental issues have led to prolonged delays and blamed “a small number of people who don’t want to see it done.” She accused the media of spreading misinformation and said the city completed the construction of the football field in 2021.

“For three years, countless meetings, tests, field investigations, remediation and environmental programs have been held between our city, state and county agencies, including the Janice Hahn office,” Macias’ statement said. “Over the entire ridiculous process, our city managers and employees have been working hard to work with these environmental agencies for all the necessary testing, remediation and planning.”

But Jonathan Sanabria, who sat next to her, was not investigated, saying the football field is a small part of the entire project.

It was Sanabria who brought a heated debate with the town's city attorney Arnold M. Alvarez-Glasman, who then filed his resignation, prompting residents to praise it.

People spoke to the members of the Council, calling on them to get off work.

“This has brought you something from our city,” said Vicente Carrera, a long-time resident. “You don't belong here, you belong to prison.”

Some young residents showed up to speak on behalf of their parents, saying they were afraid to speak out. Some expressed frustration that elected officials once again put themselves ahead of residents, especially as the Trump administration conducts mass deportations.

Germain Rodriguez, 30, said seeing the park’s status quo has made him uneasy about how city officials handle the project.

“Seeing all this potential there, rather than making the most of it, you’d rather leave a lot of dirt there,” Rodriguez said. “We could have done a lot of things in this space.”

After hearing about Speaker Ruedas, residents of Cudahy addressed the Council. He talked about how he witnessed the scandal happening in his town and in nearby Bell. He said they made him want to go to college so he could go back and give back to the community.

But these scandals remind him and other residents of the challenges they face.

“Our representation is people who don’t seem to care about themselves,” he said. “It’s a story as old as time and frankly, I’m just tired of this broken record.”

As he spoke, he noticed Sanabria smiling and shouted him up there.

“I'm glad.” Sabria later clarified at the meeting that he was pleased to see authorities trying to expose things and hold people accountable for misconduct.

But before clarification, Rudas felt offended.

“If you're glad this is happening, it's really sad, too,” he told the councillor. “I'm not glad this is happening. These are my community, and it's people's money. People are afraid to go out due to raids on the ice. Please think about what's going on here, consider resigning, consider making room for others.”