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Copyright © 2010 WatchOurCity.com
In The Public Interest .com
WatchOurCity
Tuesday July 13, 2010
Update Wednesday July 14,
2010
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
Depriving the Public of
Honest Services: Bell,
Maywood, Huntington
Park, LAUSD
Fiduciary fail by Maywood, Bell,
Huntington Park officials.
Tuesday July 13, 2010
The Editor,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park in $1.2
Million Fiscal Deficit Partly
Caused by City of Bell's
George Cole
Mayor Noguez gave George Cole
millions
Monday, October 4, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Mayor Noguez in bed with
George Cole: Awards  
Multi-Million Dollar Housing
Redevelopment contract to
Cole, Recently Arrested by
the D.A. & sued by the AG
Huntington Park's
Redevelopment Agency awards
$3.8 million for Fiscal Year
2009-2010 to Cole's Oldtimers.
Monday, September 27, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Mayor Noguez  
Implicated in Bell
Scandal with Cole
Noguez directed multi-million
dollar contracts to George Cole's
Oldtimers Foundation, shared
convicted felon as campaign
managers with George Cole.
Monday, September 27, 2010,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park's Mayor
John Noguez Shakes down
Charter School for
campaign Contribution in
Exchange for Project
Approval
Mayor John Noguez and City
Attorney Leal called meeting
with Charter school. Noguez is
running for L.A. County Assessor.
September 24, 2010,
WatchOurCity.com
Huntington Park Attorney
Francisco Leal making
$630,000, more than twice
city of L.A.'s Attorney
Mayor John Noguez authorized
payments to Leal, and is good
friend to Bell's George Cole.
Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, 6:00 am,
WatchOurCity.com
Supervisor Antonovich
sends formal request to
D.A. to investigate John
Noguez
Antonovich "referred" letter to
the D.A.s' office "for his review
and appropriate action".
Complaint seeks to investigate
Huntington Park mayor John
Noguez based on allegations
that his legal name is John
Rodriguez. Noguez is in a
November runoff race against
John Wong for Assessor.
Monday October 11, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Times Endorses John Wong  
for County Assessor, Again
Noguez Fails Endorsement
"Political entanglements" says
L.A. Times as reason not to
endorse Huntington Park mayor
John Noguez for Assessor.
Noguez awarded rigged
multi-million dollar contracts to
Bell's George Cole, recently
arrested by the D.A. in Bell's
corruption scandal.
Academic Degree Scandal  
Widens - Huntington Park's  
mayor Noguez Does not  
have a College Degree
Noguez did not inform voters he
failed to get a college degree.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
D.A. Steve Cooley
Rescinds Noguez
Endorsement
Cooley is first elected official to
rescind endorsement of John
Noguez for County Assessor.
Noguez is Huntington Park's
mayor implicated in Bell scandal.
Corruption Watch
Saturday, October 30, 2010 6:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Law Firm Donates $7,773
to Noguez, Client gets $150
Million Reduction in
Property Tax Assessment in
return
Largest property tax refund in
Los Angeles County in exchange
for contribution to Noguez
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 8:00 am
WatchOurCity.com
Mayor Noguez's Fiscal
Policies leading city to
financial ruin
$23 million dollar bond leading  
Huntington Park to bankruptcy
Tow company donates
thousands of dollars to
mayor John Noguez, gets
lucrative contract in
exchange
Noguez ordered Police to tow
more cars.
Monday, November 1, 2010 6:00 am

Signs of municipal corruption in Bell & Vernon
spread to Huntington Park & mayor Noguez
Washington Times,
Jeffrey Anderson, Investigative Reporter

As corruption charges have spilled out of the Los Angeles-area suburbs of Bell and
Vernon, nearby Huntington Park has exhibited similar warning signs of financial
mismanagement while largely flying below the radar.

Now, the city's mayor is seeking to become the next executive in charge of the
nation's largest agency for establishing property tax rates.

But unlike its neighbors, Huntington Park, whose official U.S. Census Bureau
population of 64,000 is dwarfed by the closer to 100,000 who live within the city
limits, has an additional rap: It is in the throes of an era of police corruption that,
according to court records and former city officials, has been enabled by elected
officials who have fired officers with exemplary records while protecting others with
histories of discipline.

Huntington Park is among a cluster of working-class, immigrant cities southeast of
Los Angeles that drew national attention when current and former city officials in
neighboring Bell were exposed for paying themselves exorbitant salaries and
criminally charged with misappropriating more than $5.5 million. Officials in nearby
Vernon also were indicted on charges of conflicts of interest and misuse of public
funds.

Incorporated in 1906, Huntington Park bears a striking resemblance to Bell and
Vernon: Its annual median household income is less than $29,000, but its property
tax rate ranks sixth highest in Los Angeles County; council members have awarded
themselves lavish fees on top of their usual salaries for sitting on an obscure
community development commission; salaries and pensions are breaking the back
of the city's finances; and some city officials appear to be grossly overpaid. (Last
year, Huntington Park paid its unelected city attorney close to $700,000.)

However, another form of municipal corruption with public safety implications also
may have taken root, and the recent history of the Huntington Park Police
Department is further complicated by the high salaries and pensions of officers that
are straining the city's coffers.

According to the state controller's website, the top 68 highest-paid Huntington Park
city employees work for the police department.

Former city employees say Huntington Park Mayor John R. Noguez, a candidate for
Los Angeles County assessor on Tuesday, has played a key role in allowing this to
happen. Mr. Noguez also is the leader of a cabal of elected officials who may have
interfered in the hiring, firing and retention of police for political reasons, said former
Police Chief Randy Narramore, who was fired in 2004.

In a recent interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Narramore said Mr. Noguez
and his allies may have targeted him in part because his detectives were
investigating some of the mayor's most influential political donors.

Mr. Noguez, whose challenger in Tuesday's election was endorsed by the Los
Angeles Times for being less "political," did not return a call to his campaign
headquarters for comment.

Mr. Narramore, most recently the interim city manager in nearby Montebello, took
over as Huntington Park's chief in 1995, at a time it was struggling with abuse
cases, rogue officers and poor facilities. A 25-year law enforcement veteran, he said
he relished the challenge of turning around a department in a city plagued by drug
cartels, the Mexican Mafia and powerful street gangs.

According to his 2004 performance review, the five-member Huntington Park City
Council was so pleased with Mr. Narramore's performance by 2001 that it approved
a "substantive increase" in salary and benefits and granted him a contract
extension through 2008. The council also expanded his responsibilities to include
human resources and parks and recreation supervision.

His review credited him with helping to build a "modern state-of-the-art police
facility" at no cost to taxpayers and noted that Mr. Narramore brought in more than
$5 million in federal sharing funds from 1995 to 2004 and, during one five-year
period, he developed an air support unit consisting of two helicopters also at no
cost to the city, a rare asset for a small city police force.

Mr. Noguez and his top ally, Councilwoman Elba Guerrero, took office in 2004 and
soon hired a city attorney with a track record of advising small cities embroiled in
conflict and corruption. Soon, City Attorney Francisco Leal also became one of Mr.
Noguez's top campaign contributors.

"You know immediately when something's not right, you can just feel it," Mr.
Narramore said of the election of Mr. Noguez and Ms. Guerrero, and the subsequent
hiring of Mr. Leal. "We didn't get along."

Ms. Guerrero could not be reached for comment. Mr. Leal did not return calls for this
article.

One of Mr. Narramore's earliest initiatives in 1995 was to clamp down on officer
misconduct and, he said, to focus on the hiring of Hispanics from the local
community. In his first year, he said, 70 people either left the department or were
fired or went to jail.

Under the new leadership, Mr. Narramore said, the City Council wanted more of a
say over police personnel matters and pushed him to tap police resources to help
plug holes in the city budget — efforts he said he resisted. He said he also had to
deal more frequently with Mr. Leal for approval of asset forfeitures.

At one point, he said, one of his top narcotics detectives was investigating a
nightclub owner and the owners of a chain of taco stands for suspected
involvement with illicit sources of income. Both were substantial donors to Mr.
Noguez's campaign.

"They knew I was a straight shooter and they just wanted me and my assistant
chief out," Mr. Narramore said. "It was clear they wanted control of the police
department."

Mr. Narramore's firing led to a succession of chiefs. More important, he said, it
marked the rise in power of two officers who had histories of complaints and
disciplinary actions: One he fired for giving false information to internal affairs
investigators, only to see the City Council reinstate the officer. Mr. Narramore said
he was prepared to fire the officer a second time for interfering in a police matter
and misrepresenting himself as an officer of a neighboring jurisdiction, when he
himself was fired.

Mr. Narramore said he demoted a second officer, who was influential in the police
union, for having inappropriate physical contact with a police dispatcher. After Mr.
Narramore was fired, he said, the officer was reinstated and later promoted.

A civil rights lawsuit making its way through federal court in Los Angeles paints a
similarly sordid picture of Huntington Park police since Mr. Noguez and his allies took
over.

Former Officer Paul Tapia, a 17-year veteran and former U.S. Navy postal inspector,
said in court papers that he became the target of retaliation and later was fired
after witnessing and then reporting that a fellow officer had physically threatened a
police sergeant in 2007.

Court records show that the accused officer was placed on administrative leave but
soon was returned to duty on the same shift as Officer Tapia. Within a few weeks,
Officer Tapia — whose performance evaluation at the time gave him an overall
rating of "competent-plus" — was told by another officer, a friend of the accused
officer, that he had better watch his step.

Officer Tapia said his firing left him short on his mortgage payments, forcing him to
sell many of his possessions to make due. He now works for the Desert Hot Springs
(Calif.) Police Department, but had to take a $30,000-per-year pay cut.

He said the officer whom he accused and two senior officers — one of whom was
the same officer that Mr. Narramore demoted — went to the police chief at the time
and asked that Officer Tapia be fired. When the chief refused, he said, the three
complained to Ms. Guerrero and the firing took place.

Others have filed lawsuits claiming Huntington Park goes out of its way to protect
certain officers accused of misconduct. Former acting Chief of Police Cosme Lozano
said in a lawsuit, since dismissed, that his decision to discipline a sergeant found by
an outside investigator to have forged loan documents was overridden by the chief
who succeeded him.

Mr. Lozano's lawsuit said his successor told him to isolate negative reviews on an
officer's performance evaluation so they could be removed, and to manipulate the
hiring process to allow the employment of an officer who had been accused of a
serious crime.

One of the senior officers responsible for Officer Tapia's firing, the Lozano lawsuit
said, also was impounding semi-trucks within Huntington Park and avoiding dispatch
procedures to use a tow truck company other than the city's primary contractor.
When Mr. Lozano reported the matter and requested a formal investigation, the
lawsuit said, the new chief delayed a decision for six weeks and then closed the
matter.

Officer Tapia said he and other officers spoke with an FBI agent two years ago who
expressed interest in the tow truck matter, but never heard from the agent again.

Mr. Narramore said he was not surprised and described the FBI as "pretty passive."
He said he also was disappointed in Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, the
leading candidate to be California's next attorney general, for failing to investigate
the department.

"I feel like Cooley's known about a lot of things and always has an excuse for not
doing anything," he said. "I've told both his office and the FBI that they could do
undercover ops and expose some people, just like a drug case. Offer these guys
something and they're gonna take it."

FBI officials in Los Angeles declined to comment, and Mr. Cooley's office did not
respond to requests for comment.

Huntington Park's police problems have come at a cost to the city. In 2005, when
the city couldn't afford to fully fund police pensions, the council, led by Mr. Noguez
and Ms. Guerrero, approved a $23 million bond that employees say the city cannot
afford to repay.

City employees also are up in arms about layoffs of key administrative personnel
and reductions in the public works department. But in 2009, matters got worse,
they say, when the city put Measure E to the voters to raise property taxes. Just
over 1,000 people voted, and the measure passed by 30 votes.

Now, according to city employees who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation,
the increased property tax revenue is being funneled into police salaries and the
police pension fund. Mr. Narramore said the citizens of Huntington Park get
shortchanged on services while being taxed higher.

"Police chiefs in Huntington Park become political hacks for the council," Mr.
Narramore said. "And it certainly seems to me that the union picks the police chief.
So if the chief bucks the union, he's gone."

© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission

About the Author Jeffrey Anderson
Huntington Park
RELATED:
John "No Degree" Noguez,
mayor of Huntington Park, is
candidate for  L.A. County
Assessor.

Noguez lied to Huntington Park
residents saying he graduated
from College. In fact, he does not
have a college degree, and
admitted so to the L.A. Times.
Councilwoman Elba Guerrero with
former Huntington Park police
chief Michael Trevis (far left).

In a court deposition, another
former chief of police stated that
Councilwoman Guerrero directed
the chief to fire officer Paul Tapia,
an exemplary officer. A city
ordinance prohibits direct
involvement by council members
in personnel affairs.

Elba Guerrero and mayor Noguez
hired current chief of Police Javier
Cisneros from the Long Beach
Police Department. Chief Cisneros
is a personal friend of Guerrero
and Noguez.
Huntington Park