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Serving Commerce and surrounding communities • 3,200 Homes Every Saturday • September 6, 2013 • Volume 1, No. 6 • HewsMediaGroup.com
Explicit Details of Commerce City Council Confrontation Documented in Sheriff’s Report
By Kristin Grafft and Randy Economy
Dirty Water: Employee, Central Basin Reach Deal in Harassment Allegation Against Apodaca By Brian Hews and Randy Economy Hews Media GroupCommunity News has obtained a 2010 Separation Agreement and General Release (SAGR) document via a public records Bob Apodaca request between a former employee and the Central Basin Municipal Water District that outlines payments to the employee for, according to sources, not filing sexual harassment charges against embattled CBMWD Board Director Robert “Bob” Apodaca. HMG-CN exclusively reported on a separate harassment claim against Apodaca brought by Sigrid H. Lopez and filed on July 3 of this year. The SAGR dictates a payment of $1,700 in vacation and sick leave, standard payout when an employee leaves an organization. It also paid $1,500 for one month of medical premiums and $4,300 for the amount the CBMWD would have paid to CalPERS for one year. But on the last line of the payment agreement, a 37-day salary-the “Severance Pay”- amounting to over $18,000 is listed. Total payout was $25,500. “A SAGR is typically a “gotcha” that specifies the terms of your termination, to your employer’s advantage,” says Jeff Ward a labor lawyer in Norwalk. “The agreement is a contract in which you relinquish your legal rights, while the
See APODACA page 8
Commerce Council-woman Tina Baca Del Rio points her finger at Council-woman Denise Robles at last week’s council meeting. After the meeting Baca Del Rio, Councilman Ivan Altmirano, and City Attorney Eddie Olivo went to Steven’s Steakhouse where the confrontation occurred at 1:30 in the morning. Photo by Kristen Grafft.
Dirty Water: Gil Cedillo Jr. Spent $15K on Lavish Meals While at Central Basin Municipal Water District By Randy Economy and Brian Hews
T
he Palms, Steven’s Steakhouse, The Dal Rae, The Vintage, The Turf Terrace. They are some of the most elegant, exclusive, and expensive dining rooms in Los Angeles. A steak can cost as much as $65, and that doesn’t account for additional ‘toppers’ of bleu cheese crumbles, mushrooms and grilled onions at $6 dollars a spoonful. But for Gilbert Cedillo Jr., a former executive with the Central Basin Municipal Water District, dining and enjoying expensive steaks and ‘toppers’ at these restaurants was almost an everyday occurrence. Receipts obtained via a public records request by Hews Media Group-Community News document how Cedillo Jr. spent more than $15,000 over a 23-month period to wine and dine private consultants; consultants who landed hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts, some over-
seen by Cedillo, Jr. himself. CBMWD is currently involved in two criminal probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Cedillo Jr. is the son of current Los Angeles City Councilman Gilbert Cedillo. HMG-CN reviewed more than 40 pages from the 31-year old Cedillo’ s credit card receipts that showed he spent a great deal of time and taxpayer money in swanky LA eateries. Cedillo wined and dined Tom Calderon, who at the time, was a Board Member on a San Diego firm called Water2Save. From 2009-2012, Water2Save was paid $222,000 for ‘Landscape Services,’ including over $91,000 after Cedillo was hired. Calderon was also banking $11,000 per month as a ‘consultant’ to CBMWD The two went to the Turf Terrace for lunch and spent $53. Cedillo Jr. enjoyed a Seagram’s Gin at 2:00 in the afternoon as they dined. Calderon is a former State Assembly-
See CEDILLO JR.page 9
A police report outlining specific details of a heated scuffle between at least four Commerce City officials at a local restaurant reveals conflicting accounts of the events that took place after a raucous council meeting earlier that evening. The incident report, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s East LA Station, was obtained exclusively by Hews Media Group-Community News on Monday. The parties listed on the report included Councilman Ivan Altamirano, Councilwoman Tina Baca Del Rio, City Attorney Eddie Olivo as well as Richard Robles, the husband of Councilwoman Denise Robles. The incident unfolded at approximately 1:30 a.m. according to report written by Sergeant J. Gonzalez. Gonzalez stated that Commerce Councilwoman Denise Robles said that she was being “accused by City of Commerce in regards to using the city vehicles for personal use (in the past).” After the meeting, Robles and her husband drove by Steven’s Steakhouse located off of Interstate 5 where she noticed city owned cars in the parking lot of the well-known establishment at around 1:30 a.m. The report said that Robles commented: “What could they be possibly doing at Steven’s Steakhouse at this time that could be work related.” The reports detail how the Robles’ stopped their car and went inside the restaurant “to confront ‘party’ Altamirano, ‘witness’ Del Rio, and ‘witness’ Olivo in regards to the use of city vehicles for personal use.” Once inside Steven’s, Richard Robles “immediately started to photograph” the two elected officials and Olivo as they sat at a table. Altamirano said that Robles said: “This is how I wanted to catch you.” After the political rivals took photos of each other with their cell phones, Richard Robles told Altamirano, “From now on you need to watch your back and you’re family needs to watch his back.” Altamirano told Sheriff officials that he “felt his life along with his families lives were being threatened by (Richard) Robles’s statements.” The group immediately
See COMMERCE page 8
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severance is effectively a bribe to influence you to sign it,” Ward said. The document states, “if you do not
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left the front door of the restaurant and a heated argument erupted outside. “Quick, call the Sheriff’s,” Robles was overheard as stating while outside. Olivo and Baca Del Rio went back inside Steven’s and they too called the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station to report the incident. When Sheriff’s Deputies arrived, a waitress who witnessed what took place between the city officials was questioned about what her account of the situation. Waitress July Wittingham, 30, also told Sheriff’s that she heard Richard Robles tell Altamirano that he “was a girl.” The waitress said she didn’t think the behavior between the two was a problem, and that “the two were friends conversing.” Wittingham also confirmed in the report that she heard Richard Robles tell Councilman Altamirano to “watch his back.” City Attorney Olivo said he “could not hear” what Altamirano and Robles were arguing about due to the “noise from surrounding persons”, despite, according to Robles, being only a few feet away. Sheriff officials went to the Robles residence after the incident, the report said. “Party Robles said that party Altamirano stood up from his seat and noticed he was drunk,” the report states. Robles said that Altamirano “approached him and said “you’re an ass****, I should kick your ass.” “Party Robles said he put his hands in his pockets to demonstrate he did not want to fight and would not strike him,”
enter into this agreement you will not be entitled to Severance Pay described above.” The second page defines the “Terms of the Agreement” and states, “this agreement shall not be in anyway construed as an admission by the district that it has acted wrongfully with respect to you.” It goes on to say that, “in exchange for the promises contained in this agreement the district will pay you the Severance Payment. You acknowledge that you would not be entitled to the Severance Payment but for the execution of this agreement.” “It is exactly what I said,” Ward commented after reviewing the document, “the person would not have received the severance unless they signed the document which released the District from all claims.” One clause in the SAGR states that the employee will “irrevocably release, acquit, and forever discharge the District and its employees against any claims. The clause specifically mentions “claims including but not limited to discrimination and harassment, based on race, religion…sex.” The agreement goes on to say, “you shall not bring any administrative or legal action and the employee waives and releases any rights they might have to recover in any lawsuit or proceeding brou3ght by them.”It also states that the employee will not disclose the agreement to anyone. “The employee agreed that the consideration set forth in the SAGR, which is in addition to anything of value to which they might otherwise be entitled, constituted a complete and final settlement of any and all causes of actions or claims they had,” said Ward. “The employee has no recourse.”
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the report states. The report also describes Altamirano as telling Richard Robles that, “you’re a bit**, like you wife (Councilwoman Denise Robles).” “I’m not the one who called myself a little girl tonight in the council chambers,” Richard Robles stated in this police report. Robles said that both Councilwoman Baca Del Rio and City Attorney Olivo told Altamirano to “stop, stop, stop” during their argument. Sheriff officials stated that in the report that they opted not to make an arrest of the above-mentioned Parties for Possible Criminal Threats as describe in 422 (a) Penal Code. Sheriff’s Sergeant J. Gonzalez was also “notified of the incident and also agreed to not make an arrest at this time taking into account circumstances at hand, and the lack of the incident meeting the elements of statute 422(a) Penal Code.
CEDILLO JR.
Continued from page 1 man who is also laying the ground-work for a possible run for a California State Senate seat that is currently held by his brother Senator Ronald Calderon, a Democrat from Montebello. Earlier this year, FBI officials, armed with search warrants and guns raided Senator Calderon’s Sacramento office and carted off boxes of potential evidence in their investigation. Along with his expense account, Cedillo Jr. was paid $112,000 annually even though he did not possess a college degree. He also received $22,000 in taxpayer funds to finish his degree at the private Azusa Pacifica University.
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And when he drove to the airport or to seminars in Las Vegas or San Diego, he was paid 51 cents per mile, sometimes collecting over $400 for mileage. It was also revealed exclusively by HMG-CN that Cedillo Jr. oversaw the award of millions of dollars of contracts even though he had no experience or knowledge of the contracts contents. Several of those contracts were given to companies where Calderon served as a top executive. One of the very first trips Cedillo took after getting the job at CBMWD was in December 2011. Documents show that he, former CBMWD Attorney Doug Wance, and Tom Calderon attended the “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Just hours prior to the performance Wance hosted a dinner for Calderon, Cedillo, and other executives from CBMWD at the exclusive “Strip Steak: A Michael Mina Restaurant” that is also housed at Mandalay Bay. A closer examination of the dining receipts revealed a concerted effort to wine and dine people who had submitted bids for contracts overseen by Cedillo Jr. and CBMWD. Claudia Cruz the District Director for Senator Ronald Calderon and Cedillo Jr. enjoyed a ‘traditional prime rib, with garlic mushrooms’ for $66 at Rosemead’s Charley Brown’s in January 2012. Cedillo and Cruz also visited the same restaurant in March of 2012 where Cedillo Jr. turned in a receipt for himself claiming a $55 reimbursement for one ‘Charley Prime Rib’ lunch special. Bell Gardens Mayor Pro-Tem Sergio Infanzon and Cedillo Jr. dined frequently together. The two enjoyed a massive $193 lunch at The Los Angeles Palm on South Flower Street in late January 2012. They
dined on Caesar Salad, Lettuce Wedges, and Prime New York Steaks that cost $46 and $50, respectively. The two longtime friends and political allies also dined at Steven’s Steak House in Commerce in March, 2012, where Cedillo Jr. had a $33 Rib Eye Steak. Former CBMWD GM Art Aguilar and Cedillo, Jr. also dined frequently, going to Steven’s Steak House in Commerce. They dined on salads, prime rib, New York Steaks, mushrooms, and onions that totaled $125 and $88. Cedillo also had a $145 dinner with Toni DeAztlan to “discuss district matters” at the Vintage Café on Bright Avenue
SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
in Uptown Whittier in April, 2012. Toni DeAztlan was the daughter of Tizoc DeAztlan; Tizoc was awarded a $40,000 contract under extremely questionable circumstances, the award process overseen by Cedillo Jr. Toni DeAztlan signed her own agreement, again overseen by Cedillo Jr., for “Election Selection Services” in November 2011 for $25,000. Tom Calderon and Cedillo frequented the Dal Rae in Pico Rivera and spent $243 at two different lunches. Both dined on prime steaks and left $39 in tips to the wait staff.
Central Basin Committee Asks for DA Investigation of Director Roybal
By Brian Hews and Randy Economy
The Central Basin Municipal Water District Ethics Committee has voted to ask the Los Angeles County Grand Jury to investigate Director James Roybal’s involvement in leaking confidential documents to reporter Mike Sprague who works for the Whittier Daily News. The vote for the review was made by Central Basin Water Board Directors Phil Hawkins of Cerritos and Art Chacon of Commerce. Hews Media Group-Community News received a copy of a response letter written by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey that confirmed that Central Basin Municipal Water District Board President Roybal leaked a confidential internal document to the Whittier Daily News pertaining to a closed session discussion about former Interim Chief Operating Officer Chuck Fuentes. The letter was in response to a com-
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plaint sent to the DA that alleged improper disclosure of confidential information approved in a closed session, which is a violation of Government Code Section 54956.9. The letter stated, “based upon a June 3 (2013) memorandum from (CBMWD GM) Tony Perez, it would appear the details of the agreement disclosed to the WDN were subject to confidentiality clause and were not to be released.” Fuentes was fired from the agency in December by a new voting Board majority that consists of Director Leticia Vasquez, Director Robert Apodaca and Roybal. In the letter, the District Attorney declined to take action on the disclosure, referring the matter back to the embroiled agency that has been a focal point of a massive investigation by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the past several months. HMG-CN first reported on the situation back on August 6th.