The Orange County Register reported yesterday that Gregg DeLong, who hopes to join Huntington Beach's storied city council, went to prison in 2001 for his role in an extortion scam. DeLong, the Reg reported, was “sentenced to three months in prison by a Pittsburgh federal judge” after being convicted of “soliciting $11,451 in kickbacks from Pittsburgh-based ATM Corp. of America,” which did business with DeLong's company, Costa Mesa's DiTech. According to the article, DeLong and two other DiTech execs also “threatened to stop doing business with ATM unless the company put an executive's father-in-law on the payroll.”
What's up, DeLong? Don't you know you're supposed to wait until you're already in office before you start committing felonies? Trust us: we know, but if you need any additional career advice just ask former councilmembers Dave Garofalo and Pam Houchen. You're welcome.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).