UPDATE, MARCH 30, 12:53 P.M.: Ousted Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo of Huntington Beach earlier this month had a misappropriation of public funds count tossed by a judge in Los Angeles, although Jabba the Corrupt was ordered to stand trial on a conflict-of-interest charge.
But a grand jury indictment unsealed today charges Rizzo again with misappropriation of public funds, more conflict of
interest counts and hiding and falsifying official records.
]
The indictment also hits Rizzo's former assistant Angela
Spaccia with seven of the same eight felony counts now facing her ex-boss. Spaccia infamously wrote in an email concerning high salaries in tiny Bell, “We will all get fat together . . . Bob [Rizzo] has an expression he
likes to use on occassion . . . Pigs get Fat . . . Hogs get
slaughtered!!!! So long as we're not Hogs . . . All is well!?”
- Robert Rizzo Hog-Tied to E-mails Where Other High-Salaried Bell Officials Admit to Being Piggies
They have pleaded not guilty. For more, check out the Los Angeles Times.
ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 16, 4:34 P.M.: Ousted Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo, who lays his bloated body down at night in Huntington Beach, has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly getting involved financially in a horse-racing business, with a contractor earning millions from the tiny city.
Judge Henry J. Hall let “Jabba the Corrupt” skate on a misappropriation of public funds count, but His Honor also nudged Los Angeles County prosecutors to consider filing perjury charges against Rizzo because he apparently left his racehorse biz off mandated financial-disclosure forms.
Hall also suggested Rizzo may have also run afoul of the state's Fair Political Practices act with his alleged lack of disclosure.
Rizzo and Dennis Tarango were partners in Golden
Aggie Ranch Inc., which has since gone out of business. At the time news of Rizzo's dirty dealings first broke, it was reported that in addition to his million-dollar-plus Surf City abode, the then-city administrator owned a horse ranch in Washington state. He was earning more than a million bucks in annual salary and benefits at the time. Bell is now nearly bankrupt.
Tarango served as the city's planning director and also did
engineering work for the city. He claimed on the stand there was nothing wrong with his racehorse partnership with Rizzo, and that there was no quid pro quo relationship with the then-city administrator when it came to business before the city.
The contractor then rode off into the sunset.
Previous coverage:
2.25.11: Robert Rizzo, Ex-Bell Administrator, Leaves Hospital and is Due Back in Court Monday
2.14.11: Robert Rizzo Hog-Tied to Emails Where Other High-Salaries Bell Officials Admit to Being Piggies
1.14.11: 6 More Surf City Volunteer Gigs for Disgraced Robert Rizzo (and One Place He Can't Work)
12.7.10: Robert Rizzo, Who Helped Create the Mess in Bell, Now Cleaning Messes at Local Thrift Store
10.11.10: Robert Rizzo Officials Becomes Shitty Surf City Neighbor as Overexposed Home is T.P.'d
10.8.10: Robert Rizzo Wants Back Pay
10.7.10: Live From Rizzo Watch 2010
10.5.10: Randy Adams, “Disabled” as Bell's Police Chief, Boasted of Athletic Prowess on OC Job App
9.22.10: Ho-hum, a City Official Busted in Surf City
8.25.10: Robert Adrian Rizzo, Shamed Ex-Bell City Administrator, Learns His Drunk-Ass Fate
8.24.10: What Do You Get When You Wrap Scorned Ex-Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo in a Tux?
8.22.10: Sunday News Notes
8.10.10: 6 Fatties Thinner Than Robert Rizzo
7.15.10: Today's Vomit-Inducing Story
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.