Rizzo, Spaccia Indicted
on New Charges
March 30, 2011FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Joe Scott, Director of Communications
Sandi Gibbons, Public Information Officer
Jane Robison, News Secretary
Shiara Dávila, Assistant PIO
LOS ANGELES – Bell’s former city manager and assistant city manager were arraigned this morning on a new Grand Jury indictment charging them with conspiracy and other charges in writing their own retirement contracts and with hiding public contracts and falsifying public records involving the former police chief.
Robert Rizzo and Angela Spaccia pleaded not guilty to the eight-count Grand Jury indictment unsealed this morning by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg. The Grand Jury returned the indictment Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman with the Public Integrity Division is prosecuting the case.
The indictment alleges in several overt acts that Rizzo and Spaccia conspired to misappropriate public funds, including signing an agreement with Wells Fargo employee Alan Pennington that allowed them to receive increases in their pension plans that were based on fraudulent pay increases not approved by the City Council.
“On or about April 11, 2003, Defendant Spaccia communicated with Alan Pennington for the purpose of structuring the Bell Supplemental Retirement Plan to avoid the laws capping pension amounts,” the indictment states.
“On or about June 30, 2003, Defendant Spaccia communicated to Alan Pennington that Defendant Rizzo wanted the Bell Supplemental Retirement Plan structured so that it could not be repealed or altered by any Bell City Council in the future.”
The indictment alleges that several times over the next seven years, Rizzo and Spaccia directed Pennington to recalculate their retirement benefits to allow for pay increases – pay increases based on contracts they wrote themselves and allegedly hid from the council and the residents of Bell.
The indictment also alleges that in April and May, 2009, Spaccia drafted an employment contract for the future Bell Police Chief Randy Adams, stating: “We have crafted our Agreements carefully so we do not draw attention to our pay.”
Rizzo and Spaccia allegedly kept Adams’ true pay of $17,577 per pay period secret. They also allegedly hid a disability agreement they crafted for Adams.
They are charged with one count of misappropriation of public funds for unlawfully paying Adams $457,000 per year as police chief in violation of the Bell City charter.
They are charged with one count of falsification of official record for allegedly creating a false document that showed Adams’ annual salary was $200,000 a year when in fact he was being paid more than twice that amount.
The indictment alleges Rizzo and Spaccia wrote a secret letter of acknowledgement stating that, “Mr. Adams qualifies for, and will be filing for, a medical disability retirement, in conjunction with this service retirement, when he retires from the City of Bell.”
The indictment – BA382701 – charges Rizzo and Spaccia with one count each of conspiracy to misappropriate public funds, conflict of interest and misappropriating public funds. They also are charged with two counts each of secretion of official record and falsification of official record.
Rizzo is charged alone with one count of conflict of interest in providing legal work to the law firm of Tom Brown. The firm allegedly received public funds at the direction of Rizzo at the same time it provided personal legal representation to him related to a driving under the influence charge.
Both defendants are due back in court on May 3 for a pretrial hearing before Judge Kathleen Kennedy.
