Cudahy Officials Charged in Corruption Probe

The mayor of Cudahy and a member of its City Council were arrested today, along with a former city employee, on federal charges stemming from a  corruption probe in the southeast Los Angeles County community.

Mayor David Silva, City Councilman Osvaldo Conde and Angel Perales are  charged with bribery in a criminal complaint unsealed today. The three are accused of demanding and accepting a total of $17,000 in bribes to approve the opening of a marijuana dispensary in Cudahy, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Akrotirianakis.

The bribery charge carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

"The stain left by public corruption is indelible, extending beyond any individual case because of the general erosion of public confidence in government,'' said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.

"The allegations in this case describe a corrosive and freewheeling attitude among certain officials in the city of Cudahy.''

All three men appeared in federal court in downtown Los Angeles this afternoon for bail hearings before U.S. Magistrate Judge John E. McDermott. The judge ordered Silva and Perales released on $50,000 appearance bonds.

Akrotirianakis argued against Conde's release, telling the judge that the defendant surrendered to authorities only after an FBI tactical team had assembled at his residence.

Also, the prosecutor said, law enforcement officers seized a handgun at the location where he was arrested, and found three other weapons, including a "Kalashnikov-style'' assault rifle, at his wife's home, where he also sometimes stays.

"This defendant is a danger to the community,'' Akrotirianakis told the court, adding that Conde is often accompanied around town by two "armed guards.''

But after determining that Conde was not charged with the earlier incident or weapons possession, McDermott set a $100,000 bond.

"I'm not going to put somebody in jail for a bribe of $17,000,'' the judge said.

All three men are scheduled to return to court July 19 for arraignment.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the charges, Conde, Silva and Perales met a confidential FBI informant last Feb. 28 at the El Potrero nightclub in Cudahy, where they allegedly accepted a total of $15,000 cash as bribe payments.

Later that evening, Conde again met the informant to receive an additional $2,000 as a bribe, prosecutors allege.

The 143-page affidavit states that a series of recorded conversations show the city officials explaining that the Cudahy City Council planned to approve only one or two permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in Cudahy.

According to the affidavit, Perales sought to broker an arrangement between an FBI informant and city officials in which the informant would make cash payments in exchange for the officials supporting a request for one of the permits.

Perales explained to the informant that there are "three parts to this game'' -- Conde, Silva and himself, according to the affidavit.

Perales also allegedly told the informant that Conde and Silva "are not your typical'' city officials. They've "dealt with, uh, you know, people that throw money down,'' Perales said, according to the affidavit.

Prior to a meeting with Conde and Silva at a Pico Rivera restaurant, Perales instructed the informant how he should broach the topic of paying the bribes, and later instructed the informant on how to present the bribes, specifying that the payments should be in cash only, according to the affidavit.

"The alleged participation by multiple public officials in a bribery scheme is unfair to the residents of Cudahy, said Steven M. Martinez, the FBI's executive assistant director of the Science and Technology Branch.

"This case will send the right message to corrupt public officials and is a step toward restoring honest stewardship to the city of Cudahy,'' he said.