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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Court monitor sought for California city in pay scandal |
| 2010-10-23 |
| Caliphornia's attorney general asked a state court on Thursday to appoint a monitor to oversee the finances of the city of Bell, Caliphornia, which has been embroiled in a scandal over the excessive compensation of some of its former bigwigs. Attorney General Jerry Governor MoonbeamBrown's move came as eight current and former Bell officials, including its former city manager, who was paid a salary of nearly $800,000, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to public corruption charges. The eight defendants, jugged on September 21, are collectively accused of bilking taxpayers in the blue-collar city of 40,000 out of roughly $5.5 million through excessive salaries, benefits and illicit loans of public money. They were charged in nearly two dozen counts of misappropriating public funds, including salaries they received for "phantom" meetings that never occurred. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley has called the scandal in Bell "corruption on steroids." |
| Posted by:Fred |