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CUT ME IN is a series of riveting stories
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petty thieves - with dark agendas who
betray their honor, and the public's
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of second chancers, forgotten and
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From E GP News, January 8, 2009:
B ell Gardens
Councilman
Mario Beltran
Convicted.........AGAIN

Bell Gardens Council Scrambles In Wake Of
Councilman’s Conviction

By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer

When EGP went to print last week it was still
2008; Mario Beltran was still a well-liked and
respected member of the Bell Gardens City
Council despite a 2007 misdemeanor conviction
of filing a false police report and an
investigation into his involvement in a $5
million towing contract and charges that a
fellow council member had been threatened.
But just two days into the New Year, Beltran
agreed to a plea bargain on campaign fund
embezzlement charges, once again marring his
reputation and that of the city of Bell Gardens.

During his hearing last Friday, Beltran pleaded
guilty to three misdemeanor charges of failure
to report campaign contributions and one
misdemeanor charge of failure to deposit
campaign contributions as required by law.

He originally faced 13 charges, including seven
felony grand theft charges, and a possible 20
years in jail. By taking the plea bargain, Beltran
now faces the humiliation of having to resign
his Bell Gardens Council seat, being barred for
the next four years from holding elected or
appointed office, lobbying, and being on
probation.

During the hearing, at which EGP was present,
Deputy District Attorney Max Huntsman of the
Public Integrity Division told Beltran that it
would be a felony for him to hold an elected or
appointed office or act as a lobbyist.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G.
Lomeli asked Huntsman if he was requesting
hours of community service for Beltran,
Huntsman said no.

“Removing him from office is appropriate
[punishment],” Huntsman said.

Huntsman told EGP that Beltran’s conviction is
not a life sentence barring him from holding
public office or politics, and added that Beltran
could choose to run for office again after his
probation ends. However, he will have to first
convince voters that he is a changed man, said
Huntsman.

Mayor Jennifer Rodriguez told EGP she was
surprised by the outcome and said that while
some may use the conviction for political gain,
she believes Bell Gardens has made significant
progress and “Mario has participated in that
progress.”

She told EGP it is a difficult time for the council
and because of the Brown Act, which prohibits
a majority of elected officials from meeting
privately; they have not discussed Beltran’s
resignation or made any plans for replacing
him.

Councilwoman Priscilla Flores said the council
has several options but their next step has not
yet been decided.

“We need to sit down…and talk to the city
attorney and go from there,” Flores said,
adding that Beltran’s replacement could be
appointed or chosen through a special election.

The councilwoman, who was Beltran’s running
mate in 2007, also expressed sympathy for
Beltran, and said he had always been an
advocate and very involved.

“I wish Mario the best of luck, no hard feelings.
He will recover, he’s a strong individual.”
Councilmember Daniel Crespo told EGP he
wasn’t surprised by the news.

“Everyone knew that was going to happen,”
said Crespo. “But I’m a little surprised that [he
was accused of] so many felonies.”

Crespo also said he had assumed Beltran
would never again be able run for office, “now
he’s eligible in 2013.”

City Manager Steve Simonian says the council
will not take any action until Beltran resigns in
February. He says a special election would be
expensive and not necessarily faster than
waiting for the November election.

“Of course, they can appoint someone to fill his
position,” said Simonian. “That’s the most
expedient and best way to go in light of the
budget restraints.”

It’s up to the city council to decide whether to
hold a special election or to appoint, Simonian
said.

Whether the city council will fine Beltran
$10,000 for not filing or depositing his
campaign contributions on time remains to be
seen.

Beltran was accused of using his campaign
funds to pay for his defense during a previous
separate trial. In that case, Beltran was found
guilty in March 2007 of filing a false police
report about his missing councilman’s badge.
At the time, he told police he had lost the
badge and other personal items when he was
robbed late one night while in downtown LA, a
story witnesses told a jury were untrue. During
the trial, prosecutors told the jury Beltran was
actually involved in an altercation with a
woman at a hotel frequented by prostitutes,
and lost his badge and other personal items
during the incident. He was convicted of filing a
false police report.

According to Huntsman, Beltran must resign his
city council seat by Feb. 12 when he is due
back in court for sentencing.

Because Beltran is currently serving three
years probation for the 2007 conviction, if the
judge who sentenced him previously decides
the current accusations are a violation of his
probation, Beltran may be able to withdraw his
plea bargain and go to trial. But Huntsman
says that is unlikely.

_____________________________________

Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Back to School Issue:
The Geometry
of Corruption
Bell Gardens is at it again........

John Noguez, Huntington Park
Councilman, likes to surround
himself with political criminals and gangsters in suits. Noguez is Rosario Marin's
official "protege", according to a book published in 2005 by Wiley Press.

John's 2003 campaign manager was Huntington Park mayor Edward Escareno.
Escareno was convicted of Grand Theft of public funds, a felony, in December
2005. Noguez's second campaign manager, during the 2007 election period, was
Mario Beltran, a Bell Gardens councilman. Beltran was convicted in March 2007
for filing a false police report in a case involving visits to a prostitute in a seedy
downtown hotel and later passing out drunk in the hallway. Beltran is now
convicted a second time by the D.A.'s office for embezzlement all while on
parole for his previous conviction.

During the 2007 elections, Noguez and his campaign manager Beltran accused
their opponents in political mailers of being criminals. One week after Noguez
was reelected, Beltran was convicted in Norwalk Superior Court.

Mario Beltran
Convicted March
2007 & again on
January 2009.

John Noguez &
his two
campaign
managers.

Edward
Escareno
Convicted
December 2005.

CONVICTED

Rosario is the den
mother of Huntington
Park politics. She is the
political mentor to 4 of 5
current Huntington Park
council members.

Rosario's first protege,
Edward Escareno was
convicted of grand theft.
Rosario's second favorite
protege is John Noguez.

Rosario and John
Noguez are featured in a
book published by Wiley
Press titled "Power
Mentoring: How
Successful mentors and
Proteges get the most
out of their
relationships". Marin
and Noguez are one of
50 "Power"
mentor-protege couples
mentioned.

A Hot
Latina
Rosario
Marin

Noguez's
Campaign Mgr.
#2

Noguez's
Campaign Mgr.
#1

From L.A. City Beat, January 21, 2009
Police Chief Keith
Kilmer gets caught
up in the city’s
notorious towing
troubles

By Jeffrey Anderson & Matthew Fleischer

Bell Gardens City Councilman Mario
Beltran has issues.

Back in 2007, he was convicted of filing a
false police report after a wild night with
a downtown prostitute. Early in January
he was sentenced to four years’
probation for illegally using campaign
funds to pay for his legal defense in the
prostitution case.

And, in the latest installment of the
Beltran saga, the city councilman helped
facilitate a criminal threat made against a
political rival on the city council.

In February of 2007 Beltran made a
phone call to Daniel Crespo to talk about
the city’s controversial $5 million tow-
truck contract with United Motor Club. The
conversation heated up, but
unbeknownst to Crespo, Shahram
Shayesteh was sitting silently on Beltran’
s line. A self-described “spokesperson”
for the Bell Gardens-based towing
company, Shayesteh is identified in court
documents as a government informant
with ties to drug traffickers. He’s been
convicted of felonies in three separate
states; in one of those cases he spent 30
months in a Wisconsin prison following a
credit card fraud conviction.

Not content to sit quiet when Crespo
refused to support Beltran on a decision
over city impound policy, Shayesteh broke
his silence to scream at Crespo: “I’m
going to fuck you up.”

That threat, backed by Shayesteh’s hefty
criminal record, was enough to convict
him last Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior
Court for making criminal threats.

Just another day in Bell Gardens.

Like nearby Maywood, where Mayor
Felipe Aguirre faced death threats from
his deputy city clerk Hector Duarte, Bell
Gardens is a small, working-class,
predominantly Latino city along the I-710
corridor where corruption – along with
Mario Beltran – has found a home. Yet
even by Bell Gardens’ standards
Shayesteh’s trial was odd, mainly
because Bell Gardens Police Chief Keith
Kilmer testified on Shayesteh’s behalf.

“That’s the first time I’ve cross-examined
a police chief as a defense witness,” says
Assistant District Attorney Marcus
Musante.

Kilmer’s defense of Shayesteh was
lukewarm at best. He testified that he
didn’t recall witnessing any threats
against Beltran’s rival. But why exactly
was Bell Gardens’ chief of police testifying
on behalf of a three-time felon?

Kilmer says he had no choice – he was
subpoenaed. But a series of memos and
documents obtained by City Beat raise
questions about his previously
unexamined behind-the-scenes role in
awarding the towing contract, including
his decision to ignore the advice of a city
attorney who recommended tossing
United Motor Club’s bid altogether.

The problem began in March 2006 when
United Motor Club submitted a bid to
provide towing services to Bell Gardens.
That bid included a letter from co-owner
Seyed Madaen to Douglas Kingery of the
Bell Gardens Police Department. “In the
event we are selected as your towing
service provider,” Madaen wrote, “we at
United Motor Club promise to purchase
and contribute one motor cycle or a K9
officer for the combine [sic] value of
$25,000 to the City of Bell Gardens to be
used by the Bell Gardens Police force.”

This wasn’t the first time Bell Gardens
police would have benefited from the
towing company. Back in 2004, Shayesteh
gave $1,000 to a Bell Gardens police
boxing club, in what then police chief
Manuel Ortega described as an effort to
“divert our young men and women away
from drugs.”

But the $25,000 offer was problematic,
and sparked a legal review by Deputy
City Attorney Andrew L. Jared. His
analysis of California law was that such
an offer should invalidate the bid because
it gives an advantage to the bidder, could
be a potential vehicle for favoritism, could
affect the ability of city officials to make
bid comparisons, and could set a
standard for additional gifts to be given
after receiving city contracts.

“The bid is non-responsive in more than
an inconsequential manner,” Jared wrote
in his May 22, 2006 memo, which was
copied to Kilmer’s predecessor, interim
police chief Dave Hepburn. “The [$25,000]
provision is a veiled method of rewarding
government patronage rather than
judging commitment to the community as
intended.” Jared’s bottom-line advice was
that United Motor Club’s application
“cannot be considered,” according to the
memo obtained by City Beat.

By the time the contract was up for city
council consideration in November 2006,
Kilmer had taken over as police chief.
Hepburn says Kilmer had a copy of the
city attorney memo. He recalls Kilmer
came into his office and announced he
was going to recommend United Motor
Club and Southside Towing to the city
council for the contract award. “I pointed
out it did not appear that the United bid
was legal, per the city attorney’s memo,”
Hepburn told City Beat. “He said, ‘I can’t
believe [United] put that letter in there
again.’ Then he went ahead and sent the
bid through anyway.”

As the council handed the contract solely
to United Motor Club, Shayesteh, who
was under indictment in federal court at
the time for drug trafficking and money
laundering, could barely hide his Cheshire
cat grin. But once Shayesteh’s criminal
record was exposed, along with an
apparent conflict of interest involving
Beltran and an owner of United Motor
Club, a joint state-federal probe
eventually led to Beltran’s recent
conviction on unrelated criminal charges.
Shayesteh still faces sentencing for his
criminal threat conviction.

So why didn’t Kilmer heed the advice of
legal counsel?

In an interview with City Beat, Kilmer
flatly contradicts Hepburn’s recollection.
Kilmer says he never saw Jared’s memo,
and notes that it was sent to Hepburn,
not him. He also denies that United’s
original letter was included in the bid that
was sent to the city council. He insists the
city never received the $25,000 gift. “No,
absolutely not,” Kilmer says. “What was
included was a franchise fee, which plenty
of other cities attach to contracts of this
size. This was a lucrative contract, and if I
hadn’t done my homework about the
franchise fees, I wouldn’t have been
doing my job.”

However, through a California Public
Records Act request, City Beat obtained a
copy of the bid package in early 2007.
The incriminating letter is the very first
page after the cover sheet. Last year, the
FBI subpoenaed the same bid package.

Though they recognize the dramatic
potential of Madaen’s letter, law
enforcement officials familiar with Bell
Gardens say Kilmer is not the target of an
FBI probe. But they also say Bell Gardens,
as well as such Southeast L.A. cities as
Maywood and Cudahy, is broken. The
only fix, they say, must come from the
Feds.

Contacted by City Beat, the FBI declined
to comment on the matter.

_________________________________

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