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Yesterday’s OpenCdA post titled Prison for Former Kootenai County Finance Director linked to the preliminary story from the LA Times reporting that former Kootenai County finance director Angela (Sheffield) Spaccia had been sentenced to 11 years, 8 months in California state prison for her role in the Bell, California, corruption scandal.

Today’s Los Angeles Times story headlined Former Bell second-in-command gets 11 years in prison for corruption elaborates on yesterday’s story.  In today’s story there are some telling comments from both Spaccia (Sheffield) and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy.  Some of Spaccia (Sheffield)’s comments have been reported before by the Times, but of course Judge Kennedy could not comment until after the trial was over and the sentence had been imposed.

OpenCdA hopes readers will read today’s LA Times article and pay close attention to the comments from both Judge Kathleen Kennedy and the convicted con artist, Angela (Sheffield) Spaccia.  They reveal the mindset of not only the con artist Spaccia and her fellow con artist City Administrator Robert Rizzo, but also the Judge’s now much clearer understanding of the complicity of Bell’s then-mayor and all but one member of Bell’s city council.

Midway through today’s article, Times reporters Corina Knoll and Kate Mather included this line:

Spaccia “wishes she would have never gone to the city of Bell,” [Spaccia (Sheffield)’s attorney] Harland Braun told Kennedy.

We can’t help but wonder if Spaccia (Sheffield)  at that moment might have  been wishing  she had stayed in Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County, Idaho. (more…)

Former Kootenai County, Idaho, Finance Director Angela (Sheffield) Spaccia was sentenced today to 11 years, 8 months in prison according to the Los Angeles Times.

Spaccia, known as Angela Sheffield when she was Kootenai County’s Finance Director, was convicted on a variety of charges relating to public corruption in the Bell, California, corruption scandal.

Spaccia’s conviction was on state charges in Los Angeles County Superior Court.  Her conviction and sentencing does not preclude additional federal charges being brought against her.

Spaccia’s boss, former Bell administrator Robert Rizzo, is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Bell’s former mayor and five city council members have agreed to plead guilty to various charges involving misappropriation of public funds.   Each of them could receive up to four years in prison.

The scandal that has erupted in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell, California, (population 38,000) is an example of how predatory, self-serving city officials will loot a city treasury if the townspeople trust them too much and don’t pay attention to what the folks at city hall are doing.

On Thursday night, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer (salary $800K), Police Chief (salary $457K), and Assistant City Manager (salary $376K) resigned after a contentious public meeting in front of irate townspeople.  Not surprisingly, the Mayor and City Council initially defended approving the outrageously high salaries, to which the townspeople responded, “Recall them, too!”  (more…)