document Published The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged last week that public officials matching the profile of state Sen. Susan Rubio were involved in a marijuana bribery scheme when she served on the Baldwin Park City Council and ran for state office in 2018. .

Mr. Rubio, a Democrat, said through a spokesperson that he has “no reason to believe that he is involved in any criminal charges.”

The document does not mention Rubio by name, but it does list public officials who fit her profile. That person was in position to fire the Baldwin Park city attorney in 2017 and 2018, and was running for the state Legislature until November 2018. The only Baldwin Park employee whose experience matches these criteria.

This information was revealed in the plea agreement of former Baldwin Park City Atty. robert tafoya acknowledged my role involved in a cannabis bribery scheme and agreed to cooperate in an ongoing public corruption investigation. Former city commerce director Edgar Cisneros also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to allegedly bribe local officials to grant permits for marijuana businesses.

Tafoya claims that an unsealed plea agreement claims that an anonymous Baldwin Park official demanded a $30,000 cash payment that would later be funneled into a state campaign account through a straw donor. are. It is alleged that the candidates wanted these small donations to “demonstrate to other donors their broad support in the community.”

Mr. Tafoya alleges that in exchange for the money, the candidate agreed to use his authority as a state elected official to protect Mr. Tafoya’s job and financially support him.

The plea agreement states that Tafoya met with an unnamed Baldwin Park employee in 2017 and paid him the first $15,000 “in cash in an envelope.” A second cash payment of the same amount was made after the unnamed official “won a primary election in June 2018,” the document states.

Campaign finance reports show that in August and October 2018, Mr. Rubio’s campaign received a total of $2,600 from Tafoya & Garcia, the law firm affiliated with Tafoya mentioned in the plea agreement. There were two donations of dollars.

Mr. Rubio’s office did not respond to questions from the Times about whether she was the anonymous individual mentioned in Mr. Tafoya’s petition.

“Mr. Tafoya appears to be filing charges against numerous individuals in an effort to reduce his sentence,” Rubio spokesman Matthew Zberg said in a statement.

Federal authorities told Rubio that she was not the subject of a government investigation and that she had “volunteered her time” to assist authorities with their investigation, Zuber said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said she could neither confirm nor deny these allegations.

Zberg also pointed to Rubio’s record of voting against approval of cannabis businesses on the City Council.

In his plea agreement, Tafoya said he agreed to the deal because he believed authorities could remove him from his position as city attorney. He also said the person “provides.” [him] If they are elected to state office, they will have to do additional work.

The anonymous official, referred to only as “Person 20” in the plea agreement, was identified as the person in position to remove the Baldwin Park city attorney from public office. Council members are the only authorized officials. Power to dismiss city attorneyaccording to Baldwin Park’s city code.

The petition also states that the officials Tafoya bribed were candidates for state office “beginning in 2017 and ending in November 2018,” which was during Rubio’s first term as a senator. It’s the same time as the time when I succeeded in exercising.

The Times looked at the list of sitting City Council members who were running for state office during that period. Rob Korinke, who runs Grassroots Lab, a public relations firm that maintains a database of candidates running for local elections, said no other public official in Baldwin Park with the authority to remove Tafoya from office during that period No one was reportedly campaigning to run for state office. California state capital.

The Times identified two other people who resembled the description of “Person 20” in the plea deal but lacked key details. One is Monica Garcia, who also served on the Baldwin Park City Council and ran for the state Legislature. However, she did not run in November 2018 after losing the primary election. “Person 20” is referred to as such in the plea agreement. His opponent was Mike Eng, Rubio’s opponent in the 2018 general election. However, because he was not a Baldwin Park official, he did not have the authority to fire Tafoya as stated in the document.

Garcia and Eng did not respond to requests for comment.

The racketeering allegations began in June 2017, when then-Baldwin Park City Councilman Ricardo Pacheco began soliciting bribes from marijuana companies for licenses to operate in the San Gabriel Valley community. These scandals led to a 2023 statewide audit aimed at curbing bribery in cannabis businesses.

Cisneros, November 2023 resigned quietly He appeared in court from his office in the city of Commerce in southeastern Los Angeles County and pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges. Tafoya resigned He took office as Baldwin Park city attorney in 2022 and pled guilty to federal bribery and tax evasion charges in December 2023.

“Many felt it would be economically beneficial to bring cannabis into our community,” said former Baldwin Park City Councilman Cruz Baca. “They saw an opportunity to charge what they wanted and jumped on the bandwagon. [cannabis] Businesses wanted to be involved in the community.

“It was like a gold rush,” she added. “Some people were attracted to that.”

Since California legalized marijuana, corruption has permeated local governments from the Inland Empire to the San Gabriel Valley to southeast Los Angeles County, a Times investigation found.

When California legalized marijuana, many cities placed strict limits on the number of marijuana licenses they could issue. Cannabis businesses are still prohibited in most cities. There are a limited number of permits available, so competition for permits is intense.

Baldwin Park Prohibit delivery and clinical testing Cannabis is prohibited, but retail sales and local manufacturing, cultivation and distribution of the plant are permitted. City officials began awarding licenses at the end of 2017 and said the maximum number of permits they would grant was 25. The city is one of 27 cities in Los Angeles County that allow at least one type of cannabis business, and an additional 61 that ban it outright.