LAUSD Board President Ref Rodriguez and his cousin have been charged with reimbursing nearly $25,000 to donors he claimed in a campaign filing form, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Announced Wednesday.
Rodriguez, 46, and Elizabeth Tinajero Melendrez, 45, were each charged with a felony county of conspiracy to commit assumed name contribution and 25 misdemeanor counts of assumed name contribution.
In addition, Rodriguez, who became the board president earlier this summer, faces felony perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument charges, according to the DA’s office.
The investigation stemmed from a whistleblower complaint in March 2015 about Rodriguez’s fundraising activities.
He made a late annoucnment in running for school board in Nov. 2014, but managed to raise $50,000 during his campaign that ended on Dec. 31 of that year. He represents District 5.
The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission found that over a 22-day period in December of that year, nearly half of Rodriguez’s campaign contributions were fraudulent because he and Melendez reimbursed them, according to the DA’s office, which took over the investigation and filed the charges.
Rodrigues faces a possible maximum sentence of four years and four months in jail, and Melendrez faces three years in jail.
from KTLA http://ift.tt/2xzkybS
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