LOS ANGELES – A former mayor traded his public trust for cold, hard cash. Luis Aguinaga, 49, of South El Monte, received a sentence of one year and one day in federal prison today for a years-long bribery scheme involving a contractor doing business with the city. The sentence, handed down by United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin, also includes one year of home detention, 3,000 hours of community service, and a $10,000 fine.
Aguinaga pleaded guilty in September to one count of bribery, admitting he pocketed payments from a contractor performing engineering and construction work for South El Monte. The bribes were a direct reward for approving city contracts favorable to the contractor, a confidential witness (CW) identified in court documents. The scheme ran from 2005 until September 2012, a blatant abuse of power stretching nearly a decade.
The contractor, operating under FBI scrutiny, delivered bribes roughly every two to three weeks, shortly after receiving payment from the city. Aguinaga didn’t hesitate to demand his cut; if a payment was delayed, he’d personally call the contractor to inquire. The initial bribes started at a measly $500, but quickly ballooned to $1,000 per delivery. Payments were slipped into envelopes, hidden in a South El Monte City Hall bathroom, or stuffed into the passenger side pocket of a car – a pathetic attempt at discretion.
The depth of Aguinaga’s corruption was starkly revealed during an FBI undercover operation. On September 12, 2012, Aguinaga brazenly accepted a $1,000 bribe despite being “nervous” about meeting the CW, knowing that officials in nearby Cudahy had recently been arrested on similar bribery charges. He took the money anyway, proving his greed outweighed any sense of self-preservation. Court records show Aguinaga raked in at least $45,000 from the contractor in the final two years of the scheme alone.
“Mr. Aguinaga was an elected public official who abused the trust of his constituents by engaging in a pay-for-play scheme,” stated Acting United States Attorney Sandra R. Brown. “He accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes over several years. This deliberate conduct adversely affected the administration of South El Monte and degraded the public’s view of local government.” Deirdre Fike, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, added, “Mr. Aguinaga abandoned the community he was elected to serve by basing his decisions on greed and ill-gotten financial gain rather than good government.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation spearheaded the investigation, while Assistant United States Attorney Ruth C. Pinkel of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section handled the prosecution. This case serves as a grim reminder: in South El Monte, and across the country, corruption continues to fester beneath the surface, eroding public faith and demanding accountability. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this story and expose the rot within our institutions.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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