Los Angeles Co. assessor arrested for corruption
Oct 17, 2012, 4:25 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles County assessor John Noguez has been arrested following a yearlong corruption investigation into influence peddling and slashing of property taxes for political allies.
District Attorney Steve Cooley’s office says Cooley plans to announce the arrest and give details on the charges during a Wednesday morning news conference.
The Los Angeles Times (
http://lat.ms/T0u5wo) reports the charges include bribery and corruption.
Noguez was a longtime county appraiser before being elected to the assessor’s office’s top job in 2010.
District attorney’s office investigators began looking into improper tax breaks granted to more than 100 wealthy property owners since Noguez’s election.
Assessor’s office employees had complained they were pressured to lower property taxes for clients of prominent Noguez campaign contributors.
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