Robert Rizzo Expected To Surrender, Begin Serving Prison Sentence
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo Friday was expected to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Office in downtown Los Angeles.
Rizzo was sentenced last month to 12 years in state prison for his role in the city's corruption scandal, but he will first serve a 33-month sentence for tax evasion in a separate case.
Rizzo, who had remained free on $2.2 million bond since April 16, will serve his sentences in the two cases separately, but at the same location.
He who was also ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution in connection with the corruption scandal and $256,000 to the IRS in the tax evasion case.
The 60-year-old was the ring leader of the Bell scandal, which inflated salaries of city administrators, ultimately costing taxpayers $15 million.
In October, he pleaded no contest to 69 counts, including misappropriation of public funds and perjury.
"I breached the public's confidence by starting to look at the position more towards myself than the community. I am very, very sorry for that," he said following his sentencing.
Six other Bell city leaders, including Rizzo's assistant, Angela Spaccia, have also been convicted in the scandal.