San Bernardino County Official Keeps Job Amid Prostitution Scandal
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — One San Bernardino county official who pleaded guilty to agreeing to engage in prostitution has been allowed to keep his job, and that isn't sitting well with residents.
"It's favoritsm. What else can I say? If I was a teacher and that happened, I'd be fired," San Bernardino resident Jack Brennan said.
Andrew Lamberto is the director of the county's human resources department.
In March, Lamberto reportedly answered an Internet sex ad while in Orange County and was caught after showing up to a hotel.
CBS2/KCAL9 has learned he's being disciplined and that this is his last chance, but that he will not be packing his bags anytime soon.
A county representative issued a statement, saying: "He wasn't fired because the county seldom if ever even imposes discipline for a non-work-related misdemeanor."
Latosha Samuel disagrees and says the discipline is in inadequate.
"Oh, he shouldn't even have a job then. Most of the people trying to get a job like that can't get a job because of simple things like that, drugs, prostitution, anything like that," Samuels said.
Other residents don't believe Lamberto's actions are a big deal.
"It's not like he paid for prostitution with county money," Kendall Harper said.
Lamberto expressed his regret in part of a statement from the county.
"There is no acceptable excuse for my behavior," he said.
"What I did was wrong, and I accept full responsibility for my actions," he added.
Lamberto already completed 10 days of community service and also has three years of unsupervised probation.
Requests to speak with Lamberto, the county CEO and the entire board of supervisors were not granted.
While this happened in the spring, the county says that normally it does not disclose non-work-related issues.
However, since someone publicized the court record this week, the county decided to address the issue.
