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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Former Bell City Manager Pleads Guilty to DUI


By now everyone has seen reports of the incredible corruption by officials from the city of Bell, California, particularly from the Los Angeles Times. With countless reports of elected and appointed officials basically stealing money from tax payers, we at Substance Abuse CLE couldn’t resist this opportunity to blog about it when we got the chance.

You know Robert Rizzo. He was the guy earning $787,637 to manage the City of Bell, whose population totaled only about 40,000 low and middle class workers. In addition, he was eligible for 28 weeks vacation and sick leave per year! Think about it, there are only 55 weeks in a year. Well, before his shocking salary was made public by the Los Angeles Times, Rizzo was arrested for driving while drinking.

According to numerous reports, such as the one here, Rizzo was arrested on March 6, 2010 in Huntington Beach, after he crashed his car into his neighbor’s mailbox. His blood-alcohol level was 0.28 percent. That’s more than three times the legal limit of .08! He was so drunk that the police had to stop the field sobriety test for Rizzo’s own safety.

Recently, Rizzo changed his not guilty plea to guilty, and was sentenced to a nine-month alcohol awareness program and 10 days of community service as a first-time offender.

 

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