Ex City Council Candidate Charged with Fraud
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Thursday, June 6, 2019 Vol. 18 No. 9 NEWS ENTERTAINMENT NEWS FEATURES Scholarship 60th anniversary Downey getting Library winners bash 3,000 trees ‘groundbreaking’ SEE PAGES 3 SEE PAGE 9 SEE PAGE 7 SEE PAGE 8 Downey Downey Ex city council candidate restaurant cons1iders grades charged with fraud Rio Hondo Event Center 10627 Old River School Rd. Date Inspected: 6/3/19 $260M Friday 75˚ Salvador Franco owned a Grade: A Weekend vocational training school. at a Ta Carbon Mexican Taqueria Glance budget Authorities allege students 11219 Old River School Rd. Date Inspected: 6/3/19 Saturday 6880˚⁰ received little to no training, Friday Grade: A By Eric Pierce and Franco pocketed students’ Editor financial vouchers. A-B Natural Products Sunday 83˚ DOWNEY – Buoyed by a healthy 11825 Downey Ave. 70⁰ economy and an expanding sales By Eric Pierce Date Inspected: 6/3/19 Saturday tax base, the Downey City Council Editor Grade: A is poised to adopt a $260 million fiscal budget, even if “significant DOWNEY – Salvador Franco, a challenges” are beginning to Puruvian Kitchen candidate for Downey City Council 11408 Old River School Rd. THINGS TO DO appear on the horizon. in 2012, pleaded no contest last Date Inspected: 5/30/19 The balanced spending plan week for his role in an alleged vocational training fraud scheme. Grade: A totals $259,942,802 and is all- Salvador Franco in 2012. Photo courtesy Downey Beat. inclusive, meaning it includes Franco, 42, was charged with operational expenditures resulting The defendants conspired Los Cabos Mexican Seafood one felony count of conspiring to from Measure S revenues and offered to provide workers’ 11402 Old River School Rd. commit a crime, 18 felony counts and includes infrastructure compensation claimants with of making a fraudulent statement Date Inspected: 5/30/19 investments financed by Measure S either at-home or off-site training to obtain or deny compensation, Grade: bond funds. for a few hours a week along with A and 18 felony counts of fraudulent work related materials such as a Measure S is the half-cent claims. computer. In exchange, claimants El Chilito DTLA Donut Fest sales tax increase Downey voters were expected to sign over their 12812 Paramount Blvd. Saturday - Union Station, 10 am approved in 2016. On May 24, Franco and his co- Supplement Job Displacement Date Inspected: 5/30/19 defendant, 45-year-old Mirella A 1-day edible exploration of L.A.’s Vouchers that were valued between Overall, the proposed budget is Flores of Paramount, accepted a Grade: A favorite pastry in all its forms: plain, $4,000 and $10,000. 2.7% larger than Downey’s 2018-19 court offer and pled no contest to glazed and filled. $5 fiscal year. all counts. Other students were offered Gloria Country Butcher Shop Expenditures are projected at Franco and Flores were a monetary payment in exchange 12161 Paramount Blvd. $99.9 million, funded by estimated immediately sentenced to for signing over their vouchers and Date Inspected: 5/28/19 revenues of $93.9 million. three years of formal probation not attending any training. Grade: A and ordered to pay $88,000 “When developing the budget The enrollment materials in restitution to insurers and proposal, the Council has directed allegedly sent to insurers for Potato Corner $62,000 in investigative costs that staff continue the high- payment on the vouchers, 407 Stonewood St. to the California Department of quality programs and operations however, vastly misrepresented Franco ran for Downey City Date Inspected: 5/28/19 Insurance. at the same level of effort from the the training that the claimants Council in 2012 and was endorsed previous fiscal year, with additional by then-Councilman Luis Marquez Grade: A The defendants were also were going to receive, prosecutors Long Beachland expenditures stemming only from and the Downey Firefighters sentenced to 90 days in Orange said. Instead of listing the at-home Sunday - Arts Theatre Long Beach, the Measure S related activities Association. Stox Restaurant County Jail, however, this was training, the provision of supplies, 11 am and bond-funded construction or the kickbacks to the students, 9518 E Imperial Hwy. stayed pending the completion of “I own and operate vocational program,” City Manager Gilbert defendants described the training Date Inspected: 5/28/19 A celebration of the “Epic City by the 275 hours of community service by training schools that train Livas wrote in the budget proposal. as being several hundred hours Sea” presented by Charles Phoenix Franco and 250 hours by Flores. students in nursing, light auto Grade: A in length, requiring full-time (40 with his usual humor and unbridled There are no capital mechanics, solar technologies, Between 2015 and 2017, hours per week) attendance at one enthusiasm. $45 improvement projects or operating and computer technology,” Franco Buffalo Wild Wings Franco and Flores participated of the schools’ campuses. costs funded through General Fund said in campaign mailers at the 193 Stonewood St. in an alleged Supplemental Job reserves, which are projected to time. “Along with my wife, also a Displacement Voucher fraud Compwest Insurance Company Date Inspected: 5/28/19 reach $30 million by the close of business owner, we jointly employ scheme involving the Technical was alerted to the alleged Grade: the next fiscal year, Livas added. over 30 people.” A School, Inc., doing business fraudulent scheme by a student The proposed budget – which living in Orange County who did as Technical College, Inc., and Alex Saab would go on to win The Arc Los Angeles and Orange still needs formal approval from the not receive the promised in- Graduates Do Succeed Institute, that election. City Council before July 1 – projects home training from Technical 9545 Washburn Rd. doing business as GDS Institute. Date Inspected: 5/28/19 steady increases in property tax College. Compwest then notified Franco’s political experience and sales tax revenues, along with Franco was a 20 percent owner both OCDA and the California goes back to 2001, when he was Grade: A a 4.3% growth in local median and a Director of Technical College Department of Insurance, who elected to the Bell Gardens City LA Pride Festival household income. Downey’s as well as its Chief Financial agreed to jointly investigate the Council. He lost his re-election Raising Canes Chicken Fingers All Weekend - West Hollywood Park average household income is Officer. He was also the Chief complaint. bid in 2005, however, and was 9265 Firestone Blvd. Meghan Trainor and British electronic currently at $68,162, which Financial Officer of GDS Institute. later fined $12,500 for failing to Shortly thereafter, the Los Date Inspected: 5/28/19 pop trio Years & Years headline this outpaces L.A. County households Flores was an employee for both file several campaign finance ($65,006) and the U.S. ($60,336). Angeles District Attorney’s Office year’s festival. $20-$40 schools. statements for the 2005 election. Grade: A joined the investigation. The Downey Police Department requested a 2% increase over last Glorias Country Butcher year’s spending plan, bringing its 12161 Paramount Blvd. total budget to $36.6 million. Part Date Inspected: 5/28/19 of the increase can be attributed Homeless population Grade: to a need for 10 new Ford Explorer A police interceptors ($865,000) and four Chevy Colorados ($92,600). jumps 12% in Sweet Boba In addition, the police 129 Stonewood St. department will rent 18 new Date Inspected: 5/28/19 vehicles at an annual cost of L.A. County Grade: A 60th Anniversary Carnival $111,250. All Weekend - Artesia Park Rising housing costs are the previous tally found Jersey Mikes Subs Artesia celebrates its 60th anniversary The Downey Fire Department driving people to the streets, a slight decrease in saw its proposed budget rise 8% 8855 Apollo Way with a weekend-long carnial, with study finds. the county’s homeless over last year to $23.2 million. Its population. Date Inspected: 5/24/19 games, entertainment, and prizes. Councilman Sean Ashton and Lorine Parks. budget includes requests for new Grade: A equipment such as ECG monitors LOS ANGELES – The The county’s Homeless and defibrillators, and four new number of homeless Services Authority said it FROM OUR FACEBOOK leased vehicles. people counted across Los helped 21,631 people move Kentucky Fried Chicken Angeles County jumped into permanent housing At cultural event, 7865 E Florence Ave. Mayor Rick Rodriguez, the 12% over the past year during 2018 - a pace Date Inspected: 5/24/19 DOWNEY GETTING 3,000 only candidate to endorse Measure NEW TREES to nearly 59,000, with that would have helped Grade: A S when he campaigned for City more young and old rapidly end homelessness Council in 2016, praised the talk turns to residents and families on if economic pressures BARTOLO JOSEPH: If you’re a Veracruz proposed budget. the streets, officials said had not simultaneously homeowner, having large trees 9085 E Imperial Hwy. “We’re delivering exactly what Tuesday. pushed thousands more like these are a nightmare. The homelessness roots of the tree could damage we promoted to Downey: a public out of their homes. Date Inspected: 5/23/19 The majority of the your pipes and they could safety initiative that supports our Grade: A homeless were found But while some people By Lorine Parks buckle the sidewalk over time. police and fire departments,” said within the city of Los who had been homeless Not to mention, some these Rodriguez. “We’re getting things Society Columnist Angeles, which saw a 16% managed to get permanent Pizza Time trees drip sap....... Yeah, I hate done.” increase to 36,300, the places to live, others who 8310 Stewart and Gray Rd.