LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles Unified School District board member Ref Rodriguez pleaded guilty today to a felony conspiracy charge and four misdemeanors for reimbursing donors to his 2015 election campaign, and he resigned from the board.
"I am sorry for the mistakes I have made,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, he was placed on three years probation and ordered to serve 60 days community service. Rodriguez, 47, is also expected to reach a settlement Monday with the city Ethics Commission, admitting that he carried out a money-laundering scheme by reimbursing 25 people who donated money to his campaign.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez raised more than $50,000 during the first campaign reporting period that ended in December 2014 and 25 donors -- most of whom were family members and friends -- were allegedly paid back $24,250 by Rodriguez and his cousin, Elizabeth Melendrez.
The donors' names had been listed on a campaign finance report that was signed by Rodriguez under the penalty of perjury and submitted to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. Rodriguez would have been allowed by law to donate the money to his own campaign directly, but the scheme could have been an effort to make his financial support from donors look stronger than it really was.
According to Ethics Commission documents, shortly after Rodriguez began his campaign for the school board seat in November 2014, he ``provided $26,000 of his own money to Melendrez, his cousin and a key campaign volunteer, with instructions to funnel that money into his campaign account by asking family members to make contributions.”
Melendrez pleaded guilty Monday to four misdemeanor counts of assumed- name contributions and was also sentenced to three years probation and 60 days community service.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge and four misdemeanor counts of assumed-name contributions.
The city Ethics Commission will hold a special meeting late Monday morning to consider a settlement of campaign violation allegations against Rodriguez. According to commission documents, he will admit that he carried out a money laundering scheme during his 2015 campaign and will agree to pay a $100,000 fine.
According to a proposed stipulation set to be voted on by the Ethics Commission, Rodriguez and Melendrez admit they reimbursed 25 political contributions to Rodriguez's campaign committee, violating the City Charter's ``prohibition against political money laundering.”
Rodriguez had originally been charged with three felonies and 25 misdemeanors in the criminal case. The additional charges against him were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Rodriguez was elected in 2015 to the District 5 seat on the LAUSD board, representing areas including Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Los Feliz, Mount Washington and Silver Lake. He is a co-founder of Partnerships to Uplift Communities, a series of charter schools in northeast Los Angeles and the northeastern San Fernando Valley.
Rodriguez stepped down from his position as school board president in September 2017 after the allegations came to light, but he remained on the board.
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