Jose Flores, an LA parking manager, has been fined by an ethics panel for parking his own personal vehicles in a city-owned downtown lot without paying.
Flores must pay the city $16,705 for parking his cars inside the lot he manages at Pershing Square parking structure located on Hill Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.
Flores was caught after he was the subject of a CBS2 investigation regarding his free parking where monthly parking cost $250 at the time.
Investigative reporter David Goldstein and his team staked out the parking structure last year, finding Flores had three vehicles in the lot while he walked to work from his home nearby.
The ethics panel said the vehicles remained in the garage from August 2014 to September 2017.
When confronted with the allegation Flores admitted he was using the parking lot for free, saying it was a mistake and “not right”.
The city Ethics Commission’s assessed Flores cost the city about $10,040, and it could have fined him $33,410 but the panel ultimately cut the amount by half given Flores’ cooperation with the agency.