Former City Administrator Accused of Misappropriating Funds Now Parking Lot Attendent

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The former Bell city administrator, who is accused of misappropriating public funds, is working as a parking lot attendant at the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach.

By Steve Lopez

A tipster dropped me a line the other day to say she'd spotted an infamous former public official in Huntington Beach, working as a parking lot guard at the International Surfing Museum.

So I drove down Wednesday to have a look, and guess what: Humpty Dumpty has had a great fall.

Robert "Ratso" Rizzo seems to have a new job.

You know the name, no doubt. Rizzo is the disgraced former city administrator of Bell who was charged along with other city officials of misappropriating millions of dollars in public funds from that financially crippled community while finagling a staggering salary for himself of nearly $800,000 a year. Rizzo, referred to by a prosecutor as "an unaccountable czar," stood in a corner of the parking lot at 5th and Olive, near a mural of surfers.

"You look famous," I said to him.

He shrugged.

That's when I introduced myself. Rizzo looked at me with surprise, then said he'd seen what I'd written about him, which may explain why he seemed a bit cool.

Call it a wild guess, but I'm betting Rizzo wasn't working as a parking attendant out of the goodness of his heart. It made me wonder if it might have something to do with his arrest last March in Huntington Beach after crashing through a mailbox with a tank full of booze.

I checked with Orange County authorities, who said that Rizzo still has to complete 80 hours of community service by April as part of a sentence that includes three years' probation.

So I asked Rizzo if the parking gig was for the DUI rap.

"I volunteer," he said.

Because he has to?

"I enjoy volunteering," said Rizzo, who previously enjoyed buying horses and visiting his nearly $1-million horse ranch in Washington state.

Gary Sahagen, the volunteer manager of the nonprofit museum, said Rizzo began working there last week, and that others have done service there to satisfy court requirements. But he wasn't sure if that was the case with Rizzo.

Well, I guess it's possible that Rizzo, anticipating a tough time in court somewhere down the line, is trying to establish that he's really just a misunderstood guy who loves public service so much, he'll do it for free.

Then again, maybe he's a surfer.

"Do you surf?" I asked, and I think this is where the relationship went south.

Rizzo gave me a long hard stare. Perhaps it was his way of suggesting it was just as likely that Jabba the Hutt was a surfer. I tried asking more questions, telling Rizzo this was his chance to come clean, but he wasn't in the mood to chat, saying his attorney had told him not to.

He then grabbed a folding chair, put on a blue security guard jacket and picked up a clipboard. His cap was pulled down over his ears as if he were trying to disappear into it.

http://www.latimes.c...ontent=My+Yahoo

[Ban Hammer 13,676]

i guess the bullet on his resume "raped city budgets" didn't work too well.

Edited January 14, 2011 by charles!