Noguez was arrested in October on two dozen corruption charges but
was unable to pay the $1.16-million bail until supporters put up the
money.
Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, who has been in jail since
his October arrest on two dozen corruption charges, finally made bail on
Friday.
Noguez is accused of taking $185,000 in bribes from Ramin Salari, a
prominent property tax consultant and generous Noguez campaign
fundraiser. In return for the cash, Noguez is alleged to have lowered
property tax bills for some of Salari's wealthy clients.
Both Noguez and Salari pleaded not guilty following their Oct. 17 arrest, and have vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
Salari was able to post his
$1.16-million bail within hours of his arrest. But Noguez, who faced the
same bail amount, has languished in jail. A key obstacle has been
proving that the money he uses for his defense is not derived from the
alleged criminal enterprise.
Noguez cleared that hurdle Friday morning after a wealthy benefactor
put up property as collateral, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Max
Huntsman.
Huntsman declined to identify the donor, but said the person had received "no obvious tax breaks" from Noguez.
Noguez's attorney, Michael Proctor, said a group of Noguez supporters
put up the money, but acknowledged there was one person who put up more
than the rest. Proctor, too, declined to identify that donor.
Morris Demayo, Noguez's bail bondsman, said the assessor's friends
put up $92,600 in cash and secured the rest of the amount with
collateral, primarily real estate. Demayo said he was stunned by how
thorough the district attorney's vetting process had been for potential
donors.
"A lot of people were turned away, that's why this took so long,"
Demayo said. By comparison, he said former Bell City Administrator
Robert Rizzo was able to raise $2 million in "a week and a half."
Noguez has been fighting for his release for nearly five months.
"This is America. People are innocent until they are proven guilty,"
Proctor said Friday. "John ought to be out, and we're happy about that."
Proctor declined to describe what Noguez is looking forward to most
after his months of isolation at Men's Central Jail, saying only that
his client is eager to start working on his defense, which is difficult
to do from a jail cell.
Though Noguez continued receiving his $197,000 county salary while in
jail, he was not allowed to use that money for bail. "We're alleging
that he received bribes, so his salary was linked to his criminal
conduct," Huntsman said.
Despite his arrest and incarceration, Noguez is still officially the
Los Angeles County assessor and could walk into work Monday morning and
take over. Rumors have been flying around the assessor's office for
weeks that he would do just that if he made bail.
But acting Assessor Santos Kreimann sent a memo to employees on
Friday attempting to tamp down that speculation. "Although as an elected
official Mr. Noguez has the right to immediately return to his post, I
fully expect that he will remain on a voluntary leave of absence to
focus on his legal issues and minimize the impact of the trial on our
day-to-day operations," Kreimann wrote.
Proctor said Noguez has no intention of returning to the office.
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