Building on a Carson corruption probe that has drawn guilty pleas from four public officials, federal agents arrested the son of U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) Thursday on charges of extorting kickbacks from contractors doing business with the government water agency he heads.
R. Keith McDonald, president of the obscure but powerful West Basin Municipal Water District, was also charged in a separate alleged scheme with extorting tens of thousands of dollars from a bus company seeking a contract extension from Carson.
In that case, McDonald is accused by a federal grand jury of ferrying bribe payments to three Carson City Council members who have since acknowledged receiving them.
A second West Basin board member, Tyrone Smith, was also indicted by the grand jury for allegedly extorting $25,000 two years ago from an investment banker who stood to earn 10 times that much if a firm he was representing handled the refinancing of $140 million in West Basin debt.
Both men face a nine- or 10-year prison term if convicted, said Assistant U.S. Atty. John Hueston, the government's lead prosecutor.
McDonald, 39, was arrested at his Long Beach home and taken to U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, where he was freed on $200,000 bail.
The sum was guaranteed by his mother, who agreed to put a $100,000 lien on her house.
Millender-McDonald declined to comment on the charges facing her son, as did his lawyer, John Potter.
Smith, 46, of Ladera Heights, remains at large, authorities said Thursday.
West Basin is one of the largest water districts in California, serving close to 1 million residents in Malibu, Culver City, Inglewood, the South Bay beach cities, Carson and Gardena and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Its five elected board members work part time, representing 17 cities and some unincorporated areas, principally in southwest Los Angeles County.
West Basin buys water from the giant Metropolitan Water District -- which imports supplies from the Colorado River and Northern California -- and sells it to local water companies. It also recycles sewage for industrial uses and landscape watering.
Although boards such as West Basin's attract little attention from voters or the media, they are considered plum positions by many budding politicians.
McDonald, who has served the water district since 1994, has lost two bids to succeed his mother in the state Assembly since she was elected to Congress in 1996.
