A vehicle assigned to Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo was damaged in an accident in 2004, but his aides say they can't find a report that should have been filed in the matter. The form would have identified the driver, location and date and explained the crash, which cost taxpayers $2,120 in repairs.
On Monday, Delgadillo refused to comment about where the accident happened or who had been driving the city-owned GMC Yukon.
However, a source close to the city attorney told of being informed that the car had been backed into a structure in the parking garage of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when Delgadillo's wife, Michelle, was there for a medical appointment.
Two other sources, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Delgadillo occasionally has allowed his wife to use the sport utility vehicle.
A Los Angeles Ethics Commission bulletin to employees in 2001 said elected officials could use their city cars for personal as well as official business. But the bulletin said uses not permitted would include "allowing family members to use a city car for personal business, such as a trip to the market to buy groceries."
Delgadillo would not confirm or deny the source's Cedars-Sinai account or say whether his wife had ever used the Yukon or who was driving it at the time of the accident.
"The city attorney will simply not respond to non-sourced City Hall rumors fed to you by disgruntled employees that take aim at his wife or family," said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for the city attorney, in a statement e-mailed to The Times.
Delgadillo's wife did not return calls for comment or respond to an interview request made through Velasquez.
The Times reported Saturday that Michelle Delgadillo was ticketed for failing to obey a turn-only sign while driving her personal car with a suspended license in 2005.
That news came the same day Delgadillo told a judge that hotel heiress Paris Hilton should serve more time in jail for driving with a suspended license and violating her probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges.
According to state Department of Motor Vehicle records, Michelle Delgadillo's driver's license was suspended from July 25, 2004, through March 6, 2007, for failure to provide proof of insurance after an accident.
A spokesman for Delgadillo said Friday that Michelle Delgadillo regretted driving with a suspended license but said her case was not in any way comparable to Hilton's.
