Bell Gardens Councilman Mario Beltran is suspected of steering a $5-million automobile towing contract to a company connected to an old friend and business associate, according to a Los Angeles police affidavit released Thursday.
L.A. police also allege that Beltran's City Council colleague Daniel Crespo received an unspecified threat when he raised "issues" over the contract.
Although authorities would not specify the nature of the alleged threat or who made it, the affidavit says Crespo told Beltran during a telephone call that he had been threatened by the owner of the towing company, United Motor Club in South Gate, after a council meeting in November.
The affidavit also alleges that Beltran allowed the owner, Shahram Shayesteh, to secretly listen in on the conversation in which Crespo discussed the threat.
During the conversation, the affidavit says, Beltran asked Crespo how he was going to vote on the towing contract and told Crespo he had the support of two other council members to give it to United. Beltran asked Crespo if he liked Shayesteh, and Crespo said, "No, he threatened me."
In November, Beltran was in the City Council majority that awarded the contract to United, ending a 38-year relationship with another towing firm.
The conversation triggered a criminal-threat investigation that led this week to searches at Beltran's home and City Hall office. Police also took evidence from the towing company.
Authorities say the vice president of the towing firm, attorney Bahran Madaen, also did free work for Beltran's firm, Americas Consulting Group, and said he was an old friend of the councilman. In the affidavit, an LAPD detective says she and an FBI agent went to the Van Nuys address listed for the consulting group and found it to be a law office of Madaen.
"If these facts are correct, Mario Beltran would have a financial interest in the United Motor Club vote," the affidavit says, "since his providing a benefit to Bahran could influence Bahran's continued providing of free services to Beltran."
Further, according to the affidavit, Madaen's free services to Beltran should have been reported as a gift under state laws governing public officials.
Beltran's attorney, Phillip Cohen, denied any wrongdoing by his client. "This appears to be a witch hunt against Councilman Beltran for purely politically motivated reasons," Cohen said.
