Albert Robles

Former South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison for plundering more than $20 million from the small, working-class city. A federal judge handed down the sentence after Robles said in an impassioned speech that he had acted "immorally" during his years as leader of South Gate, but never broke the law. "There are different levels of hoodwinking, but I didn't think hoodwinking was a crime," Robles said.

A New Jersey business consultant pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to serving as a bagman for South Gate's former treasurer. In a deal with prosecutors, Edward T. Espinoza agreed to testify for the prosecution in next month's trial of former Treasurer Albert Robles, who is accused of funneling money from a variety of city projects to family and friends. Federal prosecutors estimate that Robles' relatives and friends received more than $1.6 million from the scheme.

One of Los Angeles' most prominent law firms agreed Tuesday to pay South Gate $2 million to settle a suit contending that it had overbilled the city for its defense of former Treasurer Albert Robles against criminal charges. The settlement marks a major victory in the city's effort to recoup funds that officials allege were improperly spent during Robles' tenure.

A federal prosecutor outlined a pattern of bid-rigging, bribery, money-laundering and nepotism Tuesday as former South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles went on trial on charges of looting more than $12 million from the city's coffers. Robles is accused of using his official powers and political influence over a three-year period to steer millions of dollars in city contracts to businessmen in return for kickbacks that were funneled through intermediaries to his family and friends.

Former South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles was generous with his friends and relatives to a fault, federal prosecutors say. Most of the $1.8 million in bribe payments they claim he exacted from city contractors wound up in the hands of those nearest and dearest to him. An alleged bagman testified at Robles' trial in Los Angeles federal court that he funneled $165,000 in kickbacks to buy a beachside condo in Baja California for Robles' mother.

Albert Robles, the charismatic and volatile South Gate treasurer who dominated politics in the small, blue-collar city during two tumultuous years, was convicted Thursday of soliciting more than $1.8 million in bribes from bidders on municipal contracts. Robles, 40, served as an elected official in the predominantly Latino city of 100,000 in southeast Los Angeles County for nearly a dozen years.

Voters recalled him from office. He was convicted of bribery in a corruption case that cost taxpayers $12 million. Next month, he faces trial on charges of fraud and improper use of public money. But this week, former South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles served the city with a suit for wrongful termination. "Either I am a crazy madman and insane or someone who in his heart believes he's not guilty of these things or someday would be vindicated," Robles said Wednesday. "I don't believe I'm crazy.

Here's one testimonial you won't find on motivational guru Tony Robbins' next infomercial. In 2002, then-South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles took a group of city employees to a seminar at the Hyatt Regency in Garden Grove. In the parking lot of the hotel, along with hundreds of other people, they walked across rows of glowing hot coals -- part of Robbins' self-help regime. Afterward, Robles became a "platinum member" of Robbins' company.

A judge Monday dismissed five charges against former South Gate treasurer Albert Robles, leaving him to face trial on three felony charges alleging that he violated election laws and misused public funds in an unsuccessful bid to avoid recall last year. Robles was indicted by a grand jury last July for allegedly masterminding a wide-ranging conspiracy to violate election laws and misuse public funds.

For many years, South Gate was a city in search of a community. When Firestone and General Motors closed their factories in the early 1980s, they took with them thousands of jobs and the financial heart of a city that for its first 60 years had been a blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles. In the space of a decade, South Gate's demographics shifted dramatically, going from 80% white to 80% Latino. Suddenly, it seemed, no one knew their neighbors anymore.