CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 28, 2000
Thomas O'Donnell, San Bernardino County treasurer-tax collector from 1987 to 1998, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in federal prison for accepting bribes. O'Donnell, 67, of Carlsbad, is the latest defendant to be sentenced in a San Bernardino County corruption case involving four former top officials and three businessmen. U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson also fined O'Donnell $5,000 and ordered him to pay $7,158 in restitution.
NEWS
August 28, 1998
The San Bernardino County chief administrative officer has resigned, and county officials said he is being investigated by the FBI. Details of the investigation were not available, and the FBI refused to confirm or deny any investigation. James Hlawek resigned Tuesday as the county's top bureaucrat after four years in the post. His resignation made no reference to the FBI probe.
BUSINESS
August 11, 2000 | From Bloomberg News
Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney Inc. and one of its brokers are being sued by San Bernardino County, which alleges that they defrauded the county and mishandled investments. The suit claims that Salomon bribed officials in exchange for county business in the mid-1990s. The county paid unnecessary commissions to Salomon for some mutual fund purchases, said Dick Larsen, the county's treasurer-tax collector. The county alleges breach of fiduciary responsibility, bribery and fraud.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 10, 2005 | Hugo Martin, Times Staff Writer
Two former San Bernardino County officials and a landfill executive must pay a total of $1.75 million in punitive damages for participating in a scheme to trade bribes and kickbacks for lucrative county contracts, a Ventura County Superior Court judge tentatively ruled Wednesday. The punitive damages levied against former County Administrative Officer James Hlawek, his county predecessor Harry Mays and former landfill executive Kenneth James Walsh are in addition to $4.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 25, 2005 | Ashley Powers, Times Staff Writer
A judge has awarded San Bernardino County a total of $10.6 million in damages against former county officials and contractors who traded bribes and kickbacks for profitable contracts, the county announced Tuesday. Judge Vincent J. O'Neill Jr. last week officially approved two preliminary judgments in favor of the county, including $1.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 29, 2002 | DOUGLAS HABERMAN, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
A federal judge on Monday threw out bribery charges against San Bernardino County Supervisor Jerry Eaves but kept in place mail fraud charges. U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real also dismissed all bribery charges against billboard company owner William Shepardson McCook, the businessman Eaves and others allegedly conspired with and received bribes from, according to a federal indictment.