City Attorney's Wife Named In Arrest Warrant

[kfrost06]

(CBS) LOS ANGELES The wife of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is named in an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear in court in 1998 on charges of driving without insurance, with a suspended license and in an unregistered car, it was reported Wednesday.

In addition, documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that in the last three years the Delgadillos were chronically late in paying fines for at least five parking tickets, the newspaper reported Wednesday.

One violation for parking in a red zone in December 2006 was not paid until The Times inquired about the tickets last month, by which time the $70 infraction had become a $174 fine with penalties, according to the newspaper.

A spokesman for Delgadillo told The Times the city attorney's wife was responsible for all the parking tickets and delinquent payments.

Michelle Delgadillo's scofflaw status was yet another embarrassing development for the city's top prosecutor, who disclosed Monday he had periodically allowed her to drive his city-owned vehicle on a suspended license for personal errands.

She had an accident in 2004 while driving her husband's city-assigned GMC Yukon, which was repaired at taxpayer expense.

After ducking the issue for days, Delgadillo announced Monday he was reimbursing the city for the $1,222 repair and said he did not realize he himself had been an uninsured motorist for about a year and his wife, for more than two years.

In the latest disclosure, Michelle Delgadillo said in a statement released to The Times Tuesday that she is "very embarrassed to find myself in this situation" and is working to resolve the arrest-warrant issue "as quickly as possible."

"I will do whatever the court instructs me to do. I apologize for any embarrassment this has caused my husband and family," she said. "It is completely my mistake."

Delgadillo added in another statement quoted by The Times that he had not known of the outstanding warrant.

"As soon as I learned about this today, I immediately urged my wife to remedy the situation, and she is working to resolve this. My wife is embarrassed about this, and I am embarrassed as well."

According to documents obtained by The Times, Michelle Delgadillo was cited by a California Highway Patrol officer on Aug. 1, 1998, in Santa Monica for allegedly driving with an expired Montana driver's license.

The citation -- issued two weeks before she married Delgadillo and written under her maiden name, Namen -- said the tan BMW 325 she was driving had expired tags and she had no proof of insurance.

The Santa Monica city attorney's office filed a three-count criminal case. When she did not appear in court a month later for her arraignment, a judge issued a $2,000 bench warrant, according to records cited by The Times.

The warrant remains active, according to officials with the Santa Monica city attorney's office and court records reviewed by The Times.

[kfrost06]

I posted this because this is the same attorney that felt Paris should go to jail for driving on a suspended license, she needed to learn her lesson. Well, less see if the same principle applies to his fugitive wife who broke more laws and didn't even bother going to the trial.

[Spartan13]

Alway a double standard, between thous who make and enforce the laws, and the rest of us who have to live with them, Congress doing what ever they want, cops, do they ever get busted for using, or speeding? DAs, the one in Durham NC, doing what ever he wanted, and he is the exception, finally having to answer for his actions.

[kfrost06]

LOS ANGELES The wife of LA's city attorney got a ticket two years ago for driving with a suspended license.

Rocky Delgadillo acknowledged the ticket on Friday at the same time he pushed for Paris Hilton to get more jail time for violating probation in a reckless driving case.

Delgadillo told the Los Angeles Times that his wife, Michelle, was fined $186. But the city attorney said there was no comparison to Paris Hilton's case.

Hilton was stopped for driving with a suspended license at a time when she was on probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving condition.

Delgadillo's wife originally lost her license for driving without proof of insurance and causing an accident, according to the state ***artment of Motor Vehicles.

[kfrost06]

Unbelievable! Throw the woman in jail just like you throw Paris in jail, Paris never caused an accident. In addition this sleazeball gave his wife a city vechicle to drive knowing she had a suspended license and she wrecked the truck! Then he made the tax payers pay to fix it!

Put her in jail!

[kfrost06]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles prosecutor who accused Paris Hilton of enjoying celebrity favoritism was under investigation on Friday for his own conduct in a scandal over driving violations and personal use of city resources.

The Los Angeles Times, citing unidentified city sources, said the Los Angeles Ethics Commission and the California State Bar are both investigating City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

Delgadillo, the city's top law enforcement official, has admitted driving without insurance, allowing his wife to drive his city-owned car without a license and having staff babysit his children and run other errands.

Neither the ethics commission nor the state bar, which regulates and disciplines California lawyers, would confirm the confidential probes. Delgadillo's office said he "is fully prepared to cooperate with any investigation."

Delgadillo's office prosecuted Hilton for driving offenses in May and Delgadillo himself then complained of a "two-tiered" system when the celebrity heiress was reassigned to house arrest after only three full days in jail.

As a result Hilton, 26, was sent back to jail and is expected to be released on Monday after serving 23 days.

Delgadillo has since publicly apologized for having the city pay $1,200 to repair a city vehicle that his wife had crashed while driving on a suspended license, late payment of parking tickets, and his own lapse in renewing compulsory car insurance.

His wife, Michelle, was given 12 months probation this week after answering to a 9-year-old arrest warrant on charges of driving without insurance on a suspended license in an unregistered car.

The Los Angeles Times in a Friday editorial said any police officer who committed Delgadillo's offenses would be fired.

"Why does the city's top law enforcement official get a better deal than its rank and file?" it said.

[kfrost06]

Sounds like a "two-tiered" system to me!