The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office executed search warrants Wednesday at Huntington Park City Hall, the home of Mayor Karina Macias and nine other locations as part of a public corruption probe involving a controversial $23 million aquatic center slated for the city’s Salt Lake Park.
Dubbed “Operation Dirty Pond,” the probe began in November 2022 and focuses on the potential misuse of millions of dollars in public funds allocated to build the indoor pool, District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. The proposal called for a 30,000-square-foot, two-story, state-of-the-art aquatic center with an Olympic-size pool.
“My office is committed to ensuring that public officials uphold the highest standards of honesty, integrity and transparency,” Hochman said. “When concerns arise about the use of public funds or the actions of those in office, it is our duty to investigate thoroughly and protect the public’s trust.”
The following locations were raided by the district attorney’s Bureau of Investigation:
- Huntington Park City Hall, 6550 Miles Ave.
- Huntington Park Public Works, 6900 Bissell St.
- Salt Lake Park, 3401 E. Florence Ave.
- Residence of Edvin Tsaturyan and Sona Vardikyan, owners of JT Construction Group in Glendale.
- Residence of Efren Martinez, a former Huntington Park city official who lives in Los Angeles.
- Business office of Unified Consulting Services, LLC in Huntington Park.
- Residence of Huntington Park City Manager Ricardo Reyes, who lives in Downey.
- Homes of former City Councilmembers Graciela Ortiz and Marilyn Sanabria.
- Home of Mayor Karina Macias.
- Residence of Councilmember Eddie Martinez.
Numerous items were seized from each location, including public records maintained by the city, financial paperwork, computers, tablets, cellphones and various forms of electronic equipment, said Hochman, who did not provide specific details of corruption allegations.
While the construction of an aquatic center was approved several years ago, it’s been tied up in legal issues ever since, Huntington Park Vice Mayor Arturo Flores told the Southern California News Group.
Lawsuits were filed after a formal bidding process for the project was bypassed, and the Local Enforcement Agency responsible for ensuring the operations and closure of solid waste facilities issued a cease-and-desist order because the aquatic center was set to be built on a landfill, said Flores, who joined the City Council in 2022.
“The project has gone nowhere,” he added, describing it as “dead in the water” and “never feasible.” “The city has never gotten any signals that they were going to get any approvals to build.”
Satellite images of Salt Lake Park show an empty, fenced-off area covered in dead grass where the aquatic center was set to be built. A graffiti-covered, slumping sign proclaiming that the aquatic center is “coming soon” is visible on Google Street View in February 2021, but is nowhere to be seen by June 2024.
About a month ago, Flores publicly called for an investigation into the aquatic center, contending millions of dollars connected to the project have been unaccounted for. And then last week, Flores was served with a petition to recall him from office by the nephew of one of the former councilmembers whose homes were raided.
Additionally, four former Huntington Park employees have sued the city alleging they faced discrimination and retaliation for raising concerns about financial impropriety in connection with the aquatic center, said their attorney, Annette Harings.
The complaint, filed in 2020, accused the city of going on a “spending spree” that included entering into a “no-bid contract to build an unnecessary public pool which will cost a staggering $40,000,000.”
Huntington Park entered into the original contract, initially valued at $23 million, with JT Construction in 2019, records show. A resume provided to the city by JT Construction showed the company had not completed any projects similar to the proposed aquatic center in the previous 20 years.
The lawsuit alleges city officials colluded with Efren Martinez, owner of Unified Consulting Services, to use the “coffers of Huntington Park as their own personal piggy bank.” Martinez, during an unsuccessful run for state Assembly in 2020, listed JT Construction as one of Unified Consulting’s clients.
The employees, all of whom had significant experience in City Hall, allegedly were replaced by “younger employees who did not have the same in-depth knowledge of how a finance department is supposed to work,” Harings said.
Three of the employees later settled with the city. A fourth is heading to trial next month.
Harings, who is no longer involved in the case, said she is pleased the District Attorney’s Office is finally taking action.
“I am happy to see the district attorney has moved forward with the information that they received and, hopefully, the people that have had their homes and businesses visited today will come to justice,” she said.