Eagle Rock Building Inspector Arraigned on Bribery Charge

A Los Angeles city building inspector who resides in Eagle Rock was arraigned in federal court Monday on a single count indictment charging him with bribery in an FBI sting operation that also targeted an Altadena building inspector.

Hugo Joel Gonzalez, 49, of Eagle Rock was informed in the court that he is being charged with accepting at least $9,000 in bribes in exchange for granting permits on residential projects that he never inspected in South Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Akrotirianakis said.

Gonzalez, who could face a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine, pleaded not guilty to the charge. He is scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. on June 14 in the court of U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder on Spring Street downtown, Akrotirianakis said. A pretrial “status conference” and motions hearing has been set for May 23.

Also produced in the U.S. District Court in the Roybal Federal Building for arraignment was Gonzalez’s Altadena colleague, Raoul Joseph Germain, 59, a building inspector who accepted $6,000 in bribes according to the FBI. Germain entered a written plea agreement with the federal government on April 21 in which he agreed to plead guilty to accepting bribes. The FBI arrested both the inspectors on April 8 and they face a maximum sentence of 10 years as well as $250,000 in fines. 

Germain was caught on camera accepting $6,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent in a sting after the agency received a tip-off about the building inspector.

Both the inspectors worked on the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, which is responsible for inspection of construction projects in the city. The FBI began an investigation against them two after a work site supervisor contacted the federal agency in the summer of 2010.

The bribes included paying for vacations for the inspectors, buying materials at stores associated with the inspector or doing construction work at the home of the inspectors. Gonzalez accepted his first documented bribe in August 2010 in exchange for signing inspection cards for two properties—an act that he described to the informant as “preferential treatment,” according to the FBI.

Germain has been released on a $100,000 bond, while Gonzalez is under detention without bail, pending his trial.