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| Carlos Bustamante |
07/03/2012
By VIK JOLLY
Prosecutors will detail the criminal charges Tuesday against Carlos Bustamante, a current Santa Ana city councilman who last year resigned from his county post.
SANTA ANA – A Santa Ana city councilman and a former Orange County executive was arrested Monday and charged with more than a dozen counts, including false imprisonment and assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will detail the criminal charges Tuesday against Carlos Bustamante, who resigned from his post as director of administrative services for O.C. Public Works in October after an internal investigation into accusations he had sexual encounters with employees who reported to him.
Bustamante, a one-time rising county Republican star who has denied wrongdoing, was put on paid administrative leave Sept. 12 after the county received an anonymous letter detailing allegations of a sexual nature against him.
The charges against Bustamante are "a real black eye for the county," said John Moorlach, chairman of the county's board of supervisors. "We will do our best to make sure that management identifies this type of behavior sooner and deals with it, because it's not fair to the female employees of the county. We have to make sure it never happens again."
Specifically, prosecutors have charged Bustamante, who was arrested at 4:30 p.m. Monday by D.A. investigators, with 12 felonies and four misdemeanors, including:
Six felony counts of false imprisonment, three of assault with the intent to commit a sexual offense, and one count each of stalking, attempted sexual battery by restraint, and grand theft by false pretense, and one misdemeanor count each of battery, assault, sexual battery, and attempted sexual battery with a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing the offenses as a result of sexual compulsion and for the purpose of sexual gratification, according to a District Attorney's Office news release.
Prosecutors received an investigative report from the county counsel's office regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Bustamante in March, after the county's internal audit department looked into how county executives handled the allegations and delivered a confidential report to the county's Board of Supervisors.
Bustamante, a Santa Ana councilman since 2004 and a county employee since 2000, told The Orange County Register in an emailed statement Sept. 15:
"I am not at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation; however, I strongly deny the vicious and hurtful rumors surrounding my employment with the county of Orange. My family and I are confident that the investigation will disprove them, and I am looking forward to returning to work."
A second anonymous letter sent to the county and obtained by the Register gave the names of four current and former female O.C. Public Works employees with whom Bustamante allegedly had sexual encounters in his office over the past several years and provided more graphic detail of the allegations.
All four were subordinate to Bustamante, according to the letter.
Bustamante and one of the women "met more than a dozen times a month for more than a year either in his office or her palatial quarters he built for her," the letter said. The letter writer also promised "steamy, erotic pictures" of the sexual encounters would soon be posted on social media.
"If the truth be told, 100 percent of the planning staff is silently aware of this and more than 60 percent of the OCPW staff is aware and, yes, most OCPW executive management chose to cast a blind eye. Everyone is afraid of retribution in the current difficult job environment," the letter read.
Other women named in the letter were promoted in the department in exchange for sexual favors for Bustamante, the letter alleged.
Of the four women accused of having sexual encounters with Bustamante, one told the Register's OC Watchdog that the allegations were false and a second sent a five-page letter to county supervisors denying having any kind inappropriate relationship with another county official and explaining she couldn't have had sex in her office with Bustamante because one of her office walls was made entirely of glass and sat next to a well-traveled public sidewalk.
After his resignation, the councilman again issued a statement denying any inappropriate sexual encounters with his employees.
"The allegations in the anonymous letters were unsubstantiated because they are not true, however, I have decided to never put my family or me through this horrible experience again, therefore I have decided to resign my position with the county and pursue a career in the private sector," Bustamante wrote to the OC Watchdog. "I am very proud of my twelve years of distinguished county service and will miss working with my friends and colleagues at the county."
In his resignation letter, he said he was not entitled to a 90-day severance package because he is voluntarily resigning but said he had agreed to accept a 90-day severance package in exchange for not suing the county.
"It's tragic," said county Supervisor Bill Campbell on Monday. "It's sad to see somebody with what was a great career having faults that are now causing him to be in a criminal investigation."
The county paid Bustamante $178,277 in 2010, according to county pay data.
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