4 San Jacinto councilmen caught up in massive money laundering scheme

An investigation into political corruption may have wiped out nearly the entire San Jacinto City Council. Four of the city’s five council members have been charged with money laundering, bribery, perjury, and other crimes.

San Jacinto councilman Jim Ayres and mayor Jimmy Stubblefield are among those named in the 155-count indictment. Others include Nancy Ayres, the councilman’s wife, and businessman Stephen Holgate.

The charges stem from Ayres’s bid for the 65th State Assembly seat three years ago. Riverside District Attorney Rod Pacheco said the defendants laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegitimate campaign contributions.

“Those individuals include council members, friends and family, as well as donors within and outside the county”, said Pacheco at a Thursday afternoon news conference. “There were numerous accounts this money was funneled through in order to hide the true source of campaign contributions.”

Pacheco said the main source was developer and investor Stephen Holgate. Prosecutors say Holgate contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Ayres’s failed election bid. They also say Ayres accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Holgate. Some of the money was also allegedly funneled into Nancy Ayres’s successful run for a school board seat in San Jacinto.

The lone San Jacinto councilman not prosecuted is Steve Di Memmo. Pacheco praised Di Memmo for assisting with the investigation. On Thursday, Di Demmo called on his colleagues to resign. But the four indicted councilmen cannot be removed unless they’re convicted of a felony, but they’re likely to face considerable public pressure to step aside immediately. District Attorney Rod Pacheco said San Jacinto residents deserve better.

“It’s truly unfortunate that their elected officials were corrupted in such a way that would affect the integrity of the decisions they were making,” Pacheco told reporters. “It’s a good city with a lot of good people there. And hopefully this case will help them find better representatives.”

The nine indicted defendants appeared in court Thursday. All of the defendants posted bail of $25,000 to $100,000 each and were released. Riverside District Attorney Rod Pacheco said there could be more indictments. “We’re talking about a lot more people that were involved in small ways, medium-sized ways, and large ways. Stay tuned.”