Federal and local complaints of criminal conspiracy to commit tax fraud have been filed against Inglewood’s mayor

INGLEWOOD – A long-time Inglewood resident has filed a complaint accusing the mayor of committing fraud when he admitted to helping his girlfriend obtain a college degree by completing her coursework in order to inflate her from To justify taxpayer-funded salaries.

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. could face federal charges after he admitted to participating in a tax fraud conspiracy to help his girlfriend qualify for a higher salary, which was used to show that Melanie McDade had the financial capacity to qualify for a $700,000 home loan while employed by the city.

When it became public knowledge that McDade was moving from a part-time assistant to an executive with a salary of $312,000, Inglewood officials justified her salary by saying she had earned a college degree.

This story was covered in the Daily Breeze in an article titled The Inglewood mayor’s campaign aide earned $312,000 as his assistant last year.

A complaint was filed alleging that the inflated salary was a gift of public funds, which Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón found unfounded and closed the complaint.

“Although appellant believes that Dickens’ compensation is disproportionate to those in similar positions, the District Attorney’s Office has no jurisdiction to determine the salary of City of Inglewood employees,” Gilmer wrote in the closing memorandum. “Aside from speculation, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that Dickens’ compensation was for ‘private purposes at the behest of Mayor James Butts.’ Accordingly, this case is closed.”

District attorney drops investigation into $400,000 paid to Inglewood mayor’s assistant and girlfriend

The complaint was refiled because it was now public knowledge that Inglewood’s mayor engaged in a conspiracy to complete McDade’s coursework while they were still in a consensual relationship after it was no longer financially possible to continue to do so out of his own pocket to support.

McDade is seeking $65 million to settle her wrongful termination lawsuit against the city. She states that she was terminated after ending her consensual relationship with Butts.

The conspiracy to drive up McDade’s salary goes beyond Butts. They include former city manager Artie Fields, who doubled as McDade’s direct supervisor and suggested salary increases based on her degree and alleged performance reviews, then human resources director Jose Cortes, who would be responsible for setting her salary and the associated salary regulation, and Maria Heaney, payroll manager, for entering McDade’s salary and then under-reporting McDade’s payroll taxes to the IRS.

Cortes was promoted to assistant city manager and Heaney to assistant finance director, even though she had assisted McDade in “defrauding” the IRS.

The city appears to have taken no steps to prosecute McDade for her alleged fraud, which it describes as a “regular incident at City Hall that happens without batting an eyelid.”

Dear Mr Gascon,

I am sending this correspondence as a formal request to your office to conduct an investigation into the misuse and inappropriate use of taxpayer funds in support of an inappropriate relationship between Inglewood Mayor James Butts and his former executive assistant, Melanie McDade-Dickens.

According to documents attached to this email sent to the City of Inglewood by Ms. Mcdade’s legal counsel [she is] She is seeking legal damages for harassment and retaliation and it appears that not only did Ms. McDade provide sufficient evidence as part of the disclosure process to support her claims, but that this information and/or discovery also constituted a criminal offense and/or misuse of illegal expenditure of taxpayer funds uncover.

As the disclosure indicates, these allegations are more than troubling because the allegations made by Ms. McDade and her legal counsel suggest that Ms. McDade’s employment and unusually high compensation depended largely on a prior sexual relationship that occurred prior to the election of James Butts’ run for mayor began when Ms. McDade served as a paid campaign consultant during his 2011 election.

Once the mayor was elected despite a previous sexual relationship [and] Because the mayor was married, he hired Ms. McDade as a part-time assistant at a salary of over 80,000 per year, even though he had neither a college degree nor any experience in city government that would justify such compensation.

In addition to the hiring of Ms. McDade, who lacked the experience and/or background to justify her initial hiring, not to mention the promising and highly inappropriate sexual relationship the mayor had with Ms. McDade, it appears that the The mayor and the city’s administrative staff acted strategically and criminally placed Ms. McDade in a position to enrich herself largely based on her personal and sexual relationship with the mayor, which increased her power and responsibility and, in theory, justified an exorbitant compensation package.

These allegations and the basis of my allegations are further supported by an “exposure” from Ms. McDade’s legal counsel in which the mayor, by his own admission and a text exchange between himself and Ms. McDade, confirmed that he had completed her college coursework, which was helpful She earned her college degree and then qualified for career advancement with the City of Inglewood, ultimately qualifying her for compensation and other benefits not available to other employees with higher qualifications and decades of service to the City.

This incident is disturbing to say the least, and the evidence also strikes me as a troubling window into a long-standing pattern and/or bias of elected officials and administration who have enriched themselves, their family and friends on the back of an accepted culture of corruption Inglewood Taxpayers.

Thank you in advance for considering these matters

Marvin C McCoy

*Complaint has been edited for brevity

That complaint, along with McDade’s settlement demand letter and nearly two dozen pages of text messages between the two, were submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice for review.

Six NorCal police officers have been indicted on federal charges for paying someone to take college coursework to earn a degree that would justify a raise. One officer was convicted last month.

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