Patrolman Charged With Taking Bribes

A California Highway Patrol officer and a longtime friend were charged Thursday with soliciting and accepting bribes of as much as $2,000 to fix drunk driving cases.

Officer Louis Cordova, 31, of Rosemead, a five-year CHP veteran, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles Municipal Court to two charges of bribery and single counts of conspiracy and altering public records. He has been suspended since June 13, a CHP spokesman said.

Gilbert Michael Martinez, also 31, of South Pasadena pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and cocaine possession and two counts of soliciting a bribe. Martinez is a legal assistant who works for attorneys on a free-lance basis, authorities said.

Met in High School

Cordova and Martinez met when they attended Cathedral High School together in the early 1970s.

A second CHP officer suspended earlier this month in connection with the bribery investigation was not charged Thursday. But Officer Ulises Tiffer, 34, is still the subject of an internal investigation, said Sgt. Mark A. Lunn, a CHP public affairs officer.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James E. Koller, who filed the criminal complaint against Cordova and Martinez, said the case remains under investigation.

Martinez, Cordova and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.

As the court liaison officer for the CHP’s central Los Angeles branch, Cordova was responsible for presenting CHP arrest reports to deputy city attorneys at the downtown traffic court building on South Hill Street, CHP spokesman Lunn said.

The central branch is responsible for policing the freeways that run through downtown Los Angeles, Lunn said.

In misdemeanor cases such as those involving drunk driving, the city attorney’s office is charged with reviewing the arrest reports and then deciding whether to file criminal charges.

Failure to Report

On at least two occasions, according to the complaint filed by Koller, Cordova intentionally failed to present drunk driving arrest reports to the city attorney’s office after Martinez had solicited bribes from the suspects named in the reports.

The complaint names four people from whom Martinez and Cordova allegedly either solicited or received bribes. None of the four was charged with a crime. Koller would not say how many bribes the men are suspected of soliciting.

Many of the drunk driving suspects allegedly targeted by Cordova and Martinez had previously been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and would have faced a possible jail term had charges been filed against them a second time, The Times learned.

A typical fine for a first-time drunk driving offense is $700 or $800, according to authorities.

Arrested in June

Martinez was arrested June 11 near a Los Angeles restaurant, after he allegedly accepted a $500 down payment on a $1,500 bribe. The woman who handed Martinez the money had alerted authorities after Martinez first contacted her about “handling” her recent arrest for driving under the influence, Koller said. Cordova was suspended two days later.

Martinez has been free on $40,000 bail since his arrest. Cordova was released Thursday on his own recognizance. Judge Elva R. Soper scheduled a preliminary hearing for Oct. 25.

Koller would not say why charges in the case were not filed until Thursday and he refused to discuss details of the investigation.