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By Brian Hews
Evidently, immoral behavior runs in the family of Commerce City Councilman Leonard Mendoza.
These past few weeks, Hews Media Group-Community News has reported on Councilman Mendoza, including documents that showed Mendoza was fired from his job at the city of Commerce for systematic harassment, intimidation, fighting, and ignoring safety policies that resulted in serious injuries to his employees.
Mendoza’s behavior was so despicable that the city was forced to hire outside attorney Sally Woolley; after she investigated, and interviewed Mendoza, Woolley recommended the city fire Mendoza.
“His testimony was not credible, [we found] Mendoza breaks the rules all the time,” wrote attorney Susan Wolley.
Wolley’s report stated that several of the witnesses involved in the investigation expressed concern about retaliation by Mendoza.
That was the last straw; in mid- 2014, the city terminated Mendoza with his boss outlining his “abusive and intimidating behavior, poor judgment, and dishonesty.” The boss wrote in the termination letter, “you [Mendoza] were demoted twice, we cut your pay twice, and you still didn’t change your behavior; we have to terminate you.”
Now, HMG-CN has obtained a document that shows Mendoza’s sister, Sylvia Mendoza and her son, Joel Paez, were arrested at their Commerce home and booked into the East LA Sheriff’s Department jail in 2018.
ARREST RECORD
According to the website selanews.com, in the early morning of May 1, 2018, several neighbors saw law enforcement vehicles converge on a house on the 2200 block of Couts Ave. in Commerce; neighbors later identified the house as the home of Mendoza’s sister Sylvia Mendoza.
The raid happened while Bandini Elementary school was in session across the street.
A review of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s website shows an arrest for a” Sylvia Mendoza,” age 44, and son Joel Paez, age 24.
According to selanews.com, Ms. Mendoza and Mr. Paez were served with search warrants and arrested for allegedly selling illegal bootleg prescription medications at local swap meets.
After HMG-CN began asking questions, a picture was sent via email that shows Sylvia Mendoza selling drugs at a public shopping event.
Emails into Councilman Mendoza went unanswered.
Selanews.com page with story
