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Conspiracy Charge Hits Palmdale Mayor

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford was charged Wednesday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office with conspiracy, conflict of interest and perjury for allegedly receiving more than $60,000 from local consultants and not disclosing the money on financial statements. Ledford, 63, is alleged to have conspired with Kimberly Shaw and Susan Miller to use shell companies to pay himself $5,200 a month. He was expected to be arraigned Wednesday at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, according to the district attorney’s office. Shaw, 61, of Yorba Linda, and Miller, 68, of Las Vegas, were charged with conspiracy, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds. Miller hired Ledford in 2009 to work at her company, Complex Culture Change Consulting. At the time, the firm was receiving $13,000 a month from the Aero Institute, a partnership between government, private industry and academic institutions to promote science, technology, engineering and math programs, where Miller was the executive director. Ledford was then paid $5,200 a month from that amount. Prosecutors allege that Ledford did no work for the institute, the district attorney’s office said. Shaw was also involved in operating the Aero Institute and did consulting work for the city. When, in January 2012, the Palmdale City Council voted to increase Shaw’s consultant contract to no more than $3.9 million over seven years, Ledford allegedly failed to say at the time he was indirectly receiving income from the Aero Institute, according to the criminal complaint. From 2015 to this year, Ledford is accused by the district attorney of not reporting the income he received from the Aero Institute on economic disclosure statements. Ledford has been Palmdale mayor since 1992. He was most recently re-elected in November. In May, investigators with the district attorney served search warrants on his home, office at City Hall as well as the Aero Institute. If convicted on all charges, Ledford faces a maximum prison sentence of four years and eight months. Shaw and Miller face four years in prison if convicted.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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