They have all agreed to plead guilty to the charges. They appeared in court Thursday to hear the judge announce the charges, and they will return before a different judge in the near future. As a formality, the judge entered a not guilty plea for them.
"Mr. Silva and Mr. Perales, in connection with their plea agreements, have discussed other unrelated bribery, unrelated to the marijuana dispensary and have talked about a variety of similar crimes in Cudahy," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis.
Osvaldo Conde gave himself up last month after a five hour standoff in Cudahy. Former Mayor David Silva and Angel Perales, the interim city manager, pleaded guilty to extortion and bribery.
They allegedly paid an undercover FBI informant money in an attempt to get approval for a marijuana dispensary.
"Where the facts are not in dispute, the right thing to do is step forward and enter a guilty plea as early in the proceedings as is possible and then allow the sentencing guidelines to be applied. And the judge will ultimately decide what the appropriate punishment should be," said George Bird, Conde's attorney.
The three will appear in court, probably later this month. They could face up to 30 years in prison, but nobody expects the sentence to be that harsh.
