Ex-mayor of South El Monte gets 1 year in prison for accepting at least $45,000 in bribes

SOUTH EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- A former mayor of South El Monte has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for accepting at least $45,000 in bribes from a city contractor, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Judge Fernando Olguin of the Central District of California also ordered Luis Aguinaga, 49, to serve one year of home detention with electronic monitoring and complete 3,000 hours of community service.

Aguinaga, who last year pleaded guilty to receiving illegal cash payments from 2005 to 2012, must also pay $12,000 in fines and restitution.

The bribes were often delivered in envelopes left in a city hall bathroom, according to prosecutors, who had sought a prison sentence of almost four years for the disgraced official.

City News Service contributed to this report.