Federal, local complaints filed against Inglewood mayor alleging criminal conspiracy to defraud taxpayers

INGLEWOOD – A longtime Inglewood resident has filed a complaint alleging the mayor committed fraud when he admitted to assisting his girlfriend obtain a college degree, by completing her coursework, to justify inflating her taxpayer funded salary.

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. could face federal charges for agreeing to participate in a conspiracy to defraud taxpayers to assist his girlfriend with qualifying for a higher salary that was used to show Melanie McDade had the financial capacity to qualify for a $700,000 home loan during her employment with the City.

When it became public knowledge that McDade went from being a part-time assistant to an executive with a $312,000 salary, Inglewood officials justified her salary due to her obtaining a college degree.

This story was covered in the Daily Breeze in an article titled Inglewood mayor’s campaign worker made $312,000 last year as his assistant.

A complaint was filed stating the exobortiant salary was a gift of public funds which Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón found unsubstantiated and closed the complaint.

“Although the complainant feels that Dickens’ compensation is disproportionate to those in similar positions, the District Attorney’s office does not have jurisdiction to determine the salary of Inglewood city employees,” Gilmer wrote in the closing memorandum. “Aside from speculation, there is insufficient evidence to prove Dickens’ compensation was for ‘private purposes at the behest of Mayor James Butts.’ Accordingly, this case is closed.”

District attorney drops investigation into $400K paid to Inglewood mayor’s assistant and girlfriend

The complaint has been refiled now that it has become public knowledge that the Inglewood mayor engaged in a conspiracy to complete McDade’s coursework, while they were still engaged in a consensual relationship, once it became financially unfeasible to continue supporting her from his own pocket.

McDade is seeking $65 million to settle her wrongful termination lawsuit against the City stating that she was terminated after ending her consensual relationship with Butts, with the City retorting that she committed loan fraud when she attempted to inflate her salary to qualify for the loan.

The conspiracy to inflate McDade’s salary goes beyond Butts. It encompasses former City Manager Artie Fields who doubled as McDade’s direct supervisor who proposed raises based on her obtaining a degree and alleged performance reviews, then HR Director Jose Cortes who would be responsible for creating her salary and accompanying salary ordinance and Maria Heaney, payroll manager, for inputting McDade’s salary and who subsequently underreported McDade’s payroll taxes to the IRS.

Cortes was promoted to Assistant City Manager and Heaney was promoted to Assistant Finance Director despite her participation in assisting McDade “defraud” the IRS.

The City appears to have not taken any steps to criminally prosecute McDade for her alleged fraud that she has stated is a “regular occurrence in city hall which is done with no one batting an eye.”

Dear Mr. Gascon,

I’m sending this correspondence as a formal request for your office to conduct an investigation of  abuse and inappropriate use of taxpayers funds in support of an inappropriate relationship between Inglewood Mayor James Butts and his former executive assistant Melanie McDade-Dickens.

As per the documents attached in this email sent to the City of Inglewood by Ms. Mcdade’s legal counsel [she is] seeking legal damages for harassment and retaliation and it appears that not only has Ms. McDade, through the discovery process, has provided sufficient proof to substantiate her claims but that this information and or discovery reveals a criminal and or abuse of illegal expenditure of taxpayer funds .

As provided by discovery these allegations are beyond disturbing as the claims made by Ms. McDade and her legal counsel infers that Ms. McDade employment and unusually high compensation was largely contingent upon a prior sexual relationship that commenced prior to James Butts being elected mayor when Ms. McDade served as a paid campaign adviser to his 2011 election.

Once the Mayor was elected, despite a previous sexual relationship [and] the Mayor being married he then hired Ms. McDade as a part time assistant at a salary of exceeding 80,000 a year despite lacking a college degree or prior City government experience that would warrant such compensation.

In addition to hiring Ms. McDade, whom although lacked the experience and or background to justify her initial hiring, not to mention the auspicious and highly inappropriate sexual relationship the Mayor shared with Ms. McDade, it appears that the Mayor and City administrative staff strategically and criminally put Ms. McDade in a position to enrich herself largely based on her personal and sexual relationship with the Mayor that expanded her power and responsibilities and In theory, justifying an exorbitant compensation package.

These allegations and the basis of my allegations are further supported by “discovery” provided by Ms. McDade’s legal counsel in which the Mayor per his own admission and a text exchange between him and Ms. McDade acknowledged that he completed her college course work which helped her obtain her college degree and subsequently making her eligible for advancement in her career with the City of Inglewood, ultimately qualifying her for compensation and other perks that wasn’t available to other employees whom were more qualified and had decades of service within the City.

This incident is disturbing to say the least and the supporting documents also to me as a disturbing window of a long standing pattern and or penchant of elected officials and administration who have enriched themselves, family and friends with an accepted culture of corruption on the backs of Inglewood taxpayers.

Thank you in advance for consideration of these matters 

Marvin C McCoy

*complaint has been edited for brevity

This complaint along with McDade’s settlement demand letter and nearly two dozen pages of text messages between the two were submitted to the Los Angles County District Attorney’s office and Department of Justice for their review.

Six NorCal police officers were indicted on federal charges for paying someone to take their college coursework to obtain degrees that would justify increasing their salary. One officer was convicted last month.