The City of Huntington Park just released the warrant that investigators used to enter City Hall and 11 other locations including; current and former councilmembers, and lobbyist and ex-city official, Efren Martinez, on February 26th of this year. The probe dubbed “Operation Dirty Pond,” centers on the alleged misuse of millions of dollars in public funds allocated for the construction of an aquatic center at Salt Lake Park—a project that remains unbuilt years after its announcement.
Martinez, who owns Unified Consulting Services, is under scrutiny for his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of funds. The search warrant which was included in a staff report for an item on the May 19th city council meeting agenda related to allocating funds for legal defense, listed Efren Martinez under the case name. Case number P20-0267, which began in November 2022, is still under investigation.
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Residents of Huntington Park have expressed frustration over the alleged corruption and stalled aquatic center project which was awarded to JT Construction, a company that was listed as a client on Martinez’s FPPC 700 forms during his last campaign run for the California State Assembly.
The City of Huntington Park has pledged full cooperation with the ongoing investigation.
