STATE : Equalization Board’s Carpenter Indicted in Sacramento Sting
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SACRAMENTO — State Board of Equalization member Paul Carpenter was indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges stemming from the FBI’s three-year sting investigation of Capitol corruption.
He was charged with a total of four counts of racketeering and extortion. The indictment followed by six weeks the conviction of state Sen. Joseph Montoya, who was the first elected state official charged as a result of the elaborate undercover investigation.
Carpenter, 62, a Democrat from Cypress, was a state senator seeking election to the tax-setting Board of Equalization in 1986 when he accepted two campaign contributions totaling $20,000 from Gulf Shrimp Fisheries, a sham company created by the FBI as part of its sting.
Carpenter accepted his initial contribution from the FBI, a check for $15,000, through John Shahabian, a legislative aide who later became an FBI informant.
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