As King Solomon wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything under the sun – a time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to weep, AND A TIME FOR SCHADENFREUDE. The latter time is in a couple of hours, at the Ronald Reagan Courthouse, where disgraced Mayor Harry Sidhu is expected to officially plead guilty. (This was supposed to be a “sentencing,” but that seems to have changed.)
And we’ll be there, with bells and whistles, we’ll be there early. We haven’t seen the guy since the last meeting he ran April 26, 2022, in his ill-tempered and dictatorial way, before the FBI hammer fell on him in mid-May. We’ll be there early, we want to get a good seat and look him in the eye. Will he still sport a superior-looking smirk?
It’ll be easy to enjoy this because he was always smug, arrogant and cruel at all times. As I’ve written before, I think he retained a certain caste system in his head when he came from India, wherein if he loyally serves the interests of a small class of Better Men (like Ament, Flint, Disney, Arte Moreno) he’s in a privileged position to look down on the vast majority of us peons.
Remember the disdain with which he treated the rent-jacked seniors of Rancho La Paz, and their leader Lupe Ramirez whom he called “that nasty old woman?” Remember how he silenced the two-member Latino minority on Council, Jose Moreno and Denise Barnes, in any way he could?
(Never forget though that he couldn’t have done anything he did without the connivance of Jordan Brandman, Steve Faessel, Lucille Kring and Trevor O’Neil.)
[from “Better Anaheim“]
Yes, we’re going downtown to watch Harry Sidhu plead guilty, and I’ll report on it afterwards. Why is the sentencing not happening today? Rumor has it he will be flipping on JEFF FLINT, and equally loathsome and destructive character. Last we heard he was refusing to give up his personal e-mail and personal phone – I don’t think he could have kept up THAT obstruction if he wants a good deal. And remember how he’s paying for his legal defense – $300k so far! – with leftover CAMPAIGN MONEY, using a “Sidhu for Mayor 2030” committee.
Well, we’ll see, I gotta run now! I’ll be back…
Update 3pm
Jason (from Save Anaheim) and I got there an hour early and staked out the two front entrances; yet he somehow snuck past us and was in the courtroom when we returned. Is there a helicopter pad atop the Reagan Building? Then on the way out I tried to get in the same elevator car as him – there was plenty of room, just him, his two lawyers, and a marshal, but the marshal pushed me out and said “Take the next car.” They do that? If a defendant wants to have anybody kept away from them?
Harry looked old and moved like a cardboard cutout; his hair is trimmed and gray. I didn’t see him give his death-rictus grimace, although Jason, from a different vantage point, says he did. He plead guilty to all charges as expected, charges we’ve already heard from the plea agreement. The maximum sentence for all those charges could be 50 years and a million dollars.
But there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know going on behind the scenes – that plea agreement from last month was 25 pages, but there was also a “sealed 15-page addendum” added to that – maybe detailing his future co-operation?
Near the end of the ordeal, Harry was forced to describe in his own words the crimes he was pleading guilty to. He was so ready to do that, he almost did it at the beginning of the hearing! But this is what he said: “I destroyed e-mails from my personal account to Todd Ament; I registered my helicopter in Arizona to avoid sales tax; I falsely signed FAA documents; and I did lie to the FBI.”
Just like Al Capone, they never get you for the REALLY fucked up things you did.
Sentencing won’t be till June 14 of NEXT YEAR. Nine months.
Harry and his two lawyers gave like a ten-second “press conference” out front and took off quickly, ignoring Chip Yost of KTLA’s question, “Anything you want to say to the citizens of Anaheim who elected you and trusted you?” as well as Jason’s cries of “Was Steve Faessel at those Mock Meetings?” and “I’m so glad you’re going to prison!”
Good. I’ll let the FBI know you are coming.
Heh. We sat with the FBI. Their assistants anyway.
I was about to castigate the anonymous coward troll — but then I realized that that might actually be his real name!
I actually improved his name.
Well he’s gonna be part of a whole new kind of Caste system in prison.
Was he wearing a flight suit or a jump suit?
Look at the video: a Trump suit.
Nice job, gents.
Steve– no one believes you. Do the right thing and resign.
It’s the absolute minimum your conscience demands.
Nope: he shouldn’t resign unless he’s taking two other people with him at the same time!
I see a monkey in a suit er monkey suit.
Thanks for your work!
I’m looking forward to seeing more of these. When is melahat and Ament being sentenced?
Melahat May 10. No idea about Todd.
Why does it take so long to sentence somebody?
IKR?
(That’s how kids these days say “I know, right?”)
Kids! I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids, today!
Slimeball Sidhu still has some work to do to improve his sentencing recommendation. Some folks should take notice.
June14,2024 Sidhu Sentencing Day.
He actually looks a lot better without the greasy, dyed hair. Quite dapper.
Thank you very much for reporting on this. The two big things you talked about are. He could not done anything with his cast of clowns including Faessel. It got plea bargained down so far is like he got a parking ticket for mass murder. A sad day for justice.
I was a Great Day, For Justice!
I was a Sad Day, Knowing that there is a lot more, in Anaheim, that Need to be sitting at the defendants table, with any luck that will happen soon.
on 10-13-23, Melahat Raffiei is being sentenced by the feds. With that we should see more federal charges filed on the corrupt OC uniparty. Anyone taking bets on who is going to be charged and for what?
As we’d already learned, Melahat’s sentencing was postponed from last Friday to May 10. Here is the order:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.873197/gov.uscourts.cacd.873197.39.0.pdf
My pajarito adds:
“What this suggests is that Melahat is still talking and that the FBI is still investigating. Anaheim? Irvine? Elsewhere and more?
“The federal court also just denied her request to travel to Toronto for a family reunion.”
A flightless bird.
I can’t seem to find anything on whether Hary Sidhu ever sentenced in 2024. ANyone with an update?
The guy’s sentencing continues to be postponed and postponed. Last I heard it was postponed from next month to NEXT MARCH. Everyone keeps saying, “Oh, he must really be spilling the beans.” I don’t see how all the beans can’t already long ago have been spilled.