Bustamante’s last hurrah was the Usual Suspects’ 2012 4th of July event

It turns out that Santa Ana Council Member Carlos Bustamante’s last hurrah was the 2nd Annual Santa Ana Independence Day event at Centennial Park, which was held last Sunday.   He was arrested the very next day, after parking his car in a parking structure at City Hall, on charges of sex crimes and public theft.

One of the things that always bothered me about Bustamante was his overstated patriotism and gung ho attitude towards public safety.  It always felt fake to me.  He once compared himself to movie character Forrest Gump, a pretty dumb guy who made out over time by being in the right place at the right time.  That is the story of Bustamante’s life.

Bustamante worked as a security guard at the Bowers Museum as a teenager.  He later served in the U.S. Air Force, I am told for one term.  But check out how he pumped up his service in this city bio: “Carlos was assigned to Space Command, 2nd Space Communications Squadron in Colorado, where he helped defend the United States against nuclear missile attacks.  He was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal and a Certificate of Recognition from the U.S. Secretary of Defense for his dedicated service during the “Cold War”.  From what I hear he was at most a security guard while in the Air Force!  But he saved us from nuclear missile attacks?  Really?  Which ones?  LOL!

And check out how Bustamante fluffed up his very short career in law enforcement:

Following graduation from Fullerton, Carlos accepted a position with the Los Angeles County Marshal’s Office as a Background Investigator.  Later, he was offered a position with the State of California, Board of Equalization (tax investigations).  While employed by the State, Carlos was recruited by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and attended Golden West Police Academy.  After completing the Police Academy at the top of his class (top 10%), he began his career as an agent for ABC and was shortly thereafter recruited into the Special Operations Unit where he conducted narcotics, USDA fraud & multi-agency undercover investigations.  For his law enforcement work, he was awarded commendations from both the State of California and the Los Angeles Police Department.  Carlos also became a member of the California Narcotic Officers Association.

What a joke!  But I can’t tell you how many times I heard Bustamante refer to himself as being in law enforcement.  I don’t think he will be spreading that B.S. once he gets sentenced and ends up in the hole for a few years.

As you might imagine, Santa Ana’s Usual Suspects are absolutely bereft over what happened to Bustamante.  Darren Shippen, a neighborhood activist who had a cow when the SAUSD tried to open a school in his area, was incredulous about the Bustamante charges, telling a reporter that it didn’t sound like the Bustamante he knew.

And failed Santa Ana Mayoral candidate George Collins wrote in his Facebook page:

I hope people will wait to see both sides before they stone Carlos Bustamante to death. I don’t know what is true, or what is false, I do know he was one of the only three council members that showed up at the Santa Ana 4th of July event and his children were very well behaved. He was nice enough to compliment the crew and the event. That was appreciated. We all get accused of doing things, may we all give to Mrs. Bustamante the respect we would want our wife’s to receive during accusations and discovery.

And failed Assembly candidate Francisco Barragan had this to say, at the O.C. Register, about Bustamante and the Santa Ana 4th of July event, “There were many dedicated volunteers that made this celebration a resounding success, in partnership with community sponsors and the support of leaders from the City of Santa Ana, in particular Councilmembers Carlos Bustamante and David Benavides.”

The dedicated volunteers that Barragan referred to included Latino-bashing Minuteman Lupe Moreno (pictured above with her pals) and Collins, who is also a registered Republican.

You have to love the Usual Suspects.  As long as you show up to their meetings you are gold!  Well I would imagine that going forward Bustamante and his family won’t be celebrating the 4th of July anymore as it will remind them of his shocking arrest and humiliation.  According to Google, over 285 news stories about Bustamante’s arrest have been published – and that doesn’t include all the blog articles!

And this mess is far from over.  My sources tell me that investigators recently collected drywall and carpet samples at Bustamante’s former office, at the County of Orange, to look for samples of his dried semen, given the allegations about his supposed masturbating at work.  How soon before they are tearing up his office at Santa Ana’s City Hall too?

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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