> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Building inspector gets probation in bribery case
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/building-inspector-gets-probation-in-bribery-case/
- Published: 2003-07-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:30:31.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Downtown, #archive-import

*Victim in bribery case thinks sentence is too lenient*

*By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press*

A City Hall building inspector accused of soliciting bribes pleaded no contest on Tuesday to one count of bribery and was ordered by a judge to pay back one of his victims.

Martin Aguirre, 29, was fined $2,000 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann Jones and sentenced to three years probation. He is required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet that will track his activity for 180 days.

Judge Jones dropped a second bribery charge on the condition that Aguirre return $628 in bribe money to Diane Smith, a Santa Monica homeowner who gave him the money after he told her that she was violating a city building code and would ignore it only if she paid him cash.

Aguirre, who was arrested by Santa Monica Police in a sting operation in February after he solicited a bribe from a business owner who was renovating his property, appeared relieved as he left the downtown Los Angeles courtroom with his wife on Tuesday.

Aguirre’s eagerness to move on does not sit well with Jim Allan, the owner of Post Haste Sound and Aguirre’s last victim.

“This isn’t an ‘Oops, I’m sorry’ type of thing,’” Allan said. “What he did was serious, he could have caused irreparable damage to the livelihood of myself and my employees.

“I really find it hard to believe any charges were dropped at all,” he added. “I’m still more than disappointed he didn’t end up in jail.”

When they first met in February of this year, Aguirre walked into the audio editing company located at 3313 Ocean Park Blvd. and told Allan he didn’t have the proper construction permits. Aguirre told Allan he would allow him to continue conducting business only if he paid him $1,500 in cash.

At the time, Aguirre was a contract employee at City Hall with an Ontario-based firm called JAS, which offers services to the city’s building and safety department.

Allan told Aguirre he didn’t have the cash on hand, but to come back the next day. After Aguirre left the building, Allan immediately notified the police that he was falsely accused of violating a city code and asked for a bribe to cover it up. The SMPD set up a sting, providing Allan with marked currency which he used in the transaction with Aguirre, who was arrested immediately afterward.

“We had to get him in police custody,” Allan said. “He was performing such a serious offense and God only knows how many other people he was trying to scam.”

464,A little more than a month earlier, Aguirre told Smith that her garage was illegally converted into an apartment but he wouldn’t red tag her property if she paid him $3,000 in cash.

Over the next week, he collected $628 in three separate payments from Smith, including a $200 child support check that she cashed at the bank with Aguirre accompanying her.

Judge Jones cited the electronic tracking bracelet as Aguirre’s substitute for serving time in county jail. Aguirre likely would have been put in jail and faced a steeper fine if he had a criminal record, which he does not, according to Richard Ceballos, the Deputy District Attorney who handled the prosecution.

“But it’s not like he got off that easy as it is,” Brookman said. “Two thousand dollars is a large fine and the electronic bracelet is another form of detention. He can only do what the district attorney allows him to, which are things like going to work or going to church.”

Aguirre will appear in court Aug. 20 to hear conditions of his probation and begin his sentence with the electronic bracelet.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/070903-02_01.jpg)

(Photo: BY PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 9, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/070903.pdf?ref=smdp.com)