Quesada May be Off the Hook

PITTSBURG, CA-Contra Costa District Attorney Jim Sepulveda will not to charge City Councilman Frank Quesada, 68, with a felony for voting in favor of a project by a former Pittsburg City Councilman, whom he owes more than $370,000, according to court documents. Quesada and former Mayor Frank Aiello left office last November under a storm of controversy for their alleged financial connections with Pittsburg developer Albert Seeno Jr.

Aiello allegedly received an unusually favorable home mortgage from a Seeno business associate, but Sepulveda has decided that there was no evidence to prosecute him for a felony. Instead, he passed Aiello’s case onto the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which is deciding whether to fine the former mayor in the future.

Quesada’s financial ties to the controversial real estate magnate were, according to court documents, much more involved and stretch back to 1980, when Frank and Eleanor Quesada rented space from Seeno for a Mexican restaurant. The court documents show a series of mounting debts both from the failing restaurant and the couple’s home, which they also rented from Seeno Associates.