Local News in Brief : South Gate Mayor Pleads No Contest
The mayor of South Gate has pleaded no contest to charges that he harbored two teen-age girls at his toy store when they should have been in school.
Odell Snavely, 70, was charged with two counts of contributing to the truancy of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of as much as $2,500 and up to a year in jail on each count. The Sheriff’s Department began investigating Snavely last year after two South Gate Junior High School students accused him of touching them on their breasts while they worked at Del’s Gifts and Toys, according to court records.
But Snavely denied that he touched the girls and the evidence was not strong enough to warrant charges of child molestation, said Kenneth Freeman, a deputy district attorney in the special investigations division.
Sentencing was scheduled for April 28 in Huntington Park Municipal Court.
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