Orange County (CA) Weekly: A Life Wasted

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A Life Wasted

Dave Christensen went from Irvine politician to undercover agent in an FBI sting—and then died in a mysterious hiking accident
By R. Scott Moxley
OC Weekly
Thursday, May 11, 2006

On April 22, the day he fell 35 feet from a rugged mountain, Dave Christensen carried a secret for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Some believe the former Irvine city councilman’s death in Pine, Arizona, was no accident, but they have nothing more than hunches. Hikers heard a scream and later found Christensen with a broken arm, broken leg and internal wounds, barely alive. According to a local newspaper, he died before a rescue helicopter could reach him.

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The case involves a cast and plot that could have been lifted from an Elmore Leonard novel. There’s Bobby Glenn Sutton Jr., the once popular mayor of Marana, an Arizona town of 20,000 on Interstate 10 northwest of Tucson. Sutton makes a living selling phone book ads, sometimes allegedly to companies seeking city business. There’s the mayor’s best friend, trash hauler Richard Arthur Westfall. Prosecutors say Westfall wanted a $60,000 cut of the city’s trash contract. There’s the ubiquitous Waste Management Inc., a mammoth company with a roster full of tough guys determined to play the victim in the extortion saga.

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By early 2002, Christensen found himself working for Waste Management in Marana. From January through May of that year, Sutton and Westfall met with him, unaware that he was using an alias. Nor did the pair know that federal agents had equipped Christensen with a wire to record conversations at, for example, the Timber Lodge Steak House or the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort. According to a federal grand jury, Sutton threatened to use his power as mayor to shut down a waste transfer station, a move that could have cost Waste Management $30,000 per day in income—unless the company paid Westfall $60,000 per month. If that wasn’t enough incentive, prosecutors say Sutton and Westfall threatened to go public with claims the company hauled more than 3,000 overweight loads per year through the Marana station.

“If nothing else, you gagging him helps your company tremendously,” Sutton said to Waste Management executives in a recorded conversation. “I don’t know if you, if you’re really graspin’ that.” According to the indictment, two unnamed Waste Management employees also informing for the FBI—known only as Employee #1 and Employee #2—were tough on the pair. At one point, Westfall was allegedly willing to accept $15,000 a month plus a vehicle allowance. Later, the amount dropped to $9,500 a month; no mention of the car... On April 5, 2004, Christensen convinced Sutton that Waste Management had accepted his terms. A transcript provided by federal officials shows the mayor telling Christensen to deposit money in Westfall’s Bank One account.

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Seventeen days later, FBI and IRS agents arrested Sutton and Westfall for extortion. The men have pleaded not guilty.

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http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/a-life-wasted/25089/