Former Caltrans employee gets 2 years of probation after pleading guilty to accepting bribes

A former California Department of Transportation employee will serve two years of probation, with a four-year prison sentence suspended, after pleading guilty to two counts of felony bribery.

Alex Morales III, who worked as an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator for Caltrans, was arrested in 2015 following a California Department of Justice investigation which found that he had accepted multiple bribes — ranging from $1,875 to $12,000 and including the acceptance of a new white Ford Expedition — over the span of five years, beginning in August of 2010 and ending in January of 2015.

Morales’ probation will include one year of home detention, with electronic monitoring, as well as monthly $500 restitution payments to be made to Caltrans. In addition, Morales will forfeit any retirement benefits accrued during the period of time when he accepted the bribes.

“When you violate the public’s trust, you will be held accountable,” Attorney General Becerra said in a statement. “As public servants, we are held to a higher standard. There is no place for this kind of criminal behavior in our state or state government. At the California Department of Justice, we’re always ready to go to bat for the people of California.”