Bell Wants Money Back from Ex-Police Chief Following Scandal

City sues to get $457,000 annual salary back

When he was Bell's police chief, Randy Adams was one of the highest-paid cops in the nation. Now the city wants it all back. After years of scandal that has left the city on the cusp of insolvency, Bell filed suit Tuesday, saying Adams owes his former employer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Bell, a working-class city that paid outsized salaries to its top administrators, said Adams must repay the city his entire $457,000 annual salary and a portion of the $20 million the city estimates it lost as a result of a corruption scandal that led to the arrests of eight former civic leaders.