Convicted Councilman Avoids Jail

Ex-Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who was convicted of fraudulent voting and perjury for lying about living outside the district he was elected to represent, surrendered today and was sent home after being fitted with an electronic monitoring device.

Alarcon had been set to turn himself in next Wednesday, but his surrender was pushed up at the defense’s request. He was booked at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles about 2:40 p.m. and “will be serving 51 days under house arrest,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.

The 61-year-old former legislator was sentenced Oct. 14 to a 120-day jail term, along with 600 hours of community service, five years probation and barred from holding public office.

“He was eligible for electronic monitoring and he chose that option,” Nishida said when asked how Alarcon was able to avoid jail time.

Alarcon was convicted July 23 of three counts of fraudulent voting and one count of perjury by declaration, but was acquitted of a dozen other felony counts. The charges on which he was convicted involved fraudulent voting in the November 2008 and the March and May elections in 2009, and perjury by declaration involving his November 2008 declaration of intent to become a city council candidate.

Alarcon’s wife, Flora, 49, was convicted of two counts of fraudulent voting in the March 2009 and May 2009 elections, and one count of perjury by declaration involving a provisional ballot in November 2008, and acquitted of two other counts. She was sentenced to 400 hours of community service and five years probation.

The two are appealing their convictions.

Richard Alarcon’s attorney, Richard Lasting, had asked the judge not to impose jail time for his client, saying he did not think it was “appropriate.”

But Deputy District Attorney Michele Gilmer countered that Alarcon was not serving his constituents by “putting on a charade” at a home that was within his council district when utility bills showed that there wasn’t enough gas or water being used for anyone to be living there, and that he did not provide a good example as a lawmaker and leader.

She said a jail term for Alarcon would send a “strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

The judge noted that he had taken into account that Alarcon had a “long career” in public service, along with the jury’s findings, in handing down the veteran politician’s sentence, which was slightly less than that requested by the prosecution.

During the trial, the prosecutor told jurors that the evidence proved the couple lied about living at a home in Panorama City, which was within Alarcon’s city council district.

The longtime legislator -- who served two separate terms on the city council along with stints in the state Senate and Assembly -- has insisted that he began living at the Panorama City home within the council district in November 2006.

Shortly after a search warrant was served, he told reporters that an intruder had caused significant damage to the Panorama City home during an October 2009 break-in and that he had returned to the house several times to try to repair the damage. He said then that he and his wife were temporarily staying at a house in an adjacent council district.

In July 2010, just before a grand jury indicted Alarcon and his wife, he said: “Because my wife owns two homes and we have stayed in both of them during the last four years, I can understand the confusion, but my permanent home has always been on Nordhoff Street (in Panorama City), regardless of where I may stay.”

In May 2012, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy dismissed the indictment against the couple. Hours later, Los Angeles County prosecutors re- filed charges.

Alarcon’s jail sentence marked the second handed down in recent months to area legislators convicted of lying about living outside the districts they were elected to represent.

Former state Sen. Roderick Wright, a veteran Democratic politician who represented the Inglewood area, surrendered Oct. 31 to begin serving a 90-day jail term, but was released within 70 minutes because of jail overcrowding.

Wright -- who was convicted Jan. 28 of five counts of fraudulent voting, two counts of perjury by declaration and one count of filing a false declaration of candidacy -- was also ordered to perform 1,500 hours of community service and to serve three years on probation.

• City News Service
• PHOTO Former City Councilman Richard Alarcon. Patch file photo.