Former L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon: Guilty of Living Outside his District

Originally posted at 11:59 a.m. July 23, 2014. Edited with new details.

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH
City News Service

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon was convicted today of three counts of fraudulent voting and a single count of perjury for living outside the district he was elected to represent, but he was acquitted of 12 other felony counts.

His wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, was convicted of two counts of voter fraud and one count of perjury. Jurors acquitted her of two other counts.

The two are due back in court for sentencing Sept. 10, when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli is expected to consider the defense's request for a new trial.

Outside court, Flora Alarcon's attorney, Mark Overland, said the guilty verdicts on some of the counts "make no sense" in light of the couple's acquittal on other charges.

He said he believed the convictions would "not stand," but he believed the jury did "the best it could based on what it had."

The seven-woman, five-man panel acquitted Alarcon of the first 11 counts against him -- five counts of perjury by declaration, four counts of fraudulent voting and two counts of perjury in an application for a driver's license between November 2006 and October 2008. The panel convicted him of fraudulent voting in November 2008 and the March and May elections in 2009 and perjury by declaration involving his November 2008 declaration of intent to become a candidate for city council. Jurors wrapped up their verdicts by acquitting him of a 12th count -- perjury involving a June 2009 application for a driver's license.

Flora Alarcon was convicted of fraudulently voting in the March 2009 and May 2009 elections, along with perjury by declaration involving a provisional ballot in November 2008. She was acquitted of two counts of perjury by declaration involving driver's license applications in 2008 and 2009.

Alarcon, 60, faces up to six years in state prison and would be barred from ever holding elective office again, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

His 49-year-old wife faces up to five years and four months in state prison, according to the District Attorney's Office.

In her closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Michele Gilmer told the jury that the evidence proved the couple lied about living at a Panorama City home, which was within Alarcon's city council district. Prosecution witnesses, including neighbors, described the home as appearing to be vacant, the prosecutor said.

Alarcon unsuccessfully approached now-former City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel in an effort to have the boundaries of his district changed so his wife's home in Sun Valley, located in the council district Greuel represented, would be included in his district, the prosecutor said, noting that it showed that he had "full knowledge of the law" that he had to live in the district he represented.

The prosecutor cited records showing that no gas was used at the property between April 2007 and February 2009, indicating that there was no heat in the house and no way to take hot showers. A search warrant served at the house in January of 2010 turned up a container of orange juice from March 2009 and eggs that were at least a year old, along with milk that was about 12 days old, Gilmer told jurors.

Alarcon served on the council twice, from 1993-98 and from 2007-13.

Flora Alarcon's attorney countered that the prosecution was "not even close to proving the charges," telling jurors that he wished they had three choices -- guilty, not guilty or innocent. Overland told jurors that he believed the case showed the two were "actually innocent."

"These are word crimes. These are crimes about using the wrong words," Overland told jurors of the issue about residence and domicile, arguing that the couple always intended to return to the Panorama City home despite not being there every day.

Overland said the case was about "many things," including a remodeling at the Panorama City home that the prosecution thinks took too long.

Richard Alarcon's attorney, Richard Lasting, questioned the testimony from neighbors, saying one couple didn't even notice changes to the exterior of the property and that some believed the home was vacant when more electricity was being used at the property in 2006 and 2007 than at the larger home in Sun Valley that Flora Alarcon owned.

Lasting noted that bank records were addressed to his client at the Panorama City home between 2007 and 2009, calling question to testimony that junk mail and fliers were the mainstay of the mail delivered at that property.

The longtime legislator, who also served in the state Senate and Assembly, insisted that he began living at the Panorama City home in November 2006.

Shortly after the 2010 search warrant was served, Alarcon told reporters that an intruder had caused significant damage to the Panorama City home during a break-in in October 2009 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 another house in the Second District.

In July 2010, just before the 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 of 2012, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy dismissed the indictment against the couple. Hours later, Los Angeles County prosecutors re- filed charges, on which the two were ordered to stand trial in October 2012.

State Sen. Roderick Wright was convicted Jan. 28 of similar charges, with prosecutors in that case contending that he lived outside the district he was elected to represent. Wright was suspended March 28 by the state Senate and is awaiting sentencing.