Ex-L.A. councilman sentenced to jail for lying about where he lived

[October 15, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former Los Angeles city councilman was sentenced on Tuesday to four months in prison and barred from ever holding elective office again for lying about where he and his wife lived so he could run for an open council seat.

Richard Alarcon, 60, a Democrat who held local or statewide office almost continuously from 1998 to last year, was also ordered to perform 600 hours of community service and serve five years' probation.

His wife, 49-year-old Flora Montes De Oca Alarcon, was sentenced to 400 hours of community service and five years' probation. A Los Angeles jury in July found both guilty of perjury and fraudulently voting in elections.

Richard Alarcon's lawyer said his client would appeal.

The sentencing marks the latest blow to Democrats in California in a year when three Democratic state senators faced criminal proceedings that effectively cost the party a two-thirds' legislative majority.

Prosecutors said Alarcon and his wife claimed for over three years to reside in a vacant home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Panorama City so he could run for election for the city's 7th council district, a race he won.

The couple were in fact living in a nicer home in nearby Sun Valley, according to evidence presented at trial. Prosecutors said a burglar broke into the Panorama City home in 2010 and squatted there, exposing the scheme.

Defense attorneys argued the Alarcons moved out of the Panorama City home temporarily because it was being renovated, a process delayed by the burglary and the birth of the couple's baby.

Defense attorney Richard Lasting said the appeal would be based on multiple grounds, including that the judge did not properly instruct jurors on elements of the offenses. Lasting added it was unclear if Alarcon would seek office again if his conviction were overturned.

"His political career was certainly severely damaged just by the charges and the conviction doesn't help," Lasting said. "But the future remains to be seen."

Before sentencing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George Lomeli rejected defense motions for a new trial. Prosecutors said Alarcon had shown no remorse.

"Richard Alarcon came up with an elaborate scheme and lied on numerous occasions so that he could win and keep a job that financially lined his pockets and did not belong to him. He violated the public trust," Deputy District Attorney Michelle Gilmer wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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