Richard Alarcon banned from public office for voter fraud, perjury

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days in jail and banned for life from holding public office for his conviction on charges of perjury and voter fraud.

Alarcon, a veteran San Fernando Valley politician, and his wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, were found guilty in July of lying about where they lived so Alarcon could run for a seat on the council. Although the couple claimed to live in a Panorama City house that was under repair, a jury agreed they actually lived in a larger, nicer home in Sun Valley, outside his 7th District.

Lawyers for the Alarcons had filed motions seeking a new trial, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli denied the motions Tuesday and sentenced the couple.

Alarcon, 60, was also sentenced to 600 hours of community service in Council District 7 -- which he represented between 2007 and 2013 -- and five years’ probation. Montes de Oca Alarcon, 49, was sentenced to five years’ probation and 400 hours of community service in Council District 7. She too was banned from holding public office.

Convicted of four felonies, Alarcon faced a maximum of six years in state prison, and Montes de Oca Alarcon -- convicted of three felonies -- faced five years and four months.

In a sentencing memorandum, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Gilmer had recommended Alarcon be sentenced to 180 days in jail with 1,000 hours of community service.

“Richard Alarcon is not remorseful,” she wrote in the memorandum to Lomeli. “He remains utterly unrepentant.”

Former state Sen. Roderick Wright, who was also convicted this year of lying about where he lived to run for office, was sentenced to 90 days in jail last month.

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