Prosecutors ask judge to sentence Alarcon to 180 days in jail

Los Angeles County prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence former City Councilman Richard Alarcon to 180 days in county jail and 1,000 hours of community service for his conviction on charges of perjury and voter fraud.

“Richard Alarcon is not remorseful,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Gilmer wrote in a sentencing memorandum to Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli. “He remains utterly unrepentant.”

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 Los Angeles City Council.

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

“If Alarcon does not receive custody time in the county jail it sends the wrong message,” Gilmer said.

Alarcon and his wife have said they are innocent, and their lawyers have filed motions seeking a new trial. The couple is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday but the judge could grant a delay pending that appeal, said Jane Robison, a district attorney spokeswoman.

In her sentencing recommendation also signed by Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, Gilmer writes that “it is hard to imagine a more egregious perjury case” than the Alarcons’. She describes their claims that they lived in the 7th Council District as part of “a brazen scam” and “a particularly deceitful scheme” to get Alarcon a council seat and enhance his pension.

A jury found that Alarcon and his wife did not actually live in a Panorama City house that they claimed as their residence, but instead dwelled just outside its borders in a bigger, nicer home in Sun Valley, outside the 7th Council District.

In addition to the jail time, Gilmer recommends Alarcon, 60, complete 1,000 hours of community service -- 500 for graffiti removal -- in Council District 7 and five years of probation. He would also be barred from holding public office.

Gilmer wrote that probation alone is not a strong enough deterrent to keep other elected officials from lying about their residency.

“If the punishment for an elected official is probation without custody time, for many, the benefits of having political prestige, a nice salary, a county vehicle, and a lifetime pension from their accumulated service outweigh the risk of potentially getting caught for disregarding the residency laws while in office,” she said.

The recommendation for Montes de Oca Alarcon, 49, is five years’ probation and 500 hours of community service in Council District 7.

Gilmer said that though Montes de Oca Alarcon was an “active participant in creating the illusion,” she “did not take advantage of a position of trust that was given to Richard Alarcon by his constituents when they elected him as their councilman.”

Follow @skarlamangla for continuing coverage of the Alarcon trial.