Alarcon is upset at release of alleged intruder

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon said Friday that he should have been notified by L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley’s office that a case involving an intruder at his home had been dismissed and the suspect released from a state mental hospital.

Alarcon spoke out one day after an intruder broke into his Panorama City home for a second time in six months. Lawrence Lydell Payton, 42, was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of burglary at Alarcon’s Nordhoff Street home.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Nantroup said Alarcon should have been informed that Payton’s earlier case had been dismissed. “We apologize for that, and we’ll look into why that happened,” Nantroup said.

Alarcon did not return a call seeking comment on the apology. But earlier in the day, he said he was “ticked off” about the situation and was planning to install an alarm system at the house.

Alarcon is the subject of a separate investigation by the district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, which is trying to determine whether the councilman illegally claimed the home as his residence. Neighbors have told The Times they did not see Alarcon in the home for long stretches of time last year.

Alarcon’s wife owns both the Nordhoff Street house and another home in nearby Sun Valley, in the district represented by Councilman Paul Krekorian. Alarcon said he lives in the Nordhoff Street house and urged Cooley to drop his investigation.

Payton was first discovered inside Alarcon’s home in October, according to reports. At the time, Alarcon said no one had been inside the house for two days. Payton had allegedly changed the locks on the doors and damaged many of the Alarcons’ belongings during his time inside the house.

On Dec. 21 a judge found Payton to be mentally incompetent, and he was committed to Patton State Hospital, according to court minutes.

Nantroup said the burglary case against Payton was dismissed Jan. 22 because of the ongoing investigation into Alarcon’s residency. With the investigation unresolved, Payton could have been incarcerated indefinitely unless the case was dropped, he said.

david.zahniser @latimes.com