Council Candidate Enters Not-Guilty Plea

Just days before a citywide election, one of 14 candidates running for the Buena Park City Council entered a plea of not guilty Friday to felony charges that he lied about his address when filing voter-registration and candidacy documents.

Steve A. Grasha, 26, was released on his own recognizance during an arraignment in North Orange County Municipal Court. He is charged with three counts of perjury and one count of filing false nomination papers, Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Engquist said.

Grasha said the charges are “politically motivated complaints” and “an attempt to slur my candidacy” in the Nov. 5 election.

Engquist said his office began looking into Grasha’s residency following a request from the city’s Police Department. Police Chief Robert Reber said he contacted the district attorney’s office at the request of Mayor James Jarrell.

The mayor, Reber said, had received phone calls from residents who could not find Grasha at the Buena Park address he listed. The mayor, whose son also is running for one of three council seats, could not be reached for comment Friday.

A manager at the Sunshine Garden Apartments on 4th Street--the address Grasha listed July 15 for his voter registration and Sept. 12 for his candidacy documents--said Grasha has lived there only since Oct. 15 of this year. Grasha said he has lived at the same complex since July but did not move into his current apartment until October. Between July and October, he lived with a friend in another apartment in the complex, Grasha said.

Grasha, vice president of the Buena Park Historical Society and a member and former vice president of the city’s Exchange Club, said he does not think the charges will hamper his chances for election.

“I’ve been getting nothing but positive responses,” he said Friday. In 1982, he ran for one of two council seats and said he came in third out of a pool of 11 candidates.

Grasha is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 19, Engquist said.