Buena Park : Council Candidate Faces One More Perjury Count

Former Buena Park City Council candidate Steve A. Grasha had another perjury charge tacked on Tuesday to the four felony counts he already faces for allegedly lying about where he lived in candidate-filing documents.

Grasha, who lost his council race Nov. 5, is now charged with four counts of perjury and one count of filing false nomination papers, Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Engquist said.

Grasha pleaded not guilty to the amended complaint during a preliminary hearing in North Orange County Municipal Court Tuesday. A pretrial hearing has been postponed until Dec. 6.

The felony charges against the former council candidate were filed less than a week before the Nov. 5 election. Grasha blamed his seventh-place showing in the field of 14 to publicity surrounding the charges, which he denies.

Grasha, 26, owner of the Grasha Chemical Co. in Buena Park, said he has lived at the same Buena Park Sunshine Garden Apartment complex since July. The confusion, he said, stems from several months that he spent with a friend in another apartment in the same Fourth Street complex.

Engquist disagreed, saying: “All the information available to us indicates he did not live there when he said he lived there.”