Norwalk : Disclosure Case Uncontested

Former Norwalk City Administrator William Kraus pleaded no contest Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to one misdemeanor count of failing to report loans he received while serving as a city official.

Kraus was charged in May with failure to list two loans from California First Bank on his 1982 statement of economic interest, which is filed annually with the city of Norwalk. Kraus served as city administrator from 1973 to 1983. A second count charging Kraus with failure to disclose the loans to the Joint Powers Insurance Authority when he served as its treasurer was dismissed.

He was sentenced to a $1,000 fine or 330 hours of community service and three years probation. He also cannot hold public office for three years and he cannot hold elected office for four years, said Candace Beason, deputy district attorney.

Kraus said this week that he did not want to go through the “time or expense” of a trial. “I still feel the law is unclear,” he said, adding that he felt it “was just better to plead no contest.”