West Hollywood : Kops Pleads Not Guilty

A West Hollywood community activist charged with perjury and presenting false evidence in a dispute involving an apartment building he manages has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

E. (Budd) Kops, 69, entered the pleas during his arraignment Friday in Beverly Hills Municipal Court. A preliminary hearing was set for Nov. 3.

Kops, who has frequently been at odds with city officials, is charged with two counts of perjury and offering a forged or altered document as genuine, and one count of falsifying a document, all felonies, Deputy Dist. Atty. Hugh M. Bobys said.

The charges stem from a document Kops is said to have submitted to the Department of Rent Stabilization to obtain a rent increase last year for an apartment that had become vacant, the prosecutor said.