Mayor to Face Charges in Prostitution Case

Fountain Valley Mayor Fred Voss was formally charged with solicitation of prostitution Tuesday in connection with an incident on Harbor Boulevard last month, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna Crandall said.

Voss, 52, is scheduled to be arraigned March 2 on the misdemeanor charge, which alleges that on Jan. 30 he solicited sex from an undercover policewoman at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Washington Avenue.

If convicted, Voss faces a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Voss, a telephone-systems manager for the county’s General Services Agency, was taken into custody and cited during a widely publicized Santa Ana police crackdown on prostitutes along Harbor Boulevard. Police said Voss was among 16 men who were arrested that night on charges of soliciting sex from undercover police officers posing as prostitutes.

Police have refused to disclose what Voss allegedly said to the undercover officer. But in all undercover prostitution operations, the customer has to offer a fee in exchange for sex, according to police spokesman Lt. Bob Chavez.

Voss, a two-time mayor who is divorced, could not be reached for comment on the prosecutor’s decision to file the charge. His attorney, Thomas Whaling of El Toro, said he had advised Voss not to speak to the press about the case.

“This is a very delicate issue,” Whaling said. “I haven’t received the complaint nor the police report. Once I receive them, I will analyze them and determine the financial feasibility of this matter. Obviously if it is going to be a full-blown trial, it’s going to cost a fortune.”

Whaling said he was not surprised that the misdemeanor charge was filed. “This is a high visibility case because his name is in the press,” the lawyer said. “And they (police) want to get rid of a problem, a major public health problem.”

Fountain Valley City Atty. Alan Burns said earlier that even if Voss were convicted, it would not be grounds for him to step down as mayor. That only occurs if a city official is convicted of a felony or an offense involving official duties, he said.

Voss was first elected to the City Council in 1982 and was reelected 2 years later. In the second election, he won the highest number of votes in the city’s history.

He first served in the largely ceremonial post of mayor in 1986 and assumed the position again last December.