Official Surrenders to Authorities

A Huntington Park councilwoman surrendered to authorities Wednesday after being charged with perjury for signing council nomination papers stating she lived in the city when, prosecutors allege, she really resided in Downey.

Linda Luz Guevara, accompanied by her attorney, turned herself in at the criminal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

Her arraignment on two felony counts was continued to Oct. 15, and she was released on her own recognizance.

Scott Goodwin, a deputy district attorney with the Public Integrity Division, said Guevara perjured herself in 1997 and 1998 on two nomination forms for the Huntington Park City Council. “Ms. Guevara was residing in the city of Downey at the time,” he said.

“She denies it 110%,” said Jeffrey Sklan, one of Guevara’s attorneys. He promised a vigorous defense, saying her husband lives in Downey, but the councilwoman has lived in a Huntington Park apartment for several years.

Sklan said prosecutors investigated the accusation a few years ago and decided not to pursue it. The motive for the charges, he said, is politics.

If convicted of the charges, Guevara, elected to the council in 1997, faces up to five years in prison.

District attorney investigators in May served search warrants on Huntington Park City Hall, the Downey house and her son’s school. Guevara is a paralegal; they searched her office as well.

Materials gathered during those searches led prosecutors to bring the perjury charges, sources said.

The criminal charges are the latest involving Huntington Park City Hall and other small municipalities in southeastern Los Angeles County. A Huntington Park casino owner this month was charged by federal prosecutors with attempting to bribe the city’s mayor.

The district attorney’s office has charged a South Gate City Council candidate with seven felony counts of perjury. Prosecutors allege that Richard F. Mayer lives in Los Angeles, not South Gate as he insists.