Former Irvine City Council member charged with perjury, multiple felonies in alleged election fraud

[ad_1] Just a few months in the past, former Irvine Vice Mayor Tammy Kim had aspirations of returning to the Metropolis Council she beforehand served on for 4 years.

Now her quick objective is to combat off prices that might put her in jail for a number of years.

The Orange County district lawyer’s workplace introduced Thursday afternoon that Kim was charged with 10 felonies tied to allegedly mendacity about her residency throughout her Metropolis Council tenure and whereas campaigning for mayor final fall.

Kim was formally charged with three felony counts of perjury by declaration, three felony counts of submitting a false doc, and one felony rely every of a public official aiding the unlawful casting of votes, of submitting false nominations papers, of understanding of the registration of somebody not entitled to vote and of voter registration fraud. She was additionally charged with a misdemeanor of constructing a false assertion.

She might spend as much as 11 years and two months in state jail and county jail if convicted on all counts.

She is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.

Kim briefly responded to a name from The Occasions, saying she was suggested to not share an excessive amount of per her lawyer, Caroline Hahn.

“We’re coming into a not responsible plea,” Kim mentioned.

Hahn added that she and her shopper “deliberate to launch a vigorous protection” however didn't reply additional questions.

Kim is accused of utilizing two fraudulent addresses whereas working for mayor within the November 2024 election after which in a Metropolis Council particular election in early 2025, in response to the prison criticism. She owned a rental within the metropolis’s third District, the place she had lived since 2015, in response to a separate lawsuit filed towards Kim to get her thrown off the Metropolis Council poll.

Kim gained election to the Irvine Metropolis Council in November 2020, receiving almost 44,000 votes a 14-person, top-three-candidate race.

At the moment, metropolis elections in Irvine used an at-large voting system, which means candidates might dwell wherever within the metropolis.

The town moved to district elections within the fall 2024, requiring council members to dwell within the districts they characterize. Solely voters from these districts might vote for these candidates.

Kim served till November 2024 when she ran for and finally misplaced a mayoral marketing campaign to Councilmember Larry Agran by a margin of almost 5,000 votes.

The district lawyer’s workplace believes Kim improperly used an deal with to run for mayor, now not claiming to dwell within the third District rental she had owned for a decade.

To run for mayor, Kim modified her California driver’s license and her voter registration to a house within the fifth District, the place she by no means lived, in response to the prison criticism.

The house belonged to a household Kim met by means of a Korean educating class, the criticism alleges. Kim didn't inform the household that she was utilizing their deal with, in response to the criticism.

She has been charged with certifying that deal with as her personal beneath the penalty of perjury.

Kim finally completed her marketing campaign and voted in November’s mayoral race based mostly out of the fifth Diistrict dwelling.

Shortly after her defeat, Kim declared her candidacy in December to fill the now- vacant fifth District seat, which Agran left after successful the mayoral election.

Kim finally discovered a room in one other fifth District dwelling on Jan. 10 and adjusted her California driver’s registration that very same day, in response to the criticism. She then filed new nomination paperwork with the brand new fifth District deal with, in response to the criticism.

Later that month, former mayoral candidate Ron Scolesdang sued Kim, claiming that she was fraudulently utilizing an incorrect deal with. Scolesdang had employed a non-public investigator to observe Kim, in response to that lawsuit.