A city council candidate in California was arrested on multiple charges of perjury for allegedly claiming false residence in the district she was running in, which meant listing a local bar as her home.
On Wednesday, August 19, San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitasannounced the arrest of Stockton City Council candidate Desiree Lynch following a lengthy corruption investigation that he says threatened the integrity of their local elections. She was arrested and booked on three counts of perjury, one count of allowing false voter registration, and one count of filing false information to declare candidacy.
Despite running for office in District 5, a six-week-long investigation determined that she actually resided in Lodi and North Stockton, which is in City Council District 1. In paperwork filed to become a candidate for city council, she allegedly used two fraudulent addresses in Stockton to make it look like she lived there. In addition to an apartment complex, one of her alleged fraudulent addresses was Harry’s Cocktail Lounge.
“The integrity of our elections is the bedrock of our democratic process, and we must ensure that every election is run fairly and without fraud,” Freitas said in a statement. “By her continued deliberate acts, Desiree Lynch is robbing the voters of Stockton of a valid choice for who should represent them on the Stockton City Council. The constituents of this community deserve a representative who actually lives in their neighborhoods, not an opportunist manufacturing a fake address to cheat the system.”…