Only a few months ago, the former mayor of Irvine, Tammy Kim, had aspirations to return to the municipal council in which he previously served for four years.
Now its immediate goal is to fight the charges that could put it in prison for several years.
The Orange County District Prosecutor’s Office announced Thorsday in the afternoon that Kim was accused of 10 serious crimes linked to allegedly lies about the duration of the residence in his mandate of the municipal council and while campaigning for the mayor the past fall.
Kim was formally accused of three serious crimes of perjury by statement, three charges of serious crimes of presenting a false document, and a serious crime each account of a public official who helps the illegal issuance of the votes, of presenting documents of false nominations, of knowing the registration of someone who has no right to vote and the voters Registry Craud. She was also accused of spontaneous abortion or making a false statement.
It could go up to 11 years and two months in the state prison and the county prison if it is declared guilty of all aspects.
It is scheduled to be processed on Friday morning.
Kim Letterly responded to a call from the Times, saying that he was advised not to share too much according to his lawyer, Caroline Hahn.
“We are in a non -guilty statement,” Kim said.
Hahn added that she and her client “planned to launch a vigorous defense” but no more questions answered.
Kim is accused of using two fraudulent addresses while running for mayor in the November 2024 elections and then in a special election of the City Council in early 2025, according to the criminal complaint. She owned a condominium in the third district of the city, where she had lived since 2015, according to a separate lawsuit filed against Kim to take her out of the electoral ballot from the City Council.
Kim won the elections to the Irvine City Council in November 2020, receiving almost 44000 votes in a candidate career of 14 people and main.
At that time, the city’s elections in Irvine used a general voting system, which means that candidates could live anywhere in the city.
The city He moved to the district elections In the fall of 2024, it requires that the members of the Council live in the districts they represent. Only the voters of those districts could vote for those candidates.
Kim served until November 2024, when he run and finally a campaign of mayor to the member of the Larry Council agran by a margin of almost 5,000 votes.
The district prosecutor’s office believes that Kim used an address to run for the mayor, no longer claims to live in the 3rd district condominium he had had for a decade.
To apply for the mayor, Kim changed his California driving license and his registration of voters to a house in the 5th district, where he never lived, according to the criminal complaint.
The house belonged to a Kim family with a Korean teaching class, alleges the complaint. Kim did not inform the family that he was using his address, according to the complaint.
She has accused of certifying that direction as his under the penalty of Perjury.
Kim Pootoly finished his campaign and voted in the career of November mayor based in the fifth house of Diistritas.
Shortly after his defeat, Kim declared his candidacy in December to occupy the now vacancy Seat of District 5, which Agran left after winning the mayor’s elections.
Kim Anyful found a room in another house in the 5th District on January 10 and changed her California driving record that same day, according to the complaint. Then he presented a new nomination documentation before the new address of the 5th District, according to the complaint.
Later, those months, former mayor candidate Ron Scolesdag sued Kim, claiming that he was fraudulently using an incorrect direction. Scolesdag had hired a private researcher to monitor Kim, according to that demand.
Kim Pots gave out of the race on February 7The same day, a judge of the Superior Court eliminated his name from the ballot.
Betty Franco Martínez won the special elections.
