Buena Park : Ex-Council Candidate Enters No-Contest Plea
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A former City Council candidate pleaded no contest Wednesday to felony charges that he filed a false statement of candidacy.
Steve Grasha, 28, who now lives in Palm Springs, entered the plea before Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Leary, who scheduled sentencing for April 8, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Nat Glover.
Grasha acknowledged previously that he claimed on candidacy papers to live at a Buena Park apartment that he did not actually move into until Oct. 15, less than three weeks before the city’s Nov. 5 election.
But he had argued that he was the victim of discriminatory prosecution, citing the district attorney’s failure to prosecute Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates for failure to list his actual address on candidacy papers.
At the time, Gates claimed that delays in a real estate transaction caused some confusion over his legal residence, which is now in San Clemente. He previously lived in San Juan Capistrano.
Grasha could be sentenced to as long as 16 months in jail and fined as much as $1,000.
He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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