Stockton City Council candidate Desiree Lynch was released on bond from the San Joaquin County Jail on Wednesday afternoon, according to online jail records.
Lynch had been booked earlier in the day on five felony counts involving perjury and election fraud, with bail set at $100,000.
Erin Haight, a spokesperson for the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, confirmed that Lynch, a registered nurse, had been released from custody.
Her arraignment, which had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon, was moved to Sept. 2. Lynch did not immediately respond to a request for comment following her release.
Her arrest and release come just 24 hours after announcing she would continue her campaign to unseat District 5 Councilmember Brando Villapudua this November. Four days earlier, Lynch announced she would no longer be campaigning following accusations circulating online that she had lied about her residency.
Councilmembers must live in the district they represent. District 5 encompasses south central Stockton.
Villapudua declined to comment to Stocktonia on Wednesday regarding the charges against Lynch, saying only that he was not aware his opponent had been arrested.
Neither the Sheriff’s Office nor the Stockton Police Department were involved in Lynch’s arrest, according to law enforcement officials. Sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent told Stocktonia the investigation was being handled by the District Attorney’s Office.
San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas said in a statement that Lynch’s arrest was the culmination of a six-week investigation by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office’s Bureau of Investigations into potential public corruption following a referral from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office after the June primary.
The DA’s Bureau of Investigations operates independently of other local law enforcement agencies. According to the DA’s website, it handles a range of specialized investigations, including suspected misconduct involving government officials, public employees and local agencies.
“The charges allege that Lynch perjured herself by registering to vote and filing as a candidate using residential addresses where she did not live,” the DA said in the statement.
Lynch is alleged to have committed perjury three times: on or about Nov. 10, Feb. 5 and March 2. She also is facing charges of “causing, procuring, or allowing false voter registration” and “filling a false nomination or declaration of candidacy” on or about Nov. 10 of last year, through and including Aug. 17.
“District Attorney investigators determined that Lynch was actually residing in Lodi and North Stockton, which is City Council District 1, not District 5, as she claimed on her official voter registration and candidate filing paperwork,” according to the statement from the DA’s Office.
Lynch’s former campaign manager, Ted Lehrer, told Stocktonia on Wednesday afternoon that he has taken a step back from his professional responsibilities to focus on his recovery after being stabbed multiple times while waiting for a bus in downtown Stockton in late July.
Lehrer declined to comment on Lynch’s arrest.
The investigation shows that Lynch used two fraudulent addresses on her candidate paperwork: Harry’s Cocktail Lounge on East Charter Way and at the Doyle Garden Apartments on East Oak Street.
Stocktonia’s attempts to reach the owners of Harry’s Cocktail Lounge were unsuccessful. The lounge appeared to be closed Wednesday afternoon, although hours of operation listed online show the establishment is open from mid-morning to late evening, seven days a week.
The onsite management office for Doyle Garden Apartments also appeared to be closed Wednesday afternoon, and no one answered the door of the apartment that Lynch listed as her residence on election paperwork.
If convicted on all counts, the District Attorney’s Office says Lynch faces a maximum of six years and eight months in prison.
Freitas called Lynch’s actions “continued” and “deliberate.”
“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,” he said in a statement. “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.”