A day after Stockton City Council candidate Desiree Lynch was arrested on five felony counts related to alleged election fraud, a separate legal dispute involving the apartment at the center of the criminal residency case against her is scheduled to go before a judge.
Hearings on Lynch’s requests for a civil harassment restraining order against former Stockton Vice Mayor Ralph Lee White and former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva are scheduled for Thursday.
Lynch filed the requests at the end of July, alleging White and Silva unlawfully entered an East Oak Street apartment she identified as her home, where they recorded videos inside the residence and posted the address online.
Alleged videos of inside the apartment circulated on social media over the last several weeks, including being highlighted on accounts belonging to White and Silva.
Lynch is asking the court to prohibit White and Silva from harassing, intimidating, threatening or contacting her and her 18-year-old daughter Kaylin R. Gutierrez, according to court documents. She also requested both remain at least 100 yards away from her, her home, workplace, vehicle, her children’s school and other people listed for protection in the petition.
White’s attorney, former San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar, told Stocktonia late Wednesday that her client would not be making a statement before his court appearance Thursday.
Silva is being represented by Stockton-based attorney Jose Rodriguez, who is also the president and CEO of El Concilio California, a nonprofit social services agency helping low-income and marginalized communities. When she was district attorney, Verber Salazar’s office brought several charges against Silva during his tenure as mayor.
Stocktonia’s attempts to reach Rodriguez Thursday morning were unsuccessful.
The restraining orders requests came one day after Vice Mayor Jason Lee, who has endorsed Lynch’s bid to unseat District 5 Councilmember Brando Villapudua, publicly called on the Stockton Police Department to investigate whether any laws had been violated.
Police responded to the alleged incident but did not issue an emergency protective order, Lynch said in a court filing. She reported no physical injuries, no use or threat of a weapon and no previous incidents of alleged harassment involving either White or Silva, both of whom she described as individuals she doesn’t personally know.
The former mayor is accusing Lynch of filing a false police report in order to cover up “fraud and continue to deceive the public,” in a statement to Stocktonia Thursday morning. He also accused Vice Mayor Lee of being involved.
At the time, Lynch said that having her home “allegedly entered, filmed, and publicly exposed” left her feeling “deeply violated and unsafe,” but she would not be intimidated and remained committed to her campaign. However, she has since waffled on whether or not she wanted to continue in the race for Stockton City Council.
Silva publicly questioned Lynch’s District 5 residency in the weeks leading to her arrest, citing videos allegedly recorded inside the East Oak Street apartment listed on her candidate paperwork and a property record he has presented as associated with her at an address in Lodi.
Lynch claims White and Silva entered the apartment without permission and recorded the videos referred to by Silva on social media. It’s unclear from court documents how they had potentially accessed Lynch’s alleged residence.
That same East Oak Street apartment now also figures prominently in the criminal case against Lynch, as the District 5 candidate is facing accusations of perjury and election fraud related to where she lives. Councilmembers must live within the districts they represent.
San Joaquin County District Attorney investigators allege Lynch registered to vote and filed candidate paperwork using at least two addresses where she did not reside, including the East Oak Street apartment at Doyle Garden Apartments. Investigators allege she instead lives in Lodi and north Stockton, within City Council District 1. District 5 encompasses south central Stockton.
On Wednesday morning, Lynch was arrested and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on five felony counts: three counts of perjury, one voter registration violation and one count of filing a false declaration of candidacy. She was released on bond later that afternoon.
Lynch’s arraignment, initially scheduled for Thursday at the same time as her restraining order hearing, has since been moved to Sept. 2.
The District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that its Bureau of Investigations had been investigating potential public corruption for six weeks — leading to Lynch’s arrest — after receiving a referral from the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office following the June primary.
Prosecutors allege Lynch used two addresses where she did not reside — Harry’s Cocktail Lounge on East Charter Way and the Doyle Garden Apartments on East Oak Street — in connection with her voter registration and candidacy.
The District Attorney’s Office alleges Lynch committed perjury on three occasions between November 2025 and March and continued making false representations through Aug. 17.
If convicted on all five counts, Lynch faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Thursday’s hearing concerns Lynch’s civil harassment petition against White and is separate from the criminal prosecution over her residency.
Lynch was asked last week to address questions about her residency and provide documentation supporting it but did not respond. She also did not immediately respond to Stocktonia’s request for comment after being released on bond Wednesday following her arrest.
Thursday’s restraining order hearings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Department 3A at the San Joaquin County Superior Courthouse in Stockton.
Cassie Dickman and Scott Linesburgh contributed to this report.