Councilman Richard Alarcon

By Scott Bridges, Jul. 25, 2014, LA Business Journal

Felony-convicted ex-councilman to collect $116K annual pension

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcón, who on Wednesday was convicted of four felonies and faces six years in prison, will continue receiving his annual pension of $116,000.

Unlike some other California jurisdictions, L.A. doesn’t prohibit city employees convicted of felonies from collecting pensions, a representative of the city’s civilian retirement division told the Los Angeles Daily News.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury convicted Alarcón of four counts of perjury and voter fraud for living outside Council District 7 and lying about his address on official documents. His wife, Flora, was convicted of three counts.

Three months ago, City Councilman Mitchell Englander proposed a motion that would require city workers convicted of a felony involving the use of their city position to forfeit their pension. In 2012, Gov. Jerry Brownsigned a law requiring public employees convicted of a felony to forfeit retirement benefits accrued after the date the felony occurred. L.A., however, has its own pension systems, and is outside the scope of the 2012 law.