A process server has alleged that Julio Perez, candidate for the 69th Assembly District, doesn’t live at the Santa Ana address listed on his candidacy filings, the Orange County Register reported Wednesday.
When the server arrived at the residence on N. Baker Street, Yolanda Estrada answered and said that Perez doesn’t live there, according to the Register. A neighbor also said he had never heard of Perez.
Allegations against elected officials and candidates lying about their residency, a criminal offense, are common, but documentation to prove such allegations is rare.
From the Register:
Perez could not explain the situation when asked about it by an Orange County Register reporter on Wednesday.
“I have no idea. No woman lives in that residence,” he said, insisting that he lives in the Baker Street home with a roommate.
Perez offered no explanation for why a woman would be at his home or say he didn’t live there.
Perez, a 33-year-old Democrat, is the labor unions’ candidate to succeed Assemblyman Jose Solorio in the 69th Assembly District. A political unknown, Perez worked for three years as the political director of the Orange County Labor Federation and is now employed by United Food and Commercial Workers, a union that represents supermarket employees.
Last year, Perez raised $114,000 in campaign contributions, mostly from union sources. Unions also have kicked in another $195,000 for an independent expenditure committee on Perez’s behalf.
Questions about Perez’s residency have been raised because he is being sued by Midland Funding LLC, a debt-buying company. Midland is trying to collect more $7,800 in debts that it says Perez racked up with Chase Bank.
Midland previously won a $10,000 judgment against Perez in 2011.