CVUSD board member charged with perjury pleads not guilty
A Coachella Valley Unified School District board member who allegedly lied on candidate nomination forms in order to aid his election chances pleaded not guilty to perjury charges on Friday morning.
Francisco “Frank” Manuel Becerra, 49, is charged with three counts of felony perjury and one count of false declaration of candidacy for allegedly listing a false home address on three separate campaign nomination forms. He faces more than four years in prison if convicted on all charges, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Becerra provided a Polk Street address in an agricultural area of Thermal on the forms, but prosecutors allege he actually lived about three miles away on Middleton Street. Becerra ran for Trustee Area 3 and defeated incumbent Lowell Kamper and fellow candidate Darlene Berber-Felton, but his alleged actual address should
have had him running in Trustee Area 2, against former Coachella Mayor Jesus Gonzalez, according to prosecutors. Gonzalez won after running unopposed for Trustee Area 2.
Investigator Thomas Lambi of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office alleged in an arrest warrant declaration that Becerra listed the Polk address “in order to qualify for a seat on the board, which he would have otherwise not qualified for while residing at the Middleton St. address.”
Despite listing the Polk Street address in his campaign documents, D.A.’s investigators said they found bills, DMV information and other evidence indicating Becerra lived at the Middleton Street address.
Becerra will return to court Aug. 8 for a felony settlement conference.
Charges were filed following investigation by the DA’s public Integrity Team
Becerra claimed he lived in “area 3” of the school district, and that is the area he was elected to represent.
In a story we ran in early November, CBS Local 2 reported Becerra listed his home address as 70-999 Polk Street in Thermal.
The property is farmland owned by Anthony Vineyards.
After our initial report aired, and was published online, Becerra provided a doucment to CBS Local 2, which he described as a “lease agreement” between himself and the vineyard owner, which Becerra said allowed him to live on the property.
CBS Local 2 sent an email to Becerra Wednesday morning, requesting a comment on the charges against him.
Becerra has not responded to the request.
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