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Just a few months ago, former Irvine vice mayor Tammy Kim wanted to return to the city council where she previously served for four years.
Now, her immediate goal is to fight accusations that could put her in prison for several years.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday afternoon that Kim was charged with 10 felony charges during her council tenure and during a campaign to the mayor last fall.
Kim was formally indicted by declaration for three felony counts of perjury, three felony counts of filing false documents, and one felony count, each of the unlawful cast of ballots, filing false nomination documents, and knowledge of registering votes and voting registrations for voted and voting registration fraud. She was also charged with misdemeanor for making false statements.
She could spend up to 11 years and two months in the state and county jails if convicted in all numbers.
She is scheduled to be arrested Friday morning.
Kim answered a call from the Times briefly and said attorney Caroline Hearn advised her not to share much.
“We are in a plea of innocence,” Kim said.
Hahn added that she and her clients “planned to launch a fierce defense,” but did not answer any further questions.
According to criminal charges, Kim ran for mayor in the November 2024 election and has since been accused of using two fraudulent speeches in the city council special election in early 2025. She owned a condo in the city’s third district. She has been living since 2015. This is according to another lawsuit filed against Kim to abandon her from the city council vote.
Kim won the Irvine City Council election in November 2020, winning nearly 44,000 votes in the top three candy day traces of 14 people.
At the time, urban elections in Irvine used a large voting system. This means that candidates can live anywhere in the city.
The city moved to district elections in the fall of 2024, requiring that council members should live in the districts they represent. Only voters from these districts were able to vote for those candidates.
Kim served until November 2024, eventually losing the mayoral campaign to Councillor Larry Aglan with a margin of nearly 5,000 votes.
The District Attorney’s Office believes Kim improperly used the address to run towards the mayor and no longer claims that she lives in a district 3 condo she owned for 10 years.
In order to run for mayor, Kim changed her California driver’s license and voter registration to a 5th district home, according to criminal charges.
The family belonged to the family Kim met through the Korean education class, the complaint alleges. According to the complaint, Kim did not inform the family that she was using the address.
She is accused of identifying the address as herself under perjury punishment.
Kim eventually ended her campaign and voted at the mayoral race in November, based at the fifth district home.
Shortly after her defeat, Kim declared her candidacy in December, filling the seat in the current fifth district that Aglan left after winning the mayoral election.
Kim eventually found a room in another fifth district home on Jan. 10, and changed her driver’s seat registration in California that day, according to the complaint. She then submitted new appointment documents to her new District 5 address, according to the complaint.
Later that month, former mayoral candidate Ron Scollesdan sued Kim, claiming that she was using an unauthorized address. Scolesdang had hired a private investigator to monitor Kim, according to the lawsuit.
Kim eventually dropped out of the race on February 7th. On the same day, a Superior Court judge removed her name from the vote.
Betty Martinez Franco won the special election.
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