Seal Beach city councilman guilty of conflict of interest

Saturday December 14, 2002

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A former Seal Beach councilman who voted in favor of using taxpayer money to buy a trailer park whose owner paid him more than $100,000 in consulting fees was sentenced Friday to three years probation.

Shawn Boyd, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of felony conflict of interest and one count of misdemeanor tax evasion He could have faced as much as three years in prison on the conflict of interest charge.

``I think the penalty is sufficient,'' said Deputy District Attorney Jeff Winter. ``Mr. Boyd's political career is over.''

Boyd's felony conviction prevents him from seeking elective office or even voting again. Separately, the state Fair Political Practices Commission fined him $25,000.

As a member of the Seal Beach City Council in 2000 and 2001, Boyd voted in favor of paying $7.4 million in city money for the trailer park, which Richard Hall had bought for $2.9 million in 1998. In doing so, he failed to disclose that Hall paid him $104,000 in consulting fees.

The city was interested in the trailer park because it represents Seal Beach's only designated affordable housing. It is now owned by a nonprofit agency.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Ronald P. Kreeber also fined Boyd $1,000 and ordered him to pay $12,154 in back taxes, interest and investigation costs.

Authorities said the tax charge involved $45,000 in consulting income Boyd didn't pay taxes on.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)