Ex-Sacramento Councilman Sean Loloee wants charges tossed over statute of limitations

Sam Stanton
·4 min read

Lawyers for former Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee are asking a federal judge to toss out most of the 25-count indictment against him, arguing that many of the charges stems from years-old allegations and are a “thinly-veiled end-run around the statute of limitations.”

In motions filed in federal court in Sacramento Tuesday night, Loloee’s lawyers ask Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to throw out 16 of the 25 counts, arguing that most of them allege wrongdoing outside the 5-year statute of limitations.

“It is a fundamental tenet of our justice system that the government cannot charge a person for a crime alleged to have been committed outside the statute of limitations,” attorneys Sherry Haus, Kevin Rooney and Tom Johnson wrote. “The reasons are clear, and grounded in basic fairness and the protection of defendants’ rights:

“People move away, grow old or die. Memories fade. Offices move. File keepers move on. Record retention policies change. Crucial evidence that could exculpate a defendant may be lost or degraded.”

The motions address an indictment filed against Loloee and his Viva Supermarkets general manager Karla Montoya on Dec. 14, and claim that the government is seeking to prosecute Loloee on 14 counts of possession of false immigration documents “for alleged violations of that statute that pre-date December 14, 2018.”

A second motion seeks the dismissal of two other counts charging use of a false immigration document, with Loloee’s lawyers arguing that the government cannot claim a Social Security card or number qualifies as an identification document.

Prosecutors had not filed a response to the motions as of Wednesday morning.

Loloee and Montoya face allegations that they hired employees who used phony immigration documents and that Loloee used “an atmosphere of intimidation” at his markets by making clear he “knew who was ‘illegal’” and threatening immigration consequences.

City Councilman Sean Loloee, center, is seated in a Sacramento federal court with Karla Montoya, left, and his attorney, Sherry Haus, in a court artist’s sketch from his hearing Friday, Dec. 15, 2023. A federal grand jury indicted Loloee with 25 counts of fraud, obstruction and other charges stemming from his business, Viva Supermarkets. Both Loloee and Montoya pleaded not guilty and were released in orders to stay separated.

Loloee has denounced the charges as politically motivated, but he resigned his council post under pressure in January.

Loloee and Montoya both have pleaded not guilty and are due back in court April 29.

One motion seeks dismissal of Counts 2 through 15 — each charging possession of false immigration documents — for allegedly hiring undocumented workers “on dates harking back to the years of the Obama administration — and certainly well before COVID put grocery stores on the front line of the battle against a deadly worldwide pandemic.”

“These charges clearly fall well outside the five-year limitations period,” Loloee’s lawyers argued. “However fervently the government may wish to tell a story about the long-ago hiring of certain undocumented persons (some, almost a decade ago) in the local Viva grocery stores, our justice system and the applicable statute of limitations period forbid it from forcing Mr. Loloee to face and defend against stale charges, resurrected from a remote past, and practically obsolete in the world of a fast-paced grocery store chain’s employment history and record keeping.”

The motion argues that the government, which had investigated Loloee’s operations for years, knew it had a problem with the statute of limitations and sought an inventive way around that.

“In November 2021, federal agents attempted to freshen up these charges by sending ‘undocumented’ undercover agents to seek employment at a Viva Supermarket store — an effort that failed when the person was refused employment,” his lawyers wrote with emphasis.

Loloee’s lawyers point to language in the indictment accusing the defendants of accepting fraudulent identity documents to hire employees between 2014 and 2018, and they argue that such instances are “time-barred, as a matter of law” because of the five-year limit.

“The statute of limitations for use of false documents during the employment verification process begins to run from the date of the use, and is not a continuing offense — and no other exceptions applies,” his lawyers argued. “Thus, Counts 2 through 15 must be dismissed.”

A second motion seeks dismissal of Counts 16 and 17, which allege use of a false immigration document — Social Security cards.

“However, a Social Security card is not an ‘identification document...’,” Loloee’s lawyers argue, adding that one of the counts appears to charge the use of a phony Social Security number, not a card.

“It therefore appears that the government has charged this count based on a purported use of a Social Security number alone,” they wrote. “As set forth above, even a false Social Security card would not be sufficient to sustain this charge.

“Mr. Loloee further moves to dismiss this count on the additional ground that a Social Security number is in no form or fashion a document.”

The government has accused Loloee of “maintaining a workforce of undocumented workers” to enrich himself “in various ways, including by not paying them overtime wages.”

In total, he faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Labor, possession of false immigration documents, using a false immigration document, obstruction of agency proceedings, falsifying records and of wire fraud.

If convicted of the most serious charges, Loloee could face up to 20 years in prison.