Former Stanton city councilwoman charged with multiple felonies

Hong Alyce Van, a former Stanton city councilwoman, has been charged with multiple felonies for allegedly forging nomination paperwork to run for reelection for a city council seat in a district in which she did not live and illegally voting in the Nov. 5 general election, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced last week.

Van, 40, of Anaheim, has been charged with one felony count of perjury, one felony count of offering a false or forged document to be filed, registered or recorded, one felony count of filing false nomination papers and one felony account of not being entitled to vote at an election.

Van is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 29 at the Stephen K. Tamura Justice Center in Westminster in Department W12. She faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.

“The integrity of our elections will be safeguarded and political candidates who lie and cheat the system in order to get elected will be prosecuted,” OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “These are not mistakes. These are deliberate decisions to interfere with our democratic process and they will not be tolerated.”

Van was elected in November 2020 to represent Stanton’s City Council District 2, but less than a year after her election Van is accused of purchasing a home in Stanton Council District 4 with her husband and son. Despite no longer living in her district, Van did not resign as required by law and continued to serve as the District 2 council member, prosecutors said. Van did not sell her home in District 2, which was located next to the home where her parents live, and allowed other family members to live in her former home.

While serving on the council, Van is accused of leaving her home located in Stanton Council District 4, driving to her former residence in CD 2, then walking to Stanton City Hall to attend council meetings, according to the DA’s office.

On July 23, Van submitted an “affidavit of nominee,” which she signed under penalty of perjury, to run for reelection for District 2, despite the fact that she no longer lived in the district and was therefore ineligible to run for the city council seat, prosecutors said. Van’s voter registration continued to list her former District 2 address after she moved, and she illegally cast her vote in the November 2024 election while being registered at her former address.

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