Candidate Accused of Molestation Is Elected

A sergeant with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department was elected to the Palmdale City Council despite his arrest last week on suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old girl, according to semifinal results released Wednesday.

Even though he lost a key endorsement and had essentially shut down his campaign just days before Tuesday’s election, Sgt. Kevin Wright Carney narrowly finished second in a field of 13 candidates seeking two council seats.

Not all of the absentee ballots have been counted and the final results from Tuesday’s election won’t be available until Nov. 18, according to the Los Angeles County registrar of voters. County officials said they did not know how many absentee ballots were left to count.

The 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose previous run for Palmdale mayor had been marred by similar allegations of sexual abuse, said his council victory was “bittersweet.�

“I’m very pleased at the results,� Carney said. “ But at the same time, with all these others things going on, it’s hard to savor a victory.�

Sheriff’s detectives arrested Carney, 48, on Friday after a 14-year-old girl told authorities Carney had molested her. No charges have been filed but the arrest caused Assemblyman George Runner Jr. (R-Lancaster) to publicly rescind his endorsement of the candidate. Carney’s campaign also decided to stop making phone calls and putting up posters over the weekend because of the arrest, campaign managers said.

Although some Palmdale voters were shocked to learn that Carney had eked out a win in Tuesday’s election, others said they didn’t think the allegations mattered.

“How do we know he’s guilty? We don’t,� said Maurice McGowan, a 72-year-old knitting instructor who rested her needles for a moment Wednesday to defend the man she voted for. “Kids will say anything these days. Until there’s proof, I won’t believe it.�

Carney said absentee ballots mailed in before he was arrested helped him win. Carney finished first in absentee ballots, garnering 23.4% of those counted to date, compared to his 13.2% of the overall vote, according to county election officials.

Third-place finisher Sandy Corrales refused to concede defeat Wednesday, saying that she awaited the final election results before giving up. Corrales, a graphic designer, said Carney should have dropped out of the race because of the allegations.

“I wouldn’t have kept running if I had been facing something so heinous and disturbing,� Corrales said.

Mike Dispenza, an insurance salesman, took the most votes in the race for the four-year City Council seats with 18.2%, or 2,806, of approximately 7,700 votes.

The council post is a part-time job that pays $600 per month.

At a news conference in front of Palmdale City Hall, Carney shied away from discussing criminal allegations and tried to focus on his plans. He will try to increase public safety, he said, and lead an effort to build a hospital in Palmdale, a city with a population of 120,000 and no major medical facility.

He may retire soon from the Sheriff’s Department, he said.

When pressed by reporters about the child molesting allegations, he professed innocence, saying the claims had been fabricated by political enemies.

“The root [of the allegations] is that there are certain people who don’t want to see the balance of power shift in the city,� he said.

James Allen, 35, a motivational speaker said, “They pulled this on him two years ago . . . .I think people saw through it this time.�

Sheriff’s officials deny the allegations were politically motivated. Carney is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 22 for arraignment.

This is not the first time Carney has found himself in the middle of such a crisis during an election. In a campaign for Palmdale mayor in 1997--and 10 days before the election--two young girls accused Carney of molesting them, Palmdale politicians said.

Charges were never filed in that case and Carney lost the election by more than 20% to incumbent Mayor Jim Ledford, who won reelection Tuesday.