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D.A. Investigating Whether City Councilman Is Currently Married To Two People
Curren Price. (Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office is looking into a complaint that centers on L.A. Councilmember Curren Price's two marriages, and whether his divorce from his first wife was ever finalized, reports the L.A. Times.
Questions of Price's marriages were first brought up at City Watch, which reported that while he is currently married to a woman named Del Richardson, his divorce from a previous marriage to Lynn Suzette Green had never been finalized. Price had twice filed for divorce through the L.A. court system, but, so far, no reports have been uncovered showing that the divorces had been finalized. City Watch said that, in 2012, Curren claimed in court that he was unable to locate Green, and thus had difficulty in going through with the divorce proceedings. Price had married Green in 1981, according to the Times.
City Watch's article was refuted in a statement by the Los Angeles Sentinel, which said that "political insiders" believe the write-up was part of an effort to tarnish Price's name. The Sentinel quoted attorney Albert Robles, who had apparently handled Price's divorce efforts. "Curren Price is divorced, end of story. I was Curren Price’s attorney, my office filed the paperwork. As far as Curren Price is concerned, his divorce was settled years ago and that’s what was communicated to Mr. Price at the time," Robles said in a statement obtained by the Sentinel.
Greg Risling, a spokesperson with the county D.A.'s office, told LAist that they can not disclose who'd filed the complaint.
As noted by the Times, bigamy is illegal and can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony. A judge can consider, however, if an individual had a “reasonable, good faith” reason to believe that a marriage had been legally dissolved.
Price, who represents the 9th District, won his re-election after getting nearly 63% of the votes earlier this month.
LAist emailed Price's office for a statement on the county D.A. office's announcement.
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