A judge has ordered Huntington Park not to fill the seat of a City Council member who city officials allege automatically vacated her office when her family moved to South Gate.
Councilmember Esmeralda Castillo is suing Huntington Park, City Manager Ricardo Reyes, and Councilmembers Arturo Flores, Eduardo Martinez and Jonathan Sanabria for declaring her seat vacant in February, allegedly without giving her an opportunity to defend herself.
She denies the allegations, maintaining she is renting a room from a former neighbor in Huntington Park but frequently visits and stays over at her elderly parents’ home to assist with her mother’s care. Her family moved to South Gate in February 2024 — a month before she appeared on the ballot — after the landlord of the family’s lifelong home in Huntington Park asked them to move out so she could move her family in, according to a declaration filed in the case.
“She does live in the city, she grew up in the city, it’s been her home for literally her entire life.” said her attorney, Albert Robles. “The defendants, to this day, have never given her an opportunity to share her side of the story. They’ve never shown her the evidence they assembled against her.”
The city claims it is following the Municipal Code, which states that if a councilmember “moves his or her place of residence outside of the City or ceases to be an elector of the city, his or her office shall immediately become vacant.” City officials made the determination following a closed-session discussion Feb. 18 and have since removed Castillo’s picture and biography from the city’s website. She also was prevented from participating in subsequent council meetings.
Judge intervenes
So now, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Barbara Meiers has granted a temporary restraining order requested by Castillo, ordering the city not to take any action to fill the seat — even temporarily — until the court says otherwise.
That could lead to some complications. The city is required to appoint someone within 60 days of a vacancy — a looming deadline that ends April 21 — or it will have to go to a special election estimated to cost $500,000.
A spokesperson for the city did not return a call for comment.
The lawsuit, filed within days of her removal in February, alleges Castillo, who won her seat in the March 2024 election, was targeted in retaliation for submitting a complaint to the city attorney accusing Flores, Martinez, Sanabria and Reyes of sexual harassment, bullying and creating a hostile work environment.
During the Feb. 18 meeting, Flores and Sanabria stalled the proceeding for more than 30 minutes to question whether Castillo should be allowed to provide public comment before they went into closed session without her. Mayor Karina Macias and Flores repeatedly clashed, interrupted and talked over each other while Castillo waited at the public podium to finish her comments.
“Can you stop harassing me?” Macias told Flores.
“Mayor, can you run the meeting, please?” he responded.
Police conducted probe
The investigation into Castillo’s residency was carried out by a Huntington Park Police Department supervisor, records showed.
An affidavit submitted by Cpl. Mike Parsa in support of a search warrant executed this year states the city received multiple complaints alleging Castillo did not live in the city starting in November 2024. A private investigator, hired by the city to follow her for a week in December, found that she returned to her parents’ home in South Gate every night and appeared to stay there until morning, according to affidavit.
Parsa then took over the investigation and obtained a warrant to place a tracking device on Castillo’s car. He alleges her vehicle “consistently stopped overnight” at her parents’ home in South Gate from Jan. 3, 2025, to Feb. 3, 2025. Parsa subsequently obtained search warrants for the home of Castillo’s parents as well as the room she was renting in Huntington Park.
In a court filing, the city alleged the person who Castillo allegedly is renting a room from told police that Castillo received her mail there and stayed over sometimes, but did not live there and had never paid rent.
Attorney: No due process
Asked to respond to that allegation, Robles called it “b.s. by political opponents” in an email that included a lengthy response stating that even convicted serial killer Charles Manson was considered innocent until proven guilty and received due process.
“Everyone deserve a day in court, or so that was what I was taught at Carson Street Elementary School,” Robles wrote. “P.S. She lives there and has her entire life.”
The route Huntington Park took to oust Castillo from office is highly unusual.
Typically, to remove someone from an elected position, a private person or a local agency must seek approval from the California attorney general’s office to file what is called a “quo warranto” lawsuit. The attorney general’s office on its website specifies that quo warranto lawsuits are a “test to a person’s legal right to hold an office” and “may be brought to determine whether a public official satisfies a requirement that he or she resides in the district; or whether a public official is serving in two incompatible offices.”
That didn’t happen here.
In a court filing, the city’s attorney, Eric Markus, took the stance that Castillo’s seat automatically became vacant as “a matter of both state and local law” and she would need to file a quo warranto as it has been “widely used to resolve disputes regarding title to public office in California since 1872.”
Meiers, in a ruling Friday, April 4, disagreed and determined that because Castillo already had been removed from office — lawfully or not — and her position has not been filled, a quo warranto was no longer needed to challenge the city’s action.
“Here, Plaintiff remains the sole claimant of the seat. No successor has been appointed or elected,” Meiers wrote. “The issue is whether the Council acted lawfully in its effort to declare the office vacant and potentially replace Plaintiff.”
Troubled times at City Hall
The battle over Castillo’s seat comes during a particularly rocky time in Huntington Park. Two weeks after Castillo’s removal, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office raided City Hall and the homes of Mayor Macias, Councilmember Martinez, City Manager Reyes, and former Councilmembers Graciela Ortiz and Marilyn Sanabria. The raids also targeted consultant Efren Martinez and the owners of JT Construction, Edvin Tsaturyan and Sona Vardikyan.
No one has been charged in the ongoing case.
The investigation, dubbed “Operation Dirty Pond,” alleges millions of dollars in public funds allocated to build an aquatic center were potentially misused. Longtime Huntington Park City Attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman abruptly resigned days later.
The city attorney’s replacement, Andrew Sarega, served as special counsel on the investigation into Castillo.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Huntington Park councilmember sues city after move to boot her from office over residency )
Also on site :
- US Supreme Court upholds deportations under Alien Enemies Act
- Solana Beach dog groomer sentenced for attempted sex assault of 75-year-old woman
- Trump says high tariffs may have prevented the Great Depression. History says different