[UPDATED with Parole Violated:] Delecia Holt, 3-Time GOP Candidate for Congress, Finally Sent to the House–the Big House


UPDATE, AUG. 23, 5:18 P.M.: Three-time congressional candidate Delecia Holt is finally being sent to the House–the Big House.

Having engaged in identity theft and improper banking while on probation for nine fraud-related felonies, the 49-year-old who has floated between various residences and GOP primaries in Orange and San Diego counties was sentenced today to six years and eight months in state prison. She's already served much of that time, however.
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Orange County Register political reporter Martin Wisckol, who has been making the crime desk jealous with his close scrutiny of Holt's misdeeds and campaign shenanigans over the years, again has the scoop.


Unable to make bail, Holt spent 16 months in Orange County Jail before being convicted in January 2010 of writing bad checks to defraud Orange County hotels, steal a Mercedes Benz from a local car dealership and rip off a charity, four comedians and a telephone company.

A former Anaheim and Aliso Viejo resident, Holt was ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution, serve five years probation and get psychological counseling.

But while on probation, Wisckol reports, Holt falsely represented herself as the principal of Pacific Communities
Escrow, an insolvent company owned by a one-time business associate, and opened four bank accounts under various names without the
court-stipulated approval from probation officials.

Holt's previous time served and good-behavior days, which amounts to 4 years and 76 days, will be deducted from her prison sentence, Deputy District
Attorney Marc Labreche tells Wisckol.

Billing herself as a “Republican with a heart”–and engaging in shady whoring of campaign contributions–Holt ran for the Republican nominations for Congress in 2005 (Chris Cox's old Newport Beach-based seat), 2006 (Randy “Duke” Cunningham's old San Diego seat) and 2008 (Brian Bilbray's current San Diego County seat).

UPDATE, JAN. 21, 2010, 11:09 A.M.: Delecia Holt, the 48-year-old Aliso Viejo Republican who ran three times for Congress in Orange and San Diego counties, was released from the jail she's been sitting in since her Oct. 7, 2008, arrest for defrauding Orange County hotels and stealing a Mercedes Benz from a local car dealership.

Holt was found guilty by an Orange County Superior Court jury in December of seven felony counts of writing non-sufficient fund checks, one felony count of grand theft and one felony count of defrauding an innkeeper by non-payment. She could have got up to eight years and four months in state prison at today's sentencing, but in addition to the jail time already served, she was placed on five years probation and ordered to pay $40,700 in restitution.

Since Holt could not make the bail that would have allowed her to remain free pending her conviction, it makes you wonder how she'll come up with the forty grand. Maybe she can run for another congressional seat to raise the restitution.

Holt, who said at a Republican women's luncheon while seeking the seat Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego) abandoned in 2006 as he headed to prison on bribery charges, “Ethics reform begins with me,”

A year before the race for Cunningham's former seat, Holt ran as a Republican in the special election to replace Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who left Congress in 2005 to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. Online financial contribution records indicate Holt's campaign raised
$300,000, with more than $87,000 coming from the candidate herself, in
the 2005 race. She got 110 votes, or 0.1 percent of those cast. She
doubled those numbers in her April 2006 campaign race for the Cunningham seat: 261
votes or 0.2 percent of those cast. Republican Brian Bilbray ultimately won the seat in a runoff. She ran as a write-in candidate for another San Diego County congressional seat in 2008, but dropped out after claiming to have raised more than $200,000.

Orange County Register politics reporter Martin Wisckol conducted an extensive investigation
of Holt's fund-raising claims in her final campaign and discovered
major irregularities. “Not a single one of the
217 listed campaign contributions listed on her federal disclosures
could be verified when the Orange County Register sought to contact her
listed donors,” wrote Wisckol, whose snooping sparked a District Attorney's office probe that led to the conviction against Holt. Wisckol reports that federal elections officials are now investigating Holt's campaign fund-raising.

Besides being a “Republican with a heart,” Holt's bio identified her as an author, businesswoman, philanthropist,
sociologist-researcher and intelligence security analyst. Turns out she was much more than that. According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office:

In July 2005, Holt went to a Mercedes Benz dealership in Orange County and wrote a bad check for just under $13,000 as a down payment for a $32,000 car. She left the dealer lot in the car and never made any legitimate payments for the vehicle. Holt's account, from which the $13,000 down payment check was written, had insufficient funds and the dealership never received any monthly payments.

Between July 2007 and September 2007, Holt defrauded the Comfort Suites in Lake Forest out of $5,000. She lived at the Comfort Suites and wrote two separate checks with insufficient funds over the course of three months. She then fled the hotel after failing to make any legitimate payments for her bill.

In October 2007, Holt hosted a comedy night fundraiser at a Dana Point hotel under the pretense of raising money for Habitat for Humanity. The failed event did not raise any money. Holt wrote a check for $15,000 to the hotel from a personal account to cover the cost of the event. She wrote another check to the four comedians totaling $2,000. She intentionally wrote the checks knowing her account had insufficient funds. The checks were declined when the victims attempted to deposit them.

During the trial, Holt testified that she was unable to cover her checks due to costs associated with deaths and illnesses in her family, despite having never mentioned any hardship to investigators when initially interviewed about this case. Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche of the Major Fraud Unit presented evidence that Holt bounced 90 checks in an 18-month period from one bank account. From a separate account, Holt bounced all 18 checks she wrote and never wrote one legitimate check from the account.

During the trial's closing arguments, Holt's own lawyer, Fred McBride, did not deny his client had defrauded her victims, calling her behavior “bizarre” and asking jurors to try to look more deeply into the mind of his client.
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ORIGINAL POST, DEC. 14, 2009, 9:42 A.M.: Delecia Holt, 48, of Aliso Viejo, ran as a Republican in special elections to replace Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who left Congress in 2005 to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego), who left Congress in 2006 for prison after pleading guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. Holt launched a campaign to run in another San Diego congressional district last year.

“Ethics reform begins with me,” she told attendees of a Rancho Bernardo Republican Women's
Federated luncheon in March 2006. “I am the only candidate that
has pledged not to accept a salary for the first year of service while
in Congress.”

But the “Republican with a heart,” whose bio further identified her as an author, businesswoman, philanthropist, sociologist-researcher and intelligence security analyst, is in a Santa Ana courthouse this morning fighting accusations that she wrote bad checks, stole a Mercedes Benz from a
local car dealership and defrauded Orange County hotels, four comedians and a telephone company.


Online financial contribution records indicate Holt's campaign raised
$300,000, with more than $87,000 coming from the candidate herself, in
the 2005 race. She got 110 votes, or 0.1 percent of those cast. She doubled those numbers in her April 2006 campaign to serve out the remaining seven months left in Cunningham term, garnering 261
votes or 0.2 percent of those cast. Unfortunately for Holt, 15 other candidates got more votes than that, including Brian Bilbray, the Republican who would ultimately win the seat in a runoff.

Orange County Register politics reporter Martin Wisckol conducted an extensive investigation of Holt's fund-raising claims in her final campaign and discovered major irregularities. “Before dropping out of the San Diego race, she claimed to have raised
more than $200,000 for the 2008 race–although not a single one of the
217 listed campaign contributions listed on her federal disclosures
could be verified when the Orange County Register sought to contact her
listed donors,” wrote Wisckol, whose snooping sparked a District Attorney's office probe that led to the charges against Holt.

Wisckol wrote last week that Holt has been in jail since her October 2008 arrest, unable to raise the $56,000 bond.

Opening statements begin this morning in the trial that finds Holt charged with nine felony counts of writing non-sufficient
fund checks, one felony count each of grand theft, perjury by
declaration, unlawful taking of a vehicle, defrauding an innkeeper by
non-payment, aid by misrepresentation, and defrauding a telephone
company. She faces sentencing enhancements for property damage over
$50,000. If convicted on all counts, she could get 11 years and eight months in state prison. The case the DA has built follows:

July 2005: Holt is accused of going to a Mercedes
Benz dealership in Orange County and writing a bad check for just under
$13,000 as a down payment for a $32,000 car. She is accused of leaving
the dealer lot in the car and never making any legitimate payments for
the vehicle. Holt's account, from which the $13,000 down payment check
was written, had insufficient funds and the dealership never received
any monthly payments.

July-September 2007: Holt is accused
of defrauding the Comfort Suites in Lake Forest out of $5,000. She is
accused of living at the Comfort Suites and writing three separate
checks with insufficient funds over the course of three months. She is
accused of fleeing the hotel after failing to make any legitimate
payments for her bill.

August 2007: Holt is accused of committing perjury
by intentionally deceiving the Orange County Social Services Agency by
lying on a welfare document and failing to disclose that she had
received income in the form of child support. She is accused of
committing welfare fraud by accepting approximately $900 in welfare
funds for which she was ineligible.

October 2007: Holt is accused of hosting a comedy
night fundraiser at a Dana Point hotel under the pretense of raising
money for Habitat for Humanity. The failed event did not raise any
money. Holt is accused of writing a check for $15,000 to the hotel from
a personal account to cover the cost of the event. She is accused of
writing a check to the four comedians totaling $2,000. She is accused
of intentionally writing the checks knowing her account had
insufficient funds. The checks were declined when the victims attempted
to deposit them. She is accused of failing to pay the photographer and
videographer.

December 2007-November 2008: Holt is
accused of opening multiple phone line accounts through the Sprint
telephone company. She is accused of failing to make any payments on
the more than $5,400 bills for those phone lines.

April 2008: Holt is accused of writing a $3,000
check to Regal Entertainment Group as payment for advertisements they
ran for her realty business in movie theaters prior to the beginning
of movies. She is accused of having insufficient funds and her check
was declined. She is accused of failing to make a legitimate payment to
Regal Entertainment Group.

In his latest piece, Wiskol explains why it has taken more than a year for the case against Holt to open. She's apparently burned through four court-appointed attorneys, with a judge last week denying her attempt to replace her fifth and current lawyer. Delays have also been blamed on psychological examinations to determine whether
Holt is mentally capable to stand trial, Wisckol reports.

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