Exclusive: A Sacramento councilman says he lives in his district. His neighbors disagree
Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee has said he lives in a North Sacramento home he bought three years ago just before he filed papers to run for political office.
A man claiming to be his tenant in the home and his neighbors tell a different story.
Over multiple visits spanning two weeks, The Sacramento Bee spoke with six people who live in and around Loloee’s property in the city’s Hagginwood neighborhood on Nogales Street. The man identifying himself as Loloee’s tenant said Loloee does not live there, while the neighbors of three households said they’ve never seen him.
After the City Council meeting Tuesday evening, Loloee was not at the Hagginwood house. Instead, a man was at the home when a reporter visited after 8 p.m. The man said he rented the property and lived there with his son. He declined to give his name.
The neighbor and tenant interviews contrast with Loloee’s public stance that he lives at the property. He is registered to vote there.
In one interview last week, Loloee said he lived at the house off and on over the past several years. He said he has lived there with his wife and two children for the past four consecutive months, “seven days a week.”
In an interview Thursday, Loloee said the man does not live there, but instead is a former tenant.
“I don’t know my neighbors,” Loloee said.
Sacramento requires council members to live in the districts they represent. Lololee represents District 2, one of the eight in the city. His district covers the northeastern part of the city and includes Old North Sacramento, Hagginwood, Woodlake, Del Paso Heights and part of Robla.
Public records show Loloee does not own another residential property in his council district. His wife, Maryam Seirafi, has owned a $1.4 million house in Granite Bay since 2016, according to the Placer County assessor’s office. Loloee said he does not live there. It’s been vacant for about two years, he said.
In California, if a city council member does not reside or have a domicile in the district they represent, the council could vote to declare the seat vacant, and the member would be replaced, or any individual could file a “quo warranto” lawsuit, said Fred Woocher, an election law attorney.
A person who votes from a place they don’t live could face criminal charges for perjury and voter fraud, Woocher said. If convicted, the person would lose the council seat.
Others in Loloee’s district said he cannot represent their interests if he does not live there.
Alicia Bledsoe, a Del Paso Heights homeowner, plans to run against Loloee in 2024.
“I don’t believe he can represent Del Paso Heights in no way,” Bledsoe said. “He can’t properly understand the people living in these neighborhoods ... this is a poor neighborhood. People are struggling to pay their rent, people are getting evicted when they can’t afford to pay their rent.”
It started with a fireplace
Questions about Loloee’s residence surfaced immediately after he was sworn into office on Dec. 15, 2020. Loloee, a grocery store chain owner, had defeated longtime Councilman Allen Warren.
The ceremony took place in a home and was carried online by the city. One thing struck council members and some viewers as odd — the background of the video showed a spacious house with high ceilings and a fireplace.
To them, the scene looked out of place for his district. His North Sacramento district is largely a low-income area, and includes some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
A few weeks after the swearing in ceremony, The Bee asked City Clerk Mindy Cuppy where Loloee lives. She said she could not disclose the address, but said her office had verified he lives in the district.
Loloee was not registered to vote in the state in 2018, but has been registered to vote at the Nogales house since November 2019 — four months before the primary election. He has voted in three elections since then.
The rumor that Loloee did not live in his district persisted. Independent journalist Dave Kempa started talking about it on his podcast “Voices: River City,” saying Loloee lives in Granite Bay. Robert Hansen, a journalist with the blog Newsbreak, reported that he does not live in District 2.
Loloee started calling into the video council meetings from his North Natomas business office.
During multiple interviews since the swearing-in ceremony, Loloee repeatedly told The Bee he lives in Hagginwood with his wife and two young children, and that the Granite Bay house is his wife’s investment property.
In an interview on Thursday, he said the house shown in his swearing-in ceremony belonged to a friend in East Sacramento.
In an earlier interview, Loloee acknowledged he had moved out of Hagginwood house for a period of several months.
He said he and his family moved to another home in District 2 after someone spray-painted their house on Nogales Street. The Sacramento Bee has submitted a California Public Records Request to see if he filed a police report.
“Somebody stopped (my wife) as she was pulling out of garage, asked if she’s doing OK, if the kids are safe,” Loloee said. “They know I’m such a ruthless person and there are organizations that can help her.”
Loloee said the family then moved to a house in Sacramento’s Robla neighborhood. He said they reconsidered that move during Sacramento’s once-a-decade redistricting process because the home appeared to be outside of the new District 2 boundaries. Loloee said the family then returned to the house on Nogales Street.
He declined to provide the address of the house in the Robla neighborhood or any paperwork documenting that move.
“It was obvious Robla was going to be District 1 so I made the move so there wouldn’t be any issues,” Loloee said. “I’m there (in the Hagginwood house) seven days a week. Either my office or there.”
When Loloee moved back to the Hagginwood house, he had to evict renters who’d been living there during the roughly five months the family was in the Robla house, he said.
They left behind a number of vehicles that remain at the property, Loloee said.
Cars in front yard
From the street, the Hagginwood house resembles a small junkyard — containing roughly a dozen vehicles in the front yard and driveway, and a yellow mini excavator. During three visits this month, six vehicles were parked on the lawn, just inches from each other.
City code prohibits parking any vehicle on unimproved surfaces, such as a lawn, but there is no open code case against Loloee’s house. Some vehicles did not have license plates and appeared to be inoperable — another possible code violation.
The vehicles belong to previous tenants, Loloee said.
“They asked me if they could keep them there until the end of July, but I think they’re going to clear them out faster,” Loloee said. “The city hasn’t fined me yet but I know that it’s wrong and that’s why I’m asking for it to be removed. If code shows up today and writes me up, it’s my responsibility.”
The city should issue code violations for the vehicles at the Hagginwood house, which cause a blight on the neighborhood, said Margo Santana, who lives in Robla.
“He’s a councilman, he should know the rules,” Santana said. “It’s an eyesore. If you want us to abide by the rules, as our leader, he should be abiding by them, too.”
‘He can’t properly understand the people’
The rumor, which has not been confirmed until now, has infuriated and frustrated the residents of the low-income district for the last year and a half he’s been in office.
Loloee has said he is not a fan of affordable housing and earlier this month voted against an affordable housing complex planned for the former armory near Woodlake Park in his district. The council voted 5-4 to approve it, but Bledsoe said it demonstrated Loloee will try his best to block much needed-affordable housing in the low-income district.
“He’s not going with what people want,” Bledsoe said. “They need affordable housing out here. There’s too many homeless people on the street, too many abandoned cars, too much garbage out here.”
Bledsoe noted Loloee has not opened any homeless shelters in his district since taking office, despite having the highest number of viable sites. The city is paying $3.3 million for a homeless weather respite center, and planned to open it 24/7, but Loloee blocked it, and now it only opens when certain strict temperature thresholds are met.
Santana said the city’s residency requirements for council members are in place for a reason, and should not be violated.
“You gotta have a councilman or a councilwoman who understands and has seen the peoples’ cries, the needs, and the wants,” Santana said. “You cannot serve an underserved community unless you’re here to see it with your own eyes.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
