Former Lodi councilmember sentenced for election fraud and money laundering
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- Former Lodi City Council member Shakir Khan was sentenced to three years in jail.
- A judge denied Khan’s request to withdraw his no contest plea to the criminal charges.
- Khan could be sentenced to 8 years in prison if he violates his probation.
Shakir Khan, a former Lodi City Council member, was sentenced to three years in the San Joaquin County Jail for a conviction of election fraud and money laundering.
Khan was sentenced Monday after San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Richard Mallett rejected his motion to withdraw his no contest plea in the criminal case, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.
When he was arrested in October 2020, Khan was a candidate for Lodi City Council. He was elected to the District 4 council seat in November 2020.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at the time accused Khan, along with alleged accomplices, of running illegal gaming operations out of Stockton that laundered the profits. Kahn also was accused of unlawfully receiving COVID-19 pandemic relief money from California.
Sheriff’s officials have said the investigation began more than two years before Khan’s arrest as deputies investigated illegal gambling establishments in east Stockton.
“That investigation blossomed into a case involving dozens of search warrants, over $3,000,000 (yes, three million dollars!) of money laundering, EDD fraud, and illegal gambling,” sheriff’s officials said in a September 2021 Facebook post, when Khan was arraigned in court.
The Stockton Record reported that Khan pleaded no contest in January 2024 to 77 counts including 41 of illegal gambling, money laundering, tax evasion and grand theft; 12 counts of unemployment fraud involving COVID-19 reimbursements; and 14 election fraud counts. His sentencing was delayed as Khan sought to withdraw his no contest plea.
KCRA reported that Khan was convicted for reportedly stashing 41 ballots at his home for the 2020 election, along with registering 23 people at his home and using his email and phone number to register 47 other people.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said Khan was sentenced to three years in the county jail under California Assembly Bill 109, also known as the Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 that shifted the supervising and incarcerating of non-violent, non-serious and non-sex offenders from the state prison system to local county jails and probation departments.
Prosecutors said Khan’s third year of his sentence is suspended and will be served under mandatory supervision by probation officers.
Khan also was ordered to an eight-year prison sentence that will be stayed if he successfully completes his probation. If Khan violates the terms of his probation, the court could impose the eight-year prison sentence, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
“Today’s sentence shows the seriousness with which we take efforts to tamper with the electoral process in San Joaquin County,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said in the news release. “Accountability includes honoring the plea and fulfilling the terms of supervision. If Mr. Khan fails to comply, the full consequences of his sentence will be enforced.”
