Ex-Sacramento councilmember Sean Loloee plans to plea to guilty to federal charges
Former Sacramento City Councilmember Shahriar “Sean” Loloee plans to plead guilty this week to federal charges related to the alleged treatment of immigrant workers at his grocery stores as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Loloee had pleaded not guilty to a slate of federal labor violations in December 2023, when he was first indicted, but court records show he plans to switch his plea to guilty. Details of the deal struck with prosecutors was expected to be revealed in Sacramento federal court Thursday.
“The parties request that this matter be placed on the Court’s April 23, 2026 criminal calendar for a change of plea hearing,” according to a filing entered last week. U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley has scheduled the hearing for 9:30 a.m.
Loloee was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023 in connection with allegations that he employed undocumented immigrants at his Viva Supermarket stores, including minors, underpaid them, and threatened to have them deported.
In announcing the indictment, the U.S. Department of Justice also said it had verified Loloee did not live in the district he was representing, as first reported by The Sacramento Bee in June 2022. Loloee remained on council for over a year after The Bee’s report, but resigned shortly after the indictment.
Other defendants in the case — Karla Montoya, a former Viva manager, as well as Mirwais Shams and Ahmad Shams — are not part of the plea deal, according to the documents. Each pleaded not guilty and remain on track for a September trial.
Attorneys for Loloee, as well as prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Eric Grant’s office, did not comment on the change in plea.
The 25-count indictment in December 2023 charged Loloee with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Labor, 14 counts of possession of false immigration documents, two counts of using a false immigration document, two counts of obstruction of agency proceedings, three counts of falsifying records and three counts of wire fraud.
“Montoya, at Loloee’s direction, regularly hired undocumented workers at the Viva Supermarkets because it was Loloee’s view that undocumented workers were easier to control,” the indictment said. “By maintaining a workforce of undocumented workers, Loloee enriched himself in various ways, including by not paying them overtime wages that would otherwise be required.”
During a federal raid on Loloee’s stores and homes in October 2023, agents found phony Social Security cards for 298 Viva Supermarket employees, the indictment said.
Questions about Loloee’s residency swirled since the night he was sworn into the council in 2020. He attended the online meeting from his wife’s $1.4 million Granite Bay property, then denied it.
He claimed he did not live in Granite Bay with his wife and children, but instead lived in a Hagginwood house within his district with his employees, who were his tenants, including Montoya. At that house, 911 calls reporting guns and parties were frequent, and over a dozen vehicles were parked in the front yard.
Loloee still owns that house, at 1209 Nogales St., according to the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office. He claimed the $7,000 homeowner exemption discount on the 2025 tax bill, according to county records.
