A candidate who ran unsuccessfully for Santa Clara County Sheriff has been charged with perjury for falsely stating she had the required experience for the job, the district attorney's office announced Thursday.
Anh Colton, 48, of Cupertino hasn't had any law enforcement experience in the past five years, the district attorney's office said. California law states sheriff candidates need to have at least one year of law enforcement experience within the last five years.
"The qualifications for sheriff are not for show," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "The sheriff oversees the safety of thousands of people, hundreds of deputies, and our jail. It is not a job for the inexperienced or incompetent."
Colton is expected to be arraigned this summer, according to the district attorney's office. Perjury is punishable by up to four years in jail.
Colton received roughly 5% of the vote in last week's primary election. She did not advance to November's runoff.
"Because neither of the two leading candidates for sheriff received more than 35% of the total vote, it does not appear that Colton’s unlawful participation as a candidate in the election prevented any candidate from winning outright (receiving more than 50% of the votes) at the primary," the district attorney's office said in a statement. "Nor did it affect who will be the participants in the runoff election."
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