YUBA CITY, Calif. - For the second time in less than a month, the residency claim of a candidate running for district attorney in Northern California has been called into question.
Kulvinder Singh, one of four candidates for the open seat in Sutter County, claims to live in Yuba City while evidence strongly suggests otherwise.
In his Declaration of Candidacy filed with the Sutter County Elections Department on March 6, Singh listed a home address of 800 Chestnut Street. Property records show the house on Chestnut has been owned for nearly 15 years by a man named Augustine Rodriquez, who, two neighbors said, does not have any roommates.
When shown a picture of Singh, next-door neighbor Lisa Sutherland insisted she had never seen the man before.
"(Augustine) is Hispanic and doesn't wear a turban," she said.
"(Singh) doesn't live there," echoed neighbor Lance Tapia.
Rodriguez appeared to be home Tuesday afternoon but did not come to the door and did not respond to a message asking what he knows about Singh's living arrangements.
In the papers filed with Sutter County, Singh listed a 4-bedroom home on Castaic Court in Roseville as his mailing address. He has owned the home since 2008 and it's the address shown in records provided by the State Bar of California.
Although there were sounds of someone home at the Roseville house Tuesday morning, no one answered the doorbell.
Contacted twice by telephone, Singh insisted he lives in Yuba City and was annoyed by the suggestion that he doesn't.
"I have other things to do than to keep saying 'no, no, no,'" he said. "I don't like the tone of the accusation and I don't have to respond to it."
Before hanging up, Singh insisted future questions be submitted by fax.
According to the State Bar, Singh was suspended for one month in 2012 for attorney misconduct in an unrelated incident.
The circumstances seem strikingly similar to those involving another Placer County lawyer who claimed to have moved to El Dorado County last month, just days before he filed papers to run for district attorney there. After a series of News10 reports challenging his residency, Judson Henry pulled out of the race.
After seeing those stories, Carla Virga, a co-founder of the Sutter Buttes Tea Party, contacted News10 to share her suspicions about Kulvinder Singh.
Virga said she became aware of the problems surrounding Singh's residency claim while organizing a debate among the four candidates.
"I don't care which political party he is," Virga said. "If they're breaking the law, they need to go-- or not be allowed in."
