Staff Reports

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)
Adam Nick

Newport Beach – On Wed., Feb. 11, a Lake Forest councilman was charged for removing campaign signs on public display belonging to another city councilman.

Adam Nick, 50, of Lake Forest, who, at the time of the crime, was serving as Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Lake Forest, is charged with one misdemeanor count of petty theft and one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property. He is also charged with violating a Lake Forest Municipal Code section regarding campaign signs. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, on Oct. 9, 2014, at approximately 2 a.m., Nick is accused of driving and parking his vehicle in a no-parking zone at the intersection of Bake Parkway and Trabuco Road in Lake Forest. He is accused of instructing a fellow passenger to get out of the car and remove a campaign sign on public display that belonged to Lake Forest Councilman, Scott Voights.

An Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) vehicle was patrolling the area at the time and approached Nick’s car. Nick is accused of possessing approximately ten other signs belonging to Voights, found stored in the back of his vehicle when OCSD conducted a search.

In 2014, Councilman Nick amended the Lake Forest Sign Code to allow for harsher penalties for those who tamper with or remove campaign signs without permission, and requested that a violation of this municipal code section be prosecutable as a misdemeanor.

Nick is scheduled to be arraigned on Mar. 2, at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.