One Day After He's Baptized In Eyes of God, Carl Kemp Stands Before Federal Judge And Pleads Guilty To A Federal Tax Offense; Sentencing Now Scheduled Nov. 7

LBReport.com

News

LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. Support independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.

(July 25, 2016) -- One day after he was Baptized in the eyes of God and will now be a member of LB's Antioch Church, Carl Kemp stood before U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez and spoke the word "guilty" to a federal tax offense that, under a previously signed plea agreement, could send him to prison for up to three years.

Mr. Kemp, a familiar Long Beach civic presence as a lobbyist/private advocate, 2014 City Council candidate and former City Hall and Port of LB staffer, filed a plea agreement in June admitting to filing a false tax return that involved failing to report roughly three quarters of a million dollars in income over a six year period.

Today (July 25), Mr. Kemp pleaded guilty to subscribing to a false tax return for the year 2012. He is due to be sentenced on November 7, at which time he faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years.

[Scroll down for further.]

U.S. DOJ spokesman Tom Mrozak tells LBREPORT.com that the U.S. Attorney's office hasn't yet filed a sentencing memorandum in the case and won't do so until a pre-sentence report is completed, which likely takes roughly two months.

On Sunday morning, July 24, Mr. Kemp announced on his Facebook page:

I've made the choice to get baptized this morning. It's been a long and winding road, and I make this choice freely, with my soul, because despite any valleys, I know that God's got my back, and always has.
My Mom never told me how to worship, even when I asked for guidance. She exposed me and let me make my own choice in my own time. That will be my approach with mine, but for me, that time is now. She never told me with her words, but I do believe this makes her Spirit happy, which is nice, but it's still not the reason. I have seen the Spirit in ways you would not believe, from the back woods of Arkansas as a child, to whales at the beach as I sent her ashes into the waves. Deny it no more I will.
There are many answers I do not have, and may never have, but that is where faith comes in for me. My Pastor, my brother, and my friend Wayne Chaney Jr. has been a great example of the kind of Christian I hope to be. Never condemning, never forcing conversion, never "preachy", always loving, always himself, always honest, always demonstrating with his actions, always respectful of the faith of others.
He prayed for my mother after her first brain surgery, and the day before she passed, and now I will be a proud member of his church, Antioch Church of Long Beach.
God bless y'all.

Those who follow Mr. Kemp on Facebook are aware that in recent months he lost his mother, for whom he had been caring through her lengthy battle against cancer.

In a dispatch on his Facebook page on June 8 (coinciding with news of the plea agreement), Mr. Kemp stated:

"I made some irresponsible mistakes and I am prepared to deal with the consequences. I regret the impact that those mistakes are having on my family, however, I never misrepresented anyone that trusted me enough to advocate for their issues. My love and devotion for my family, friends and city has not, and will never change."

Mr. Kemp earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Masters of Public Administration from CSULB, where he elected Associated Student Body President (95-97) and went on to positions with the City and Port of Long Beach. Then-City Manager James Hankla tapped Mr. Kemp to handle government affairs tasks, after which Mr. Kemp moved over to the Port of LB in its newly created Community Relations and Government Affairs Division. He then went on to launch his own advocacy firm, whose client list at one point included the then-proposed 2nd/PCH development, PMSA and the Long Beach Collective Association (comprised of a number of LB marijuana outlets.)

In 2014, Mr. Kemp entered the race for LB's 5th district Council seat and finished second in a runoff with Stacy Mungo. He then served as a Washington D.C. aide to Federal Maritime Commissioner Mario Cordero before returning to CA in February 2016 to take a position as VP in PMSA's LB office.