Alarcon finishes house arrest, such as it was

Convicted former City Councilman Richard Alarcon has completed his 51 days of house arrest, the alternative sentence he received after reporting to county jail last December to begin serving the judge's sentence of 120 days. The jail sent him home with an ankle monitor. This, if you forgot, is for his conviction on lying about his residency in the Valley while running for office and serving.

He talked to Dakota Smith of the Daily News about serving house arrest. When the restrictions ended on Saturday, Alarcon said, he took his young daughter to Toys R Us.

During his 51-day sentence, Richard Alarcon played poker, ran his consulting firm and attended a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting downtown….Under the terms of his sentence, Alarcon could drive to work and travel for meetings.

Once home, however, he couldn’t step outside. He couldn’t put up Christmas lights on his house or walk in the backyard, he said in an interview Monday.

“You have this thing on your leg,” Alarcon said, referring to his electronic monitoring device. “You can’t forget it.”

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In a phone interview Monday and an e-mail exchange earlier this month, Alarcon outlined his last two months. He ran Concepts for Success, his consulting firm, and is launching the Danny Trejo Foundation. Named after the actor, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, the foundation will aid local youths and the community.

Alarcon also helped newly elected Assemblywoman Patty Lopez transition into office, he said. Lopez beat incumbent and onetime Alarcon foe Raul Bocanegra in the razor thin 39th Assembly District race last fall… Activity on Alarcon’s Facebook page also reveals he played a lot of online poker over the past 51 days. (“I’m a poker freak,” he acknowledged.)

Alarcon and his wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, were convicted of multiple counts of voter fraud and perjury. Prosecutors proved the Alarcons lived outside his City Council district in Sun Valley, while claiming to live in a nearly vacant home in Panorama City. The Alarcons insist they are innocent and are appealing.

Interesting stat: There are 117 people currently serving house arrest in the county, the sheriff's department told Smith.