According to the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento City Council member Sean Loloee will not run for reelection in 2024 and a prominent union has called for his resignation after federal agents raided supermarkets he owns.
Loloee did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The Bee reported that Loloee told former City Council member and current state Senator Angelique Ashby he will not run for reelection.
Loloee was elected in 2020 to represent District 2, which includes northeast Sacramento neighborhoods like Old North Sacramento, Hagginwood, Woodlake and Del Paso Heights.
Last year the city investigated claims that Loloee, whose wife owns a $1.4 million estate in Granite Bay, wasn’t living in the district he represents. An independent investigation eventually determined he did meet residency requirements.
Sacramento Police have visited Loloee’s North Sacramento home multiple times since he purchased it in 2019 for reports of loud music, fireworks and arguments over stolen vehicles, among other things, according to data obtained by CapRadio.
On Thursday, three Sacramento area supermarkets owned by Loloee were briefly closed by federal agents. All had reopened by Friday morning.
At least two of the Viva Supermarket locations owned by Loloee — 3845 Marysville Blvd. in Del Paso Heights and 10385 Folsom Blvd. in Rancho Cordova — were closed to customers Thursday afternoon. The Del Paso Heights location opened in 2016, with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by former Mayor Kevin Johnson.
“Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigations, and the State of California, Department of Justice conducted a court authorized criminal law enforcement activity at several locations in the Sacramento area,” a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said in an email to CapRadio on Friday. “To protect all parties involved in this activity, that’s all we can share at this moment.”
In 2022, the Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Loloee and the Viva Supermarket corporation, alleging that the grocery store chain failed to pay its employees minimum wage and overtime wages. It also accused Viva Supermarket of not properly keeping track of its employees’ hours and wages along with violating child labor laws, according to court documents.
Thursday’s law enforcement activity has not been connected to the ongoing lawsuit.
The Sacramento Central Labor Council, which advocates for workers and represents 90 unions in the Sacramento region, called for Loloee to resign in a letter posted on Facebook Thursday night.
“The allegations of labor violations and the federal raid on your supermarkets are not only deeply troubling, but they also undermine the trust that our community has placed in you,” the statement reads. “We believe that, given the gravity of these allegations, your persistent legal troubles, and their potential impact on the residents and workers of Sacramento, especially those in District 2, it is in the best interest of both your constituents and the principles of ethical governance that you immediately resign from your position as Councilmember.”
Loloee’s City Council seat is up for reelection next year. The primary election is scheduled for March 3. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two will move on to the general election in November.
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