Former O.C. congressional candidate sentenced for identity theft

A onetime congressional candidate was sentenced Tuesday to six years and eight months in state prison for violating parole by committing identity theft when she was in the Orange County jail, authorities said. She is a former resident of Aliso Viejo.

Delecia Holt, 49, was serving a 708-day jail sentence this year for defrauding Orange County hotels and a Mercedes-Benz dealer, the Orange County district attorney’s office said.

While in jail, Holt prepared a false tax return for an Orange County escrow firm, which was one of her original victims in the fraud scheme, prosecutors said.

Holt admitted that she committed the identity theft in jail and also admitted opening multiple bank accounts, in violation of a court order, and writing bad checks, the district attorney’s office said.

Holt ran as a write-in candidate for the 47th Congressional District in Orange County in 2005. The following year she ran as a candidate in the 53rd Congressional District in San Diego.

—Latimes.com