A former state Senate candidate who pleaded guilty late last year to perjury in connection with alleged misuse of public campaign money is running again – only this time it’s from the law.

Yurikino Cenit “Yuri” Downing-Garcia, who spent nearly a month in jail after allegedly violating his probation by committing several felonies while awaiting sentencing on the perjury charge, is considered a fugitive and is the subject of a bench warrant for his arrest.

Court documents list the felonies as possession of a loaded gun and criminal possession of a forgery device. He was arrested by Salt River Police on March 28, and was immediately incarcerated. The ex-candidate was released from jail on April 22 after posting an $18,000 cash bond.

The perjury stems from Downing-Garcia’s admission that he submitted an inaccurate accounting of campaign spending in the 2002 election to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

Downing-Garcia, who went by the last name of Downing when he ran as a Libertarian candidate for the Senate in District 17, also served as campaign manager for two other Libertarians who were seeking House seats in the same district.

Rep. Ted Downing Reacts

He is the son of state Rep. Ted Downing, D-28, who declined to comment on the specifics of his son’s situation.

“I love my son,” Mr. Downing said. “I think that’s something any father would say.”

Downing-Garcia was accused of having misspent public campaign money, specifically in restaurants and bars where he said he was hoping to find potential voters. Initially he chose to fight the Clean Elections Commission’s order that he repay all of the $41,155.43 he had received.

Downing-Garcia was indicted last July on six felony counts related to alleged misuse of campaign money, and in a plea conference Dec. 22, he pleaded guilty to perjury, a class 4 felony, in exchange for dropping the five other charges. He also agreed to pay restitution of $15,000 on the criminal charge, with that amount counting toward the $41,155.43 he still owes the Clean Elections Commission.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 26, and Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Hotham ordered Downing-Garcia to report to the probation office and to cooperate in the preparation of a pre-sentence report. A memorandum submitted to the court on Feb. 23 by Assistant Attorney General E. G. Noyes Jr., states: “Defendant disobeyed that order.”

The memorandum goes on to state that at the Jan. 26 hearing, Downing-Garcia’s attorney (David Derickson) won a 30-day continuance “as the defendant is experiencing a mental crisis.”

Calls to Mr. Derickson were not returned as of Arizona Capitol Times’ press time June 30.

The court set sentencing for March 25, and modified Downing-Garcia’s release conditions “to include pretrial services with drug and alcohol monitoring.”

Mr. Noyes’s memo refers to Downing-Garcia’s “apparently drug-using, deteriorating, increasingly desperate condition and … his expressed fear of incarceration,” and states that the defendant “has become a serious flight risk”

Court documents show that Downing-Garcia failed to appear for the March 25 hearing.

On March 28, Downing-Garcia was stopped by Salt River Police while driving on the reservation and told the officers he had a weapon in the vehicle, a class 4 felony because he was on probation, according to court documents. The officers found a loaded revolver on the floorboard under the driver’s seat, the report states.

Earlier on March 28, reservation police arrested two men who had presented false identification to personnel at Casino Arizona. One suspect said he had received the identification and a forged check drawn on the account of Erma L. Downing for $242.29 from “Yuri and “Ray,” the report from Mr. Noyes states. Mr. Noyes adds that he doesn’t know if Ms. Downing is related to Downing-Garcia.

One of the two suspects said “Yuri” had opened the trunk of his white Mercedes and showed them “numerous burglary tools and other items, including a laminator, printer and identification cards,” the report states. Criminal possession of a forgery device is a class 5 felony.

Sentencing subsequently was set for May 5, but Downing-Garcia did not appear and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. —

House Reporter Jim Small contributed to this story.