District Attorney's Office may charge councilman
By Rick Rogers, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
6:41 a.m. June 9, 2009

A Vista city councilman could learn in a few weeks whether the District Attorney's Office will charge him and his wife for allegedly writing nearly $20,000 in bad checks.
Frank Lopez Jr. and his wife, Mary, are accused of issuing the checks to employees of their Casa Linda Mexican Restaurant dating back to 2004. The pair also are under investigation for knowingly hiring an undocumented immigrant, said Sgt. Chris Varnau, an investigator in the case.
The Sheriff's Department was supposed to give a report on the Lopezes to the county District Attorney's Office yesterday. An official couldn't confirm whether the documents had arrived by evening.
A decision on whether to prosecute could take months, said Steve Walker, a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office.
The decision could come more swiftly, Varnau said, because “the evidence is pretty clear.â€