Former Councilman Accused of Stealing from Farmer's Market in Court Tuesday

Former Glendale City Councilman John Drayman, who was charged with embezzling more than $300,000 from the Montrose Farmer's Market, will be in court in Tuesday in a hearing to prepare for his trial.

Drayman, a Montrose local,  pleaded not guilty in May of 2012 to a 28-count grand jury indictment indicating that he stole between $304,000 and $880,000 from Montrose's Sunday Harvest Market.

Beginning in 2002, Drayman served as the director of the Montrose Shopping Park Association's Sunday Harvest Market, along Honolulu Avenue in the heart of Montrose. 

His role as director meant collecting proceeds from the local event and giving the money to the association's treasurer.

The indictment alleges that Drayman embezzled an estimated $305,000 between Jan. 1, 2004 and April 30, 2011 from the farmers' market and laundered the money through his personal bank account, officials said. Drayman left office last year. 

Drayman allegedly committed perjury by omitting sources of income on his Fair Political Practices Forms. He allegedly submitted a false credit application to a mortgage lender in 2010 and did not report income to the California Franchise Tax Board, according to the indictment. 

The Glendale Police Department and the Franchise Tax Board launched an investigation of Drayman and the Montrose Shopping Park's Sunday farmer's market.

Drayman is charged with one count of embezzlement by a public officer, 10 counts of filing a false tax return, five counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, one count of submitting a false financial statement and eight counts of perjury. 

His hearing is Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in the Downtown L.A. criminal courthouse.

Nicole Charky contributed to this report