West Covina

Prosecutors Decline to Charge Former West Covina Mayor Found in Hotel

Former West Covina Mayor Mike Spence was found unconscious in a hotel room in Costa Mesa in May

What to Know

  • Former West Covina Mayor Mike Spence was found unconscious in a hotel room in Costa Mesa on May 4, 2018
  • A woman placed a call to 911 suggesting he had overdosed on heroin.
  • Spence was not arrested, but police filed a case with prosecutors who found no evidence of a crime

Prosecutors have declined to file charges against a former West Covina mayor who was found unconscious in a Costa Mesa hotel room in May, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Mike Spence was found at a Holiday Inn Express in the 2000 block of Newport Boulevard shortly after midnight surrounded by drug paraphernalia, authorities said at the time. Officials released a 911 call from the incident in which a woman told an operator, "He may have overdosed. I would say heroin."

Spence was not arrested at the time.

Spence said Monday that he was glad 911 calls aren't criminalized, and believes the incident was politicized based on his longtime struggle with addictions to alcohol and drugs. He pleaded guilty to DUI charges in 1998 and 2016.

He said he was on his way to a convention in San Diego that night when he decided to stop at the hotel because he got a late start and was taking public transportation.

Spence said he doesn't know who the female 911 caller was or what happened to him that night.

"I don't recall anything after 11 o'clock," he said. "All the sudden I woke up and there were people there."

In the face of pressure from his City Council colleagues, Spence resigned from his ceremonial post of mayor but will remain a city councilman through November.

Contact Us