Update: Filner Pleads Guilty to Felony Charges for Sexual Harassment

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner pleaded guilty Tuesday to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence, fraud, menace and deceit and two misdemeanor counts of battery for sexually harassing three women while in office.

The felony count carries a possible three-year prison sentence, while misdemeanors come with a maximum penalty of one year in jail. But under the plea deal with prosecutors, he is expected to receive three years of probation and three months of home confinement when he is sentenced Dec. 9.

According to the Attorney General's Office, Filner will also be barred from ever seeking or holding public office. He will also be required to undergo mental health treatment while he is on probation. If he violates probation, he faces up to six months in jail.

He remains free on his own recognizance until his sentencing hearing.

The victims were identified as Jane Does 1, 2, and 3, according to the state Attorney General's Office, which announced the charges earlier Tuesday.

A grand jury had been hearing evidence against Filner, according to published reports.

Filner, 70, resigned from office Aug. 30 after nearly 20 women came forward saying he had groped them or sexually harassed them over several years.

Filner's former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the former mayor.

"This conduct was not only criminal, it was also an extreme abuse of power," Attorney General Kamala Harris said. "This prosecution is about consequence and accountability. No one is above the law."

Filner will also be forced to surrender his mayoral pension accrued from the time of the felony offense -- March 6 -- through his Aug. 23 resignation.

– City News Service