California City Mayor Resigns, Federally Charged as 'Illegal Agent' for China

A city mayor in Southern California has resigned from her position after being federally charged as an illegal agent accused of working for China ... and is potentially facing prison time.

Eileen Wang stepped down as mayor of Arcadia after the Justice Department slapped her with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

According to a DOJ announcement released Monday ... Wang is expected to plead guilty to the charge as part of a deal with the feds.

Roman Rozhavsky -- Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division -- said Wang admitted she "secretly served the interests of the Chinese government," saying ... "Let this serve as a clear warning: Individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice."

The plea deal says Wang allegedly pushed pro-China propaganda from late 2020 through 2022, alongside Yaoning "Mike" Sun.

Together, they allegedly operated U.S. News Center ... a website described as a news source for the local Chinese American community. The DOJ says Wang and Sun posted pro-China content on the page.

The Justice Department cites a few alleged instances in 2021, including one where an official of the People's Republic of China sent Wang and other people pre-written news articles in the encrypted messaging app WeChat.

Wang allegedly posted the article on her website "minutes later" ... and the DOJ claims she messaged the official back on WeChat to show she'd done it.

The charge against Wang comes with a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison ... and the Justice Department says she's agreed to plead guilty in the coming weeks.