PORT ALLEN — A Port Allen administrator accused of falsifying public records to qualify for the city's mayoral election is being arraigned next month.

Lance Joseph, who turned himself in on Feb. 19 for allegedly false public records relating to his homestead exemption, is scheduled to enter a plea deal on April 1. The arraignment was previously scheduled for Tuesday.

Deputies said that Joseph turned himself in at the West Baton Rouge Parish Detention Center in response to an active warrant issued by the District Attorney's Office and subsequently released. He was not booked into the parish jail and did not have his mugshot taken.

According to Joseph's tax records, he has a homestead exemption on a residence is in Iberville Parish. State law requires mayors to be residents of the city they wish to serve.

Joseph previously said that he lives in Port Allen with his father and that the Plaquemine home he built with his now-estranged wife in 2006 is her domicile, not his.

If convicted of falsifying public records, Joseph faces up to five years in prison.