Omar Navarro, a fringe GOP activist in the South Bay making his second bid to unseat entrenched Rep. Maxine Waters, is on probation until March for a criminal conviction stemming from his use of an electronic tracking device he attached to his wife’s car, the Daily Breeze has learned.

Navarro, a 28-year-old Torrance resident who welcomed former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio at a fundraiser Thursday night on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, pleaded guilty last fall to the misdemeanor charge in Orange County. He was sentenced in September 2016 to a day in jail and 18 months probation and ordered to take an anger management course, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.

His probation does not end until March 13, according to court records.

Navarro, who has never held elected office, is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump who was trounced by Waters in 2016 in her heavily Democratic 43rd Congressional District that stretches from Westchester to Torrance and inland to South Los Angeles. Waters has become something of a liberal hero for her outspoken criticism of Trump.

Navarro, who resigned from his volunteer post on the Torrance Traffic Commission earlier this year when faced with censure or removal for his political activities in various Los Angeles County cities, served as second vice president of the rogue Beach Cities Republican Club until July. The county’s GOP leadership revoked the charter of the club earlier this year for attacking members of its executive committee and violating its bylaws.

Navarro, reached for comment Wednesday morning, was evasive at first about his criminal conviction.

He initially said there are “a lot of Omar Navarros,” implying that perhaps someone with the same name was convicted of the charge. Then he said the incident that led to the criminal charge occurred “years ago,” rather than last year. Finally, he acknowledged the misdemeanor conviction, but at first blamed the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the media for “fake news” before finally admitted it was his own doing.

“The district attorney refused to dismiss the case — it was (filed) under false pretenses,” Navarro said. “The Daily Breeze is biased news.

“I got what I deserved,” he finally said. “Everybody makes mistakes.”

Navarro said he had “no idea” electronic tracking devices were illegal and he had previously attached it to the car because he lived in a part of Torrance where he feared someone would steal it. He was convicted of attaching it to his wife’s car on Valentine’s Day in 2016.

Navarro’s wife, Tory, who now lives in Orange County, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

“Omar continues to think he is above the law, ” said Jeff Benson, a former spokesman for Navarro’s 2014 Torrance City Council and 2016 congressional campaigns. “He recently suggested that I should track down his wife. As his closest adviser for over four years, I always condemned anyone who engages in risky behavior like that, so now he has a private investigator do it for him. He is a real hot head and persistent.”

Navarro’s most recent campaign finance filing shows that on Sept. 13, Pasadena-based Grevillius Detective Service was paid $588 for “opp research,” an abbreviation for opposition research.

A former car salesman who said he is living off savings while challenging Waters, Navarro hosted the Thursday night fundraiser at Trump National Golf Club for guests paying $125 a plate. Arpaio, the featured speaker, was convicted last year of defying a court order to stop detaining suspected illegal immigrants. He later was pardoned by President Trump.

Navarro’s congressional campaign is his third try at elective office.

He finished last in a 16-candidate field in the 2014 municipal election, receiving less than 1 percent of the vote. Navarro attracted fewer votes than a candidate who often campaigned wearing a chicken suit and another who did no campaigning.

Navarro’s conduct came under scrutiny last summer when activists came to Torrance to complain to the City Council about the “intimidating” behavior of him, fellow Torrance activist Arthur Schaper and others who attended council meetings in other communities where the sanctuary city movement was being debated. They said Navarro and other members of his group wore T-shirts with the slogan “Straight Outta Torrance” and had engaged in unsavory behavior.

I do not want CA to be a sanctuary state and neither do the majority of legal citizen voters in my Congressional District. #VoteOmarNavarro — Omar Navarro (@RealOmarNavarro) October 10, 2017

Navarro complained to the panel that this amounted to slander.

“All these things that they are saying are not true,” he claimed. “People are coming here because they are pawns of Maxine Waters, just like our mayor in the city of Torrance is a pawn of Maxine Waters.

“Take that smirk off your face, sir, I’m talking to you,” Navarro added. “You’ve been put on notice … I’m tired of seeing people like you run our government down. Democrats in California are destroying our state.”

That prompted Mayor Pat Furey to issue a public apology.

“I apologize for Mr. Schaper and Mr. Navarro for coming into your communities and causing any disturbance at all,” Furey said to the activists. “They have no validity with this city. I’ve apologized to countless mayors in the county of Los Angeles (and) actually as far away as Oregon.

“That’s not our city,” he added. “I’m on the same side as you.”

In response, Councilman Kurt Weideman sought the panel’s agreement to direct staff to look at the censure or removal of a “certain traffic commissioner.”

“I don’t think I want anybody who gets to use a semi-official designation as a commissioner in the city of Torrance to be representing me,” he said.

Weideman received the panel’s support, but Navarro resigned via email before the council could act. He served on the commission for only about six months.

This article has been updated to reflect that Navarro no longer serves as second vice president of the Beach Cities Republican Club.