ReportWire

Tag: bay area crime

  • School officials were raising alarms about safety at Antioch’s Deer Valley High. Then a boy was killed on campus

    ANTIOCH — The Antioch school district has agreed to pay $1.25 million to the family of a 16-year-old student killed in a campus shooting, after officials had raised repeated concerns about safety at Deer Valley High School.

    Court filings in the family’s lawsuit paint a grim picture of conditions at the campus and how it prepared for crosstown rival sporting events known to attract large crowds. The school was in violation of state laws requiring a comprehensive safety plan and certification of security guards, according to the lawsuit. There also were not enough guards assigned to the campus.

    Looking back, one former school board member gave the high school a “D” grade in safety in response to a question during a 2025 deposition. Another testified that top officials became fearful and “were trying to cover their tracks” after 16-year-old Jonathon Parker was killed, because they were aware of serious safety shortcomings.

    “We could do better, and I think the district should have done better,” Ellie Householder, a school board trustee from 2018 to 2022, testified last year. “And I think that Jonathon Parker didn’t have to die.”

    School officials say they have made campuses safer in the years since Parker was killed.

    “The district has taken meaningful steps to strengthen safety measures, refine oversight, work closely with community partners to support secure campuses, and intentionally build a culture of care where every student feels safe, supported, and connected,” said Jag Lathan, AUSD’s board president, in a statement.

    At a Deer Valley High basketball game against Antioch High, Parker was shot and killed in a dark campus parking lot while he, his brother and two friends were attempting to fend off an estimated 25 attackers — a mix of teen boys and adults. Three months earlier, police testified, an estimated 20 students had fought near the campus football stadium.

    Despite the warning signs, when Parker’s 15-year-old killer fired the fatal shot, there were no police officers on campus, no security guards in the area and site safety officers were not trained to handle a school shooting, according to witness testimony.

    Parker’s mother told this news organization that his killers may have been angry that Parker had intervened when they were bullying another student days earlier. He was 6-foot-4 and sometimes served as a “protector” to students who had a harder time defending themselves, she said in 2020.

    Court records show Parker sensed danger the night he was killed and called his brother for help, telling him, “there’s some people up here from an incident that happened before,” his brother testified at a 2022 civil deposition.

    Parker’s brother arrived to take him home, but Parker stopped to chat with friends on his way to the parking lot, including a campus security guard who headed in the opposite direction.

    Moments later, a crowd began to form and appeared confrontational. Parker told his brother to “hurry up” and get to the car, but it was too late. Parker, his brother and two friends were surrounded by more than two dozen people.

    They chose what seemed like the only option, his brother testified. Parker squared off in a one-on-one fight with Daiveon Allison, then 15, of Pittsburg, who later was adjudicated in juvenile court for the killing.

    About a minute into the fight, chaos erupted. The four teens were mobbed by the crowd. Parker’s brother was knocked to the ground and kicked until one of his ribs broke. From the pavement, he heard gunfire and scrambled to help his brother. Parker lost consciousness and died the next day at a hospital.

    “(He) called for my name. That’s the last thing he said,” his brother testified.

    In the aftermath, police described warning signs that violence had been escalating at the high school.

    In 2017, officers responded to five reports of fights. In 2018, there were four, Sgt. Loren Bledsoe testified. By 2019, that number had climbed to 11.

    In 2020, then-Superintendent Stephanie Anello — who was ousted in 2024 amid a staff bullying and harassment scandal — said staffing levels were “adequate” and there was “absolutely no indication that someone was planning to commit such a heinous act.”

    But former AUSD trustee Crystal Sawyer-White testified that safety concerns had been raised before Parker’s death.

    She recounted how a Richmond parent had threatened a Deer Valley vice principal before a sporting event and said lighting concerns had surfaced at that time. During a campus tour, she noticed there were no cameras in the parking lot where Parker was later killed. She testified that the district had “failed” to keep him safe and, when asked, also gave school safety a “D” grade.

    “As far as sporting events, you know, that wasn’t a safe area for John John to be,” she said, using Parker’s nickname.

    Householder agreed. She testified that the district appeared more focused on adopting a safety plan that simply “checks off a box,” adding, “I had this intuition that things were really sketchy, but I was kind of stonewalled with information.”

    Looking back, she said adults never should have allowed such a large crowd to gather without intervention.

    “The lights were dim. The gates were locked. Why were there so many children there?” Householder testified. “To me, it’s not rocket science.”

    Since then, Householder agreed things have changed for the better, but added she doesn’t keep up with the details as well as when she served on the school board. In an email to this news organization, she said AUSD has shown “genuine growth … regarding student safety.” Six months after Parker was slain, the city accepted a $750,000 grant to return police officers to school campuses.

    Authorities say Parker’s death also fueled a cycle of retaliation among teens in Antioch and Pittsburg.

    A letter obtained by this news organization from one of Parker’s teachers, written shortly after his death, described the lasting impact.

    She wrote that several teens were preparing to rob her on BART property until they recognized her as a teacher Parker liked and stopped.

    “Jonathon wouldn’t have liked what we’ve become,” one said, according to the letter.

    Judith Prieve contributed to this report. 

    Nate Gartrell, Hema Sivanandam

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  • East Bay juvenile, 4 others arrested after police chase

    A pursuit in Vallejo last week led to the recovery of three loaded firearms and two suspects booked into Solano County Jail.

    Thomas Gase

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  • East Bay man faces combined murder trial in Solano County

    Attorneys continued presentation of evidence to a judge in Solano County Superior Court Friday, part of arguments over whether a Martinez man charged in connection with two murders, committed months apart, in 2022 can be tried on both allegations at once, or whether the two shooting deaths should be tried separately.

    The hearing on the allegations against Richard Raymond Klein, 54, and the motion to sever the two murder charges will resume on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge John B. Ellis.

    Robin Miller

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  • Police: Bystander rammed car into Bay Area jewelry store to block armed robbers

    A man who rammed a vehicle into the front of a Petaluma jewelry store Saturday afternoon, Jan. 31, was attempting to thwart a robbery, according to police.

    Madison Smalstig

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  • As his marriage crumbled, an Antioch man secretly drafted his wife’s suicide note with murder on his mind, police say

    ANTIOCH — The Leon children never quite believed the story about how their mother died.

    Something about the way Brenda Leon was found dead in 2015 from an apparent self-inflected gunshot wound in her Antioch home never sat right with her daughters. They suspected the worst: their father had done it.

    Now a decade later, police and prosecutors have come to the same conclusion.

    New evidence revealed in court records this past week accuse 67-year-old Michael Anthony Leon of orchestrating his then-wife’s death, writing her suicide note while at work in a Richmond cemetery and staging a scene to create his alibi.

    He is now in a Contra Costa jail cell facing charges of first-degree murder with the use of a gun.

    The new court filings more clearly describe Leon’s unusual movements on Sept. 28, 2015, and how his wife’s suicide-turned-murder case might have been fueled by Brenda Leon wanting to end their 33-year marriage.

    On the day she died, the then-52-year-old husband left work early, sought counsel from a pastor before meeting with friends, then returned home around 5 p.m. to find his wife dead from a gunshot wound to the head, he’d later tell police, according to court records. He then called 911 to report his wife had died of suicide, court documents show.

    Many of his friends, police and even his own children were deeply skeptical of his account, according to court filings. Brenda Leon’s loved ones reported that she recently confirmed plans to take a trip to Oregon, and had recently confirmed a visit with her grandchildren hours before she died.

    She had another plan in the works too: divorcing Michael Leon, who was described to investigators as “controlling” and prone to anger, according to court records.

    But despite the doubt, Brenda Leon’s death was ruled a suicide, according to court records. That’s where things stood, until this past month, for the man who once ran to be the mayor of Antioch.

    Only recently have prosecutors uncovered what they say is the linchpin of the recently filed murder case against Michael Leon: his wife’s supposed suicide note was drafted at the Hilltop Drive cemetery where he worked, before it was secretly transferred onto her laptop and manipulated to appear about 45 minutes after he had left for work.

    On Jan. 22, police say they cracked open the 10-year-old mystery.

    Officers arrested Leon at his Antioch home on the 3900 block of Bedrock Court. He is set to be arraigned on Feb. 10, and with no trial date set, the case appears unlikely to resolve for years.

    But for Brenda and Michael Leon’s two grown daughters, a lengthy court process is nothing new.

    Brenda Leon, 52, was shot and killed inside her Antioch home on Sept. 28, 2015. (Courtesy of Leon’s family) 

    The two women sued “John Doe” for their mother’s wrongful death in 2021, using the lawsuit to subpoena investigative records from both the Antioch Police Department and the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office.

    The civil suit filed by attorney Michael Guichard — a former Contra Costa prosecutor — shows the family received several submissions of records and were notified that charges would soon be filed. Authorities say the daughters suspected almost immediately that their father had killed their mother and were determined to prove it, even after the initial police investigation was unable to do so.

    But Antioch police weren’t fully buying Michael Leon’s account either, according to court records. Police Detective Kristopher Dee heard from one family member after another, who cast doubt on Leon’s story. In October 2015, Dee served a search warrant on the Bedrock Court home, seizing electronic devices, ammunition and sections of drywall covered in blood, according to court records.

    Dee also made a chilling note in his police case file: there was evidence Brenda Leon’s suicide note had been inserted onto her computer with a thumb drive, but no drive was found at the home. Dee concluded someone must have placed the suicide note onto her computer, then left the Leons’ home sometime before Michael Leon’s 911 call that afternoon, according to records.

    The note, written from Brenda Leon’s perspective, seemed odd to police, court documents show.

    Its author confessed to infidelity, being unhappy at work and with life and took the blame for their failing marriage, but barely mentioned the Leon children.

    A text message that day, sent from Brenda Leon’s phone to Michael Leon, apologized to him and concluded, “I have no more words, but at one point I did love you.” Detective Dee pored through hundreds of texts the pair had authored, and determined the writing style was much more similar to Michael Leon.

    Family members concurred, court records show.

    Three years earlier in 2012, Leon was a known figure around Antioch, as a mayoral candidate who compared himself to “Joe the Plumber” — the conservative activist made famous when he asked Barack Obama a question during the 2008 presidential campaign. He touted his work as a marketing manager for an air-conditioning company, not a career politician in the November race that year, where he finished last in a four-candidate contest.

    Three years later, in 2015, he was working at the Rolling Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home in Richmond.

    It was there that prosecutors allege he logged onto the internet with his work laptop to draft several versions of the suicide note, which were recently recovered by police. At a January court hearing, Contra Costa Deputy District Attorney Satish Jallepalli told reporters that the technology for the type of forensic analysis that allowed authorities to glean this information wasn’t available in 2015, according to media reports.

    There were Google searches on the laptop too, authorities allege. Inquiries about how investigators differentiate suicide from homicide, how blood spatter crime scene analysis works, and how people can use cellphone records to make it seem like they’re in a different location.

    Family members also told police that they expected Leon to receive up to $250,000 from his wife’s 401(k) plan, money he wouldn’t have obtained if her plans to divorce had been finalized.

    Leon left the couple’s Antioch home for work around 5:45 a.m., he told police, and left a little before noon. He said he visited a pastor to discuss his troubled marriage, met with friends that afternoon, returned to the Bedrock Court home briefly to grab his wallet and go grocery shopping.

    He returned home around 5 p.m. and called 911, according to court records.

    Brenda Leon had recently told her husband she wanted to end their marriage. Family members told authorities Michael Leon refused to accept a divorce and had been “extremely controlling” of her over the years, court filings show.

    In contrast, they viewed Brenda Leon as optimistic about the future, according to court records.

    She was planning to move out of the Bay Area to be closer with her grandchildren, was applying for new jobs and had a plan to leave with friends to Oregon just four days after she died.

    The night before her death, she got on the phone with one of her daughters to confirm plans to visit grandchildren on the very morning of her death. Instead, her daughters embarked on a nearly decade-long mission to prove that it was murder all along.

    This past week, they filed a new wrongful death lawsuit in Contra Costa court against their dad.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • Bay Area county committee passes ICE response plan for future enforcement operations, bans agency from county property

    Saying they were spurred by the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, an Alameda County Board of Supervisors committee has passed two proposals to establish a Bay Area regional response in the event that federal immigration agents launch a new operation locally.

    “We have to move very quickly,” Alameda County District 5 Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas told Bay Area News Group before the Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday before the Together For All Committee vote. “Since the Minneapolis killing – more than ever – it is incredibly dangerous for people to enter the immigration system.”

    During a surge of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good in the head while she was driving away. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was posthumously labeled as a “domestic terrorist” by Vice President JD Vance and Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem, whose defense of Ross’ actions ignited furor among Minnesota residents who have taken to the streets in protest.

    The incident evoked memories of last October when Border Patrol agents launched an operation in the Bay Area that led to a protest at the entrance to Coast Guard Island. During the standoff, a U-Haul truck driven by Bella Thompson reversed and accelerated toward officers. Thompson was shot by federal officers before she could strike them and was charged with one count of assault of a federal officer. She was released on bail in November and remanded to her parents in Southern California while attending a mental health program pending trial.

    In the lead-up to the October incident, Bas said she had drafted a proposal to strengthen the county’s response to immigration enforcement operations. The first of these proposals calls for a coordinated regional response to federal immigration raids, following the example set by Santa Clara County, with public outreach plans and staff trainings on how to protect residents accessing the county’s social services, courts and health care facilities.

    Chase Hunter

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  • Driver blames his Rolls-Royce for Napa crash that severely injured two women

    Robert Knox Thomas, the driver who ran over two pedestrians with his Rolls-Royce SUV and crashed into a restaurant in downtown Napa in November 2024, is launching his own legal battle to contest allegations he is to blame for the devastating crash.

    The two injured women, one of whom was paralyzed, sued Thomas last year, accusing him of acting with “rage, aggression, and a deliberate disregard for human life” when he was behind the wheel that day, four days before Thanksgiving.

    Phil Barber

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  • Dispute over $1.6 million yacht lands Bay Area man in jail

    Sausalito police arrested a man on assault allegations after a dispute over a $1.6 million boat at a brokerage.

    The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Monday at the Sausalito Yacht Harbor, where the suspect expressed interest in buying the boat, according to police Capt. Brian Mather. An argument broke out between the suspect and a broker “over the legitimacy of the sale,” Mather said.

    Cameron Macdonald

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  • Oakland man, woman charged with animal cruelty after dogs found with numerous broken bones

    OAKLAND — A man and woman were charged with felony animal cruelty after police say they found evidence the defendants were beating two dogs in their Oakland apartment, court records show.

    Semaj Ivey, 30, faces two felony counts, while Keevan Grandy, 53, faces one. Both have also been charged with a misdemeanor abandonment of an animal count, court records show.

    A neighbor who lived in the same apartment complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Way reported the duo to police back in July, alleging that they saw one of the defendants beating their dog. Authorities say they followed up on the tip and that Ivey eventually provided animal control officers a video of her tying a husky up to a door as a form of punishment.

    A husky and a pitbull were found with numerous fractures in various stages healing, police said in court filings. The husky had suffered more than 30 broken bones and the pitbull around 10, authorities allege in records. Police recovered a baseball bat that was allegedly used to beat the husky, according to court records. The pitbull also reportedly had a cut on its face when animal control inspected the apartment.

    Ivey and Grandy have both been released from jail while the case is pending, records show. They pleaded not guilty at a Jan. 5 court date and are due for a preliminary hearing in late February. The charges were filed on New Year’s Eve.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • Oakland man woke up from a drunken nap, surrounded by child porn investigators, police say

    OAKLAND — A city resident has been charged with secretly taking a nude picture of his girlfriend’s 16-year-old family member while she sat on the toilet, court records show.

    The suspect, 44-year-old Elder Lopez, of Oakland, allegedly drank alcohol then fell asleep on his girlfriend’s couch while listening to music. When he woke up, he was surrounded by Oakland police, who’d been called there by his girlfriend after she allegedly went through his phone and found the picture, according to court records.

    Lopez was subsequently arrested and charged with a felony, child pornography possession, and two misdemeanors: invasion of privacy and sexual exploitation. The girl, a relative of Lopez’s girlfriend, reportedly told police she had no idea how he was able to get the picture, which depicted her inside a bathroom of the girlfriend’s Oakland home, authorities said.

    The officers woke Lopez up from his nap and booked him into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, court records show. They would have questioned him but he smelled so strongly of alcohol that they didn’t think he could waive his rights, according to court records.

    Lopez pleaded not guilty on Dec. 19 and has since been released from jail after posting $100,00 bail, court records show.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • San Jose bakery seeks public help following attack

    SAN JOSE — Peters’ Bakery, the 90-year-old San Jose institution, is hoping the public can help them identify the person who caused chaos in the shop this December.

    Sierra Lopez

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  • While out on bail in kidnapping case, Oakland man charged with child trafficking

    OAKLAND — A man who was arrested on kidnapping charges just seven months ago has been charged again, this time with human trafficking, after two girls were allegedly found in his hotel room, court records show.

    Brandon Johnson, 37, was charged last week with human trafficking of a minor, soliciting a child to prostitute and pandering, court records show. At the time of his arrest on Dec. 19, he was out on bail for pending charges of kidnapping a suspected adult sex worker in front of an undercover cop, court records show.

    Police say a relative of a 14-year-old girl called police and told them the girl was with Johnson at the Bay Breeze Inn in Oakland. Police went there and found not only the girl, but a 15-year-old girl, as well as a replica gun in Johnson’s hotel room, according to court records.

    Authorities allege that Johnson met one of the girl’s when she was at a youth crisis center in San Francisco and had been with her for several weeks. He reportedly gave the girls $500 daily quotas, instructing them to be sexually abused by adult strangers for as long as it took to make that amount, according to court records.

    Johnson was arrested and charged back in May after an undercover officer allegedly saw him throwing a woman in a bikini into his vehicle and driving off, as she screamed for help. He posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail, records show. Johnson’s lawyer refuted the charges by arguing that the woman police identified as the victim denied it, and said she witnessed a different person throwing a different woman in his car.

    Now Johnson is back behind bars at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, with bail set at $670,000, records show. He has pleaded not guilty and is due in court next on Jan. 12.

    Johnson’s arrest was one of two near-identical incidents that occurred in Oakland that week. On Dec. 15, Oakland police rescued two runaway teen girls, aged 14 and 15, and arrested their alleged trafficker, Terrell Williams, who was later charged with rape, statutory rape and crimes related to alleged sex trafficking, court records show.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • One dead, one wounded in Oakland shooting

    OAKLAND — One man was killed and another man was wounded early Friday in a shooting in the San Antonio district of East Oakland, authorities said.

    No information was immediately released about either man.

    Harry Harris

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  • Bay Area man gets 17 months for Norteño gang plot to rip off Union City drug house

    SAN JOSE — A Bay Area man was sentenced to 17 months in prison for plotting with other gang members to rip off a Union City drug house in 2018, court records show.

    Caleb Eller allegedly scoped out the target house, theorizing they would get at least “a brick” of cocaine from the home and that the brothers who ran it, who’d been robbed before, wouldn’t put up a fight. He suggested his cohorts “boot the door down and get it from them,” prosecutors said in court filings.

    Eller was one of dozens of alleged Norteño or Nuestra Familia affiliates charged in 2021 as part of a massive racketeering prosecution aimed at taking down the structure of Norteño gangs throughout California. Since his arrest and pretrial release, he was turning his life around, starting an online business, participating in regular food distribution services for folks in-need, and engaging in youth counseling, his attorney wrote in court filings.

    Then Eller was arrested in a 2020 home invasion robbery in Southern California, disrupting his rehabilitation.

    “He was well into the process of leading a law abiding life and putting his criminal past behind him,” his attorney wrote in court filings.

    Both prosecutors and the defense agreed on a 24-month sentence, but Eller’s lawyer argued that he should get seven months credit for time served behind bars after his arrest in the 2020 robbery. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers granted his time credit and ordered his sentence to run concurrently to whatever he may receive in the Southern California case.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • CHP officer fires shot during Highway 1 chase of reckless driver

    A man was arrested Saturday evening after a police pursuit on Highway 1 in San Mateo County that included an officer firing a single shot, authorities said Sunday.

    The California Highway Patrol said officers responded at around 5 p.m. to reports of a black Acura driving recklessly on Highway 1 near Highway 84.

    Officers attempted to stop the driver after the Acura was spotted on Highway 1 near Verde Road, but the driver kept going, authorities said. CHP officers pursued the vehicle northbound and coordinated with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.

    The pursuit ended when officers were able to stop the Acura driver near Triple D Ranch, the CHP said.

    An officer discharged one shot while responding to the incident, but there were no injuries.

    The man driving the Acura was taken into custody without further incident, authorities said.

    Ryan Macasero, Caelyn Pender

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  • Alameda DA to dismiss case against former San Leandro cop in killing of Steven Taylor

    OAKLAND — Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s office formally asked a judge this week to dismiss the manslaughter case against the former San Leandro police officer accused of fatally shooting Steven Taylor during an April 2020 shoplifting call.

    The request by Jones Dickson’s administration  — which is expected to be argued at a hearing Friday morning — marks yet another twist in the case against Jason Fletcher, who was charged with manslaughter months after the killing but has yet to face trial amid a rotating cast of district attorneys. His case has since become a rallying cry by advocates pushing for greater accountability among law enforcement officers who use deadly force.

    If granted, the dismissal would represent an abrupt end to the first police officer charged in an on-duty killing in Alameda County since BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was tried — and convicted — in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant more than 15 years ago. Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July 2010, by a Los Angeles County jury after the case was moved south.

    In a motion filed Tuesday, the district attorney’s office argued that Fletcher’s case “cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” nor that it’s entirely clear that Fletcher didn’t act out of self defense or the right to defend others inside the San Leandro Walmart where the shooting happened.

    Taylor was fatally shot on April 18, 2020, while allegedly trying to steal an aluminum baseball bat and a tent from the Walmart. Only about 40 seconds passed between the time Fletcher encountered Taylor, 33, and when the fatal shot was fired, according to a lawsuit against the city of San Leandro by the slain man’s family.

    Alameda County prosecutors had previously argued that Fletcher did not try to de-escalate the confrontation before fatally shooting Taylor once in the chest after using a Taser on him multiple times. A judge later called the case “a battle of the experts,” given the vast amount of testimony at an evidentiary hearing from police use-of-force experts.

    Those experts became the subject of a recent bid by Fletcher’s attorneys — largely backed by the work of Jones Dickson’s own team — to dismiss the case on the grounds of “outrageous government conduct.” The officer’s attorneys argued that previous prosecutors in the case — each overseen by former District Attorney Pamela Price — acted unethically while seeking experts to testify on the prosecution’s behalf.

    In ruling from the bench last month, Alameda County Judge Thomas Reardon said he found no evidence that those former prosecutors tainted the case by allegedly hiding evidence from defense attorneys.

    The district attorney’s dismissal motion this week again took direct aim at Price’s administration, claiming that her strategy was nothing more than “a desperate de-evolution into violations of both ethics and the law around these experts.”

    “The effort made to conceal expert opinions from the defense in violation of Supreme Court case law that requires transparency of this type of evidence only created more hurdles to the prosecution of Fletcher,” the motion added.

    The motion appears to have been authored by Darby Williams, a relative newcomer to Jones Dickson’s staff who previously spent time as a prosecutor in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, as well as a public defender in Los Angeles, according to her LinkedIn account. The site shows her having joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in July.

    The request by Jones Dickson’s team continues a trend by the former Alameda County prosecutor and judge, who has worked to unwind the legacy of Price, who voters recalled last year. That includes dismissing numerous cases filed by Price’s administration, including several against law enforcement officers related to the deaths of inmates at Santa Rita Jail.

    Price has since announced a campaign to once again seek election as the county’s district attorney, roughly a year after voters removed her from office by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. So far, Price and Jones Dickson are the only people known to be vying for the post.

    The wave of dismissals had led to fears by Taylor’s family that Fletcher’s case could be next.

    Reached Wednesday morning, Taylor’s grandmother, Addie Kitchen, slammed the decision.

    “I’m shocked,” said Kitchen, noting how the request to end the case came not from Fletcher’s attorneys, but from Jones Dickson’s office. “How do you think it feels? Five and a half years — the biggest slap in the face by the district attorney.”

    Check back for updates to this developing story.

    Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.

    Jakob Rodgers

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  • Care-home employee who left pitcher of cleaning fluid unattended, leading to deaths of two residents, sentenced to 40 days

    The former employee of a San Mateo assisted living facility who left a pitcher of toxic cleaning fluid in the kitchen that another employee mistook for juice and served to residents — resulting in the deaths of two 93-year-olds — was sentenced Friday to 40 days in county jail and two years supervised probation.

    Alisia Rivera Mendoza, 38, was also ordered to complete 350 hours of community service, including speaking to those working in the care industry to warn them against her mistake, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

    In August, Rivera Mendoza pleaded no contest to one felony count of elder abuse in exchange for no time in state prison and a maximum sentence of one year in county jail, prosecutors said. Rivera Mendoza’s sentence can also be reduced to a misdemeanor after one year of complying with probation.

    She was originally charged in 2023 with two counts of felony involuntary manslaughter and three counts of felony elder abuse.

    Rivera Mendoza’s sentence was imposed by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Michael Wendler, who also denied a defense motion that would have immediately reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

    San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said Monday that Wendler’s sentence was “thoughtful,” as Rivera Mendoza does not have a prior criminal record and the mistake was not intentional.

    “Forty days on its face does sound low, but what Judge Wendler has done is taken what might have been a longer jail sentence and converted that into public service hours — that 350 hours of public service work is what he felt was more appropriate for punishment, because 350 hours is a substantial number of days,” Wagstaffe said. “I am not dissatisfied with the sentence.”

    Wagstaffe added that Rivera Mendoza has shown remorse for the incident.

    Rivera Mendoza’s defense attorney, Josh Bentley, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

    Rivera Mendoza is also not permitted to work in assisted living or elder care in the future, must pay $370 in fines and fees and will pay restitution in an amount to be determined. She also cannot possess ammunition, weapons or body armor and is subject to search and seizure.

    Atria Park of San Mateo was understaffed on the morning of Aug. 28, 2022 when Rivera Mendoza poured cleaning fluid into a pitcher on the kitchen counter with the intention of using it to clean the kitchen, prosecutors said.

    When Rivera Mendoza went to serve breakfast to the facility’s residents, she left the pitcher on the counter. Another employee mistook the pitcher of cleaning fluid for juice and poured it into three residents’ glasses, prosecutors said.

    The three residents, thinking the liquid poured into their glasses was juice, drank it, prosecutors added.

    The three residents – 93-year-old Gertrude Maxwell, 93-year-old Peter Schroder Jr. and Richard Fong – “immediately went into serious distress” after taking just a few sips of the liquid, prosecutors said. Emergency services reported to the scene to provide aid, but Maxwell and Schroeder died due to ingestion of the toxic cleaning fluid.

    Both Maxwell and Schroder suffered from extremely painful blisters on their mouths before they died, their families said. Fong survived drinking the fluid, prosecutors added.

    This is not the only case of seniors dying after ingesting toxic fluids while in Bay Area assisted living facilities. A 94-year-old man, Constantine Canoun, died in 2022 after drinking an all-purpose cleaner he found in an unlocked cabinet and mistook for a sugary beverage at Atria Walnut Creek. An employee was similarly charged with felony elder abuse in that case.

    In another case, a 55-year-old paraplegic man alleged that Diablo Valley Post Acute, a nursing home in Concord where he was staying for six weeks while recovering from surgery, gave him a bleach-based wound-cleaning solution in a cup to wash down his pills.

    In 2022, the family of Schroder filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Atria that also alleged negligence and elder abuse. The lawsuit alleged that a lack of staff contributed to his death. That same year, Maxwell’s family filed a separate wrongful death lawsuit alleging that Atria attempted to cover up the third death at its Walnut Creek facility.

    Wagstaffe added that the families of the two victims did not have “heavy animus toward” Rivera Mendoza.

    “They were more concerned about Atria and the fact that they were understaffed,” Wagstaffe said, adding that there was insufficient evident to prosecute Atria in this case.

    Kathryn Stebner, the attorney who represented the Schroder family, said that Rivera Mendoza’s sentence is sad to both her and the Schroder family. The family’s wrongful death lawsuit was settled in early 2025, she added.

    “She’s basically a scapegoat in the face of (Atria’s) continuous wrongdoing. To point the finger at her is just not right,” Stebner said. “The real culprits were the corporation, not this poor woman who was overworked, underpaid and the scapegoat of Atria.”

    The California Department of Social Services also fined Atria $39,500 for the two deaths and one hospitalization and in 2023 was considering revoking the care facility’s license. At the time, the company appealed the department’s decision.

    As of November, Atria Park of San Mateo had a “probationary” license status, according to the Department of Social Services.

    Caelyn Pender

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  • AG Rob Bonta spent nearly $500K on lawyers while trying to be ‘helpful’ amid East Bay corruption probe, adviser says

    SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta spent $468,000 of his campaign cash on lawyers while reportedly being interviewed by federal authorities investigating Oakland’s former mayor and others in a sprawling federal bribery and corruption inquiry.

    The longtime East Bay politician’s senior adviser, Dan Newman, told this news organization Wednesday that Bonta’s legal bills were for the sole purpose of “providing information that could be helpful to the investigation of those implicated” in the ongoing criminal probe.

    Bonta — who lives in Alameda and has worked his way from city councilman to the state’s top prosecutor — was never a target of the investigation, Newman said.

    “The AG’s involvement is over,” Newman added. “But this is an ongoing legal proceeding that we don’t want to hinder — with no relation to or involvement of the AG — so unable to provide further information.” He said the work required of those attorneys ended in 2024, the adviser said.

    Newman initially told the KCRA this week that the attorney general used the campaign funds “to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice” in the East Bay corruption probe. The Sacramento station was the first to report Bonta’s legal spending.

    Newman later changed that stance, claiming in a subsequent interview with KCRA that Bonta spent the money on attorneys for himself while being questioned by federal investigators. The adviser stressed Bonta was never a target of the investigation, and the funds were needed “because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated,” the station reported.

    The size of Bonta’s legal bills appear historically large, and they reflect the fact that Bonta retained one of the premier law firms in Silicon Valley — Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati — which routinely charges four figures an hour for its work, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor. That also highlights the stakes Bonta faces as a politically ambitious state attorney general, particularly one who has taken a leading stand against the current White House administration by filing dozens of lawsuits against it, the professor said.

    “His problems are the appearance of impropriety when he is the poster child against Donald Trump and the administration,” McCuan said. “So if he has an image problem that is created by this expenditure, then that is a problem for him.”

    McCuan added that California campaign finance law is considered “murky” when it comes to when candidates can use campaign cash for legal help.

    In general, campaign funding can only be used “if the litigation is directly related to activities of the committee that are consistent with its primary objectives,” said Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission, in an email. While she said she couldn’t speak specifically to this case, instances where that money can be used include defending against claims that a candidate violated election laws, or ensuring compliance with state campaign disclosure reports.

    The five payments to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati were made two days before Bonta announced he would not run for governor and seek reelection as attorney general in February, the records show.

    It all casts a fresh spotlight on Bonta’s ties to many of the main players charged in the ongoing bribery and pay-to-play probe that has roiled the East Bay’s political scene, including former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Andy Duong, who helps run a recycling company contracted by the city of Oakland.

    In charges unsealed in January, federal prosecutors accused former Thao of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of political favors and a $95,000 no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for Duongs recycling business, California Waste Solutions.

    Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty and could face trial by next year.

    Bonta has known Andy Duong for years, even becoming a frequent presence on his Instagram page before federal agents raided the businessman’s house in June 2024.

    In an August 2021 social media post, Bonta was seen standing alongside Andy Duong and the famed Filipino boxer and retired politician Manny Pacquiao, each of them giving a “thumbs up” to the camera. In another, Bonta appeared to be sitting in a limousine, smiling at the camera with one arm around Andy Duong and another around his wife, California Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

    “Cannot wait to see what else the future has to offer to you,” wrote Andy Duong, calling the state’s top prosecutor a “brother” while recounting his rise from “Vice Mayor to State Assembly and now CA Attorney General.” The post included no less than nine other photos of the two together over the years, often at campaign events or, in one instance, together at a Golden State Warriors game.

    Rob Bonta has since sought to distance himself from the Duongs. Shortly after the FBI and other federal authorities raided the family’s Oakland hills houses on June 20, 2024, Bonta said he planned to give back $155,000 in political contributions that he had previously received from the Duong family.

    The political fortunes of Thao and Mia Bonta also nearly collided several years ago. Before running for mayor, Thao briefly considered campaigning for the state assembly seat once held by Rob Bonta before he became the state’s attorney general. Instead, Thao opted to run for the mayor of Oakland, while Mia Bonta ran and filled her husband’s post in Sacramento.

    Bonta ties to people investigated in the corruption probe extend to an unnamed co-conspirator widely believed to be longtime Oakland political operative Mario Juarez. Bonta and Juarez enjoyed “close financial and political ties,” such as when Bonta helped secure a $3.4 million grant in 2017 from the California Energy Commission for a company that Juarez co-owned, according to a filing late last year by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

    “They have publicly endorsed each other and have used the same office for their business dealings,” said the filing, adding that Juarez and the Bontas’ “extensive intertwined political and business dealings are widely known.”

    Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.

    Jakob Rodgers

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  • ‘He was already down’: Two agree to 12 years in prison for killing man at Oakland park

    OAKLAND — Two men have agreed to serve 12-year prison terms for beating another man to death at a park in a broad daylight attack, court records show.

    Melvin Espinolobo, 24, and Alexander Garciaamaya, 29, both pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the May 10, 2020 killing of 28-year-old Jose Mejia-Lemus. They remain at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin with the expectation of being formally sentenced in December.

    The attack was witnessed by passers-by and others at the Josie de la Cruz Park at 1637 Fruitvale Ave. Authorities say a little after 3 p.m., one of the two suspects argued with Mejia-Lemus, then retrieved two bats from a nearby homeless encampment where they lived. One of the suspects was seen with a machete, according to police testimony.

    An eyewitness testified at the 2022 preliminary hearing that Mejia-Lemus pleaded “leave me alone” as he was being killed, but that both men continued to hit him.

    “The worst thing was when he was already down on the ground they just kept beating him,” the man testified. Another witness testified that Mejia-Lemus claimed to have a knife, but others said he was unarmed, according to court records.

    The two men were arrested and charged shortly after the homicide and their case has been pending ever since. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors are dropping murder charges against both men, court records show.

    Nate Gartrell

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  • Morgan Hill: 12 illicit massage parlors shut down

    MORGAN HILL — A dozen illicit massage parlors were shuttered in Morgan Hill for allegedly providing sexual services, authorities said Thursday.

    The 12 businesses were shut down by police during an 18-month operation, according to the Morgan Hill Police Department. The parlors either had their permits revoked or were denied permits after the city changed its municipal code to tighten requirements.

    Some of the businesses were found to be advertising sexual services online or caught by investigators providing sex, authorities said. Others had contraception in the rooms, lied in the permit application process or were otherwise generally promoted as a place for illegal sexual activity. Police found that the alleged sexual activity occurred both after-hours and during regular business hours.

    The businesses that were shut down include A&M Health Center, Angel Beauty Spa, Body Care Foot Spa, Body Care Massage, Elegant Foot Spa, Flower Day Spa, Laura Health Center, Lucky Spa, Morgan Hill Spa, New Times Massage, September Day Spa and TWNS Spa.

    Police also made multiple arrests of people on suspicion off pimping, pandering, supervising prostitution activities and soliciting prostitution, authorities said.

    In 2023, Morgan Hill saw an “unprecedented” increase in applications for massage business permits after similar businesses were closed across the Bay Area, officials said. The city partnered with reputable massages businesses, law enforcement, the California Massage Therapy Council and the Santa Clara County Illicit Massage Business Coalition to update the city’s municipal codes to “balance the needs of legitimate businesses with the safety of our community.”

    The changes to the municipal codes include requirements that all massage therapists be certified by the California Massage Therapy Council, and that front windows cannot be covered and doors to massage rooms cannot have locks. Owners of establishments that are denied permits also cannot reopen another massage business in the city, and the same storefront cannot be used for another massage business for at least five years.

    The updates to the city code went into effect in May 2024 and were further updated in June 2025, authorities said.

    Administrative Sgt. Christopher Woodrow said in a press release that the process of investigating illicit massage businesses is “time consuming” and “often frustrating.”

    “We took a multidisciplinary approach which included developing profiles from permit applications, communicating with other agencies and working on tips from community members,” Woodrow said. “Resources were often declined and there were no victims of human trafficking willing to provide testimony against their suspected traffickers which meant our team had to work even harder to ensure our decisions were not overturned on appeal.”

    Capt. Mario Ramirez said in the press release that some of the shuttered businesses left the city after their licenses were revoked, but others hired attorneys to appeal the decision.

    “The hard work and dedication of our team ultimately prevailed in all instances where suspected sexual activity was occurring,” Ramirez added.

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    Santa Clara County is one of three counties with the highest number of illicit massage businesses in the country, alongside Los Angeles County and Orange County, authorities added. The Human Trafficking Institute has found that California is the home of more than a quarter of the estimated 10,000 illicit massage parlors operating across the United States.

    “When you visit a licensed massage therapist, you’re entering a professional healthcare environment. We follow strict codes of ethics, maintain state licensure, and uphold the same professional boundaries you’d expect in any other healthcare setting,” Sarah Ellingson, owner of Rooted Republic, said in the press release. “By supporting legitimate, licensed massage therapists, our community helps protect the integrity of the profession and ensures that therapeutic touch remains a safe, respected, and valuable form of care.”

    Caelyn Pender

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