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"slug": "california-fired-teacher-sexual-harassment",
"title": "He Was Fired for Sexually Harassing Students. California Allowed Him to Keep Teaching Anyway",
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"content": "\u003cp>This\u003cem> article was produced for \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/local-reporting-network\">ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network\u003c/a> in partnership with \u003c/em>\u003cem>KQED\u003c/em>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/newsletters/dispatches\">\u003cem>Sign up for Dispatches\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Agan was impossible to miss at Angelo Rodriguez High School. The Bay Area teacher was loud and gregarious, a fixture on campus since the Fairfield school opened in 2001. He ran the student government and called himself the man behind the curtain, organizing pep rallies and prom. He taught AP calculus, so advanced math students ended up in his classroom, jostling for his approval and letters of recommendation. Some considered him a mentor who inspired a love of math — and even a second father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for years, students also whispered about Agan’s behavior, according to interviews with 14 Rodriguez High graduates, most of whom he had taught. He touched some of them in public in ways that made them uncomfortable, they said, including hugging students and massaging their shoulders. And he seemed fixated on enforcing the dress code, calling out girls whose shorts were too short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two decades into Agan’s tenure, and on the heels of the #MeToo movement, students had enough. At least 11 students and one parent submitted written complaints about his behavior to school administrators in 2018, drawing at least two warnings to stop, a KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> investigation found. By January 2019, the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District had taken steps to fire him, suspending him without pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan pushed back, and nearly a year later, an independent panel convened by the state to hear his case deemed him “unfit to teach.” The panel’s decision meant that the popular educator was officially out of the job where he had spent his entire teaching career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the panel’s review only addressed his employment at this one school district, and its finding was not shared publicly. It would be up to the state’s teacher licensing agency to determine whether additional discipline would be imposed, including whether Agan could keep teaching in California public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next three years, Agan was hired at a second school and then a third. During that period, the state issued a one-week suspension of his teaching license for his behavior at his first school. Then, Agan faced another accusation of unwanted touching — this time, by an eighth grader at his second school, according to school records. The state’s teaching credentialing agency did not inform the other schools or the parents of students in Agan’s classes of the full extent of what went on at Rodriguez High.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082860\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082860 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12.jpg\" alt=\"A page in a yearbook that includes a photo of a man looking through a doorway and a feature on Jason Agan under the title, “Equations & Headaches.”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Math teacher Jason Agan, in the 2017-18 Rodriguez High School yearbook, said his goal is to “make RHS a place where all students can feel comfortable and safe.” The school district fired him in 2019 for sexually harassing students. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Agan, now 47, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview, and someone at his address hung up when a reporter rang his apartment buzzer and identified herself. Nor did he respond to questions sent via email or certified mail to his home about students’ accusations and his job history. He previously denied any sexual motivation in touching students, telling the independent panel that he was simply offering students support and encouragement — not massaging them, according to records obtained by the news outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A broad look at California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> shows a pattern of delays and inaction, combined with a lack of transparency, that has allowed educators to continue teaching after school districts reported them to the state for sexual harassment or other misconduct of a sexual nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan’s case is one of at least 67 in which the state has not revoked the professional licenses of educators after school districts determined they had sexually harassed students or committed other types of sexual misconduct, according to a review of available records from 2019 through 2025 obtained by the news outlets. At least 14 of those educators were rehired by other schools, and of those, at least 12, including Agan, still work in education, according to a review of school websites and employment records provided by schools.[aside postID=news_12057191 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed.jpg']Anita Fitzhugh, a spokesperson for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, said the state automatically revokes teachers’ credentials when they are convicted of sexual criminal offenses, but not necessarily when a district determines they have committed sexual misconduct. She said the state Legislature — not the licensing agency — determines the type of misconduct that results in automatic revocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency appoints a committee to assess noncriminal cases of misconduct, she said. Agan has not been accused of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Commission’s authority balances protecting students as well as the legal rights of educators who have been accused but not convicted of specific crimes,” Fitzhugh said in a written statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s disciplinary process is unique among licensing bodies in California in how much is kept secret, Fitzhugh said. The fact that a teacher has been disciplined is noted on a state website of credentialed educators, but the database does not explain why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, the licensing bodies governing dozens of other professions in California, including doctors, nurses, police officers and lawyers, make the reasons that disciplinary actions were imposed easily accessible on their websites. And at least 12 states, including Oregon, Washington and Florida, do the same for teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our job as teachers is to keep children safe, we have to be held accountable for things we do that could harm them,” said Alicia DeRollo, a longtime teacher who served as one of 19 commissioners on California’s teacher licensing agency from 2011 to 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this gap in oversight, Agan found two new jobs and remains in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Student complaints start piling up\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For 17 years, Agan taught at Rodriguez High, a sprawling open-air campus nestled alongside rolling hills where cows graze. The school serves the racially diverse commuter town of Fairfield, halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2018, several sophomores in his accelerated math class reported him to school administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One girl alleged that he took her phone out of her back pocket while she was sitting down taking a test and that he would massage girls’ shoulders in class, according to school records. Assistant principal Gary Hiner cautioned Agan to be careful, sharing that students had told him they were uncomfortable when the teacher walked around class and touched them, according to a summary Hiner wrote about the spoken warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082859\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082859\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05.jpg\" alt=\"A sign that reads, “Rodriguez High School” and “Home of the Mustangs” outside surrounded by trees and bushes.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance to Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March 2018, a father emailed another administrator after Agan wore a shirt to school that used the Pi symbol to spell out “Pimp.” The father wrote that a teacher should not be wearing a shirt making light of someone who “sexually exploits people for profit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, assistant principal Allison Klein emailed Agan, reminding him that school was not the place for “physically touching students, inappropriate innuendo, or jokes in poor taste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the next school year, more students complained, records show. In October 2018, a student told her school counselor and then Hiner that Agan had come up behind her and started massaging her neck beneath her long hair. The student said she felt violated and froze, unsure of what to do, records show. She talked to her peers about Agan to see if others had similar experiences, and told Hiner that those classmates said he also made inappropriate comments and touched students in his leadership class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The student was so distraught that she asked to transfer out of the math class and had a panic attack two days later in the school psychologist’s office, school records show. Neither Hiner nor Klein agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, at least nine more students submitted written complaints, alleging that Agan had massaged their shoulders and singled out female students for what they wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a case of someone overstepping boundaries, and we’re not afraid to call this person out,” said Julia Steed, who was a 15-year-old sophomore when she wrote to school administrators alleging that Agan “had tendencies to touch students,” including palming her head during class. “We were like, ‘Oh no, we’re not dealing with this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082858\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082858 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in her twenties sits on a sofa and looks at the camera with a serious expression.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Steed, a Rodriguez High graduate, had complained to school administrators about Agan touching students. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steed, now 23, told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she and her classmates were emboldened by the #MeToo movement to speak out as teenagers across the country were gaining more awareness of boundaries and consent. By the end of 2018, the Fairfield-Suisun school board approved the superintendent’s recommendation to fire Agan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan objected and demanded a hearing, something tenured California public school teachers facing termination are entitled to. His case would be evaluated by an independent panel, which would decide whether to uphold the district’s recommendation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts rarely fire tenured teachers because losing a case is expensive, and the teacher can wind up back in the job. Instead, many districts negotiate settlements that allow teachers to resign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Agan’s case, Kris Corey, the Fairfield-Suisun superintendent at the time, said she and the school board believed they had a strong case for termination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board said, ‘We don’t care how much this costs. We are going to a hearing,’” Corey said. “It’s the principle of the matter. This is not OK.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For eight days in the Fairfield-Suisun district office beginning in July 2019, the three-member panel, including a teacher selected by Agan, heard testimony from students, teachers and administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven students, three administrators, a former guidance counselor and a parent spoke against Agan. Six of the students told the panel that Agan made them uncomfortable by touching them or commenting on their clothing, including calling one girl “short shorts.” Four of them, including Steed, said they did not feel comfortable going to Agan for extra help with math because they did not want to be alone with him. Several also said they refrained from speaking in class to avoid attracting his attention.[aside postID=news_12055955 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-BERRYESSAUNIONCLOSURES_03248_TV-KQED.jpg']Four former students, three teachers and a staff member spoke on Agan’s behalf. The former students described Agan as a supportive mentor and caring teacher and said they felt at home in his classroom. All four students said he squeezed, rubbed or touched their shoulders, but that his actions did not make them uncomfortable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those students told KQED and\u003cem> ProPublica\u003c/em> that her opinion about the teacher’s behavior has changed in recent years. She said she had considered his physical contact normal while in high school. But her perspective shifted as she got older, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I went to college and talked to people and realized it wasn’t normal,” said the former student, now in her 20s. “Looking back at it, I would have jumped to the other side, to be quite honest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the hearing, Agan testified that he would have stopped touching students’ shoulders if he had been clearly warned, according to a summary included in the panel’s decision. He said he became comfortable with his leadership students, and his actions carried over to math students even though he wasn’t as close with them. He denied massaging students’ shoulders and said students misinterpreted “squeezes or shakes” as massages. He said he did not intend to make students feel uncomfortable and regretted that some students did not feel safe in his class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the administrators, former director of human resources Mike Minahen, told the panel that the details students shared with him during his investigation “weighed heavy” on him. He said it was unusual for high school students to “break the code” and come forward to make a complaint about a teacher, “especially a leadership teacher who has influence over student activities throughout the entire school.” Minahen, who has retired, declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November 2019, the panel unanimously decided Agan should lose his job. Even the teacher chosen by Agan agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The likelihood of recurrence is high,” the panel wrote in its decision. “Over time, he has shown that he cannot or will not exercise good judgment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the panelists told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she voted to terminate Agan’s employment in part because his alleged behavior continued even after administrators issued warnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His actions were making students, particularly young women, want to not take advanced math classes. They didn’t want to be touched,” said the panelist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize her job in education. “All that directly impacts their access to good colleges because he was a calculus teacher.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2019, school district officials sent documentation of Agan’s firing, along with details of their investigation, to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California’s educator licensing agency, as state law requires for public school teachers who resign or are fired for misconduct. The educator licensing agency would decide whether Agan would be disciplined further, such as receiving a public warning, facing a suspension or losing his license to teach in a California public school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disciplinary process typically takes one year, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would take the state licensing board nearly 500 days to decide what to do in Agan’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Agan returned to the classroom\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the state considered the matter, Agan applied for a job at a Sacramento middle school about an hour away from Rodriguez High in May 2020. It was a time of heightened teacher shortages, especially in subjects like math, during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan provided stellar letters of recommendation from former teaching colleagues in his application, which school representatives provided to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> in response to a public records request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any school searching Agan’s name on California’s credentialing database would have seen a clean record and valid credentials indicating he was legally fit to teach. That’s because while the state licensing agency knew Agan had been fired for what the district described as sexually harassing students, California law prevented the agency from disclosing information about the case. Nowhere \u003ca href=\"https://educator.ctc.ca.gov/siebel/app/esales/enu?SWECmd=GotoView&SWEView=CTC+Person+Adverse+Action+Public+View+Web&SWERF=1&SWEHo=&SWEBU=1&SWEApplet0=CTC+Public+Person+Detail+Form+Applet+Web&SWERowId0=1-27L-88&SWEApplet1=CTC+Adverse+Action+Applet+Web&SWERowId1=2-499IB5\">in the online public records\u003c/a> did it say that Agan remained under investigation by the agency — let alone any details of his employment record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his application for the middle school job, Agan acknowledged that he had been fired after being “accused of inappropriately touching students on the shoulders during class.” He wrote that he disagreed with the dismissal and explained that he would often place his hands on students’ shoulders while helping them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Math is a difficult subject for many and my actions were meant as a means of encouragement; a way to say, ‘It’s OK that you’re having trouble, keep trying,’” Agan wrote, adding that he recognized his actions “made some students feel uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan started teaching at Ephraim Williams College Prep Middle School that fall. The 175-person school is part of the Fortune network of charter schools. Administrators at Ephraim Williams at the time of Agan’s hiring did not respond to questions about how the school vetted him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082857 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20.jpg\" alt=\"A school building with a sign in front of it that shows a photograph of a student and text that reads, “Enroll Today! 6-8 grades.”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ephraim Williams College Prep Middle School, a charter school in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Former Fortune human resources consultant Rick Rubino, who helped the middle school recruit, interview and hire candidates at the time Agan was applying, said the school was not aware that Agan’s former employer concluded that he had sexually harassed multiple students. “Do you think any reasonable school district or principal would hire that person?” Rubino said. “No. So clearly, Fortune School did not get that information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubino said he “would guarantee that somebody at Fortune called the principal at the school where Jason Agan was teaching in Fairfield and got a good report.” He said he does not remember making that call himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former principal at Rodriguez High did not respond to questions about a reference check. But a Fortune School spokesperson, Tiffany Moffatt, said school officials follow “all state guidelines and regulations and conduct thorough vetting, making decisions based on the information available to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until near the end of Agan’s first school year at Ephraim Williams that the state licensing agency issued its decision regarding his actions at his first school. In May 2021, the state suspended Agan’s license for seven days; two of those days fell on a weekend. The sanction — along with a red flag icon — appeared in the state’s public database of credentialed educators. This would be the only visible clue schools would have of anything amiss in Agan’s work history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corey, the former superintendent of Fairfield-Suisun Unified, told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she was “flabbergasted” that he had only been suspended for seven days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a real mismatch of what happened,” Corey said. “What a disservice it was to those girls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steed, one of Agan’s accusers, said students had done the right thing and shared their concerns about Agan with their school, only for adults at the state level to give him the opportunity to teach elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s even the point of going through this whole process?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A middle school student details unwanted touching\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In September 2021, a month after Fortune students returned to in-person learning, an eighth grader at Agan’s second school complained about his conduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The student told her doctor during a routine physical that Agan had touched her lower back, according to a summary of the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl’s mother told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she reported the incident to the principal, who connected mother and daughter with Rubino, Fortune’s human resources consultant. The mother told Rubino that Agan was giving her daughter a disproportionate amount of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl, who is now 17, spoke to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> on the condition that only her middle name, Sherelle, be used because she is a minor. Leslie, the student’s mother, is also being identified by her middle name to protect her daughter’s identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082856 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09.jpg\" alt=\"A 17-year-old girl and a woman stand outside with their backs to the camera. The woman rests her hand on the girl’s back in an embrace.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sherelle, left, and her mother, Leslie, at their home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In that same meeting, Sherelle told Rubino that Agan removed his hand from her lower back after she asked him to stop, and he returned to the front of the classroom. But he came back moments later and placed his hand on her shoulder, according to a letter of warning Rubino wrote to Agan after interviewing the girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt disrespected. I felt uncomfortable. I felt mad,” Sherelle told the news outlets about the incident. “I felt like even speaking up didn’t matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his letter, Rubino directed Agan to stop touching students and “dial back” his praise for the girl. Rubino also cautioned that failure to comply could result in further disciplinary action, up to suspension or termination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan denied the allegations in a written response to Rubino obtained by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. “I would like to be on record that I dispute it being listed as a ‘fact’ that I touched [the student] on the lower back,” Agan wrote. “I have been extremely diligent in avoiding personal contact with scholars due to my previous experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leslie had texted Rubino expressing concern about how Agan was vetted for the job after she said she saw online posts by students at his former school alleging that he had touched them inappropriately.[aside postID=news_12053938 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20230608_ksuzuki_adelanteschool-172_qed.jpg']“Actually, I was the one who investigated the matter in the Fairfield Suisun School District when Mr. Agan was a candidate,” Rubino texted back that same day in messages reviewed by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. “I also checked social media and Google to see if I could find any information about the incident in Fairfield, but I did not find anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubino did not answer subsequent questions about the details of his investigation or how much he knew about Agan’s conduct at the teacher’s previous school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the state licensing agency recommends that educators be disciplined, California law allows it to release its findings, which include a summary of the case, to current supervisors and prospective employers who request it within five years. Fortune appears never to have asked for such findings, according to the logs of these requests between 2020 and 2024 provided by the agency to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. A Fortune spokesperson did not say why the charter school did not ask for the information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leslie said her daughter’s experience at Ephraim Williams only worsened after she reported Agan. Math has always been Sherelle’s favorite subject. But as the school year went on, her grades in Agan’s class plummeted. She needed help but said Agan ignored her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With just weeks left in the school year, Leslie pulled her daughter out of Ephraim Williams to finish eighth grade at another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She only learned about Agan’s disciplinary history when KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> contacted her in January. “The whole education system would rather protect him,” Leslie said. “You let him loose on all these kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fitzhugh, spokesperson for the teacher licensing agency, said the commission is “committed to keeping all students and schools safe,” but is bound by the law in how it disciplines teachers. “The Commission stands ready to implement any additional public protections that the Legislature authorizes,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting the following year, in 2022, records show that Fortune offered Agan a role supporting new teachers rather than assigning him his own classroom. Fortune administrators did not respond to questions about why he was offered the position, which he declined because he had received another job offer in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank you for the last two years,” Agan wrote, resigning from the school. “It has meant more to me than you could ever know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082861\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082861 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02.jpg\" alt=\"A school building with a sign in front of it that reads, “Clifford School”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clifford School, a prekindergarten through eighth grade public school in Redwood City, California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By August 2022, Agan would begin teaching at Clifford School, which serves students in pre-K through eighth grade in Redwood City. He received tenure in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kelly, deputy superintendent at the Redwood City School District, declined to answer questions about Agan’s hiring or say whether the school district was aware he had been accused of misconduct at two previous schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that the district, when hiring, typically calls candidates’ immediate supervisors and checks the database of licensed educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said school districts rely on decisions by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to “put the best people in the classroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was pleased to see that the suspension was only seven days,” Kelly said of Agan’s discipline. “I have to trust that when the CTC reinstates the teacher, that the issue has been either resolved, learned from, there’s been consequences in place, which is why they’re employable to the next organization.\u003cem>” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How we reported this story\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>KQED and\u003cem> ProPublica\u003c/em> obtained detailed teacher disciplinary records from school districts after filing public records requests with the 300 largest districts in California. We asked for records of sexual misconduct complaints from 2019 through 2025, including any reports to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. More than 150 districts provided records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the district determined that an educator had committed misconduct that it characterized as sexual, including sexual harassment by unwanted touching, sending sexual electronic messages and making sexual remarks, we checked the state licensing database to see whether the state had revoked the teacher’s license or imposed other discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Help us report on teacher misconduct in California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have experience with the state’s opaque teacher disciplinary process, KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> want to hear from you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can fill out a brief form or contact KQED reporter Holly McDede on Signal at hollymcdede.68 or via email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:hmcdede@kqed.org\">hmcdede@kqed.org\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://airtable.com/app0AkyDo9b8r1mFR/pagLr7CSAR8lvPhQz/form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cbr>\nShare Your Experience\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was reported with support from the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Journalism and the Fund for Investigative Journalism, with reporting contributions from Luiz H. Monticelli.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Math teacher Jason Agan was deemed “unfit to teach.” But the finding was never made public. This is how the state allowed him — and dozens of other educators found to have committed sexual harassment or misconduct — to keep their credentials.",
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"title": "He Was Fired for Sexually Harassing Students. California Allowed Him to Keep Teaching Anyway | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>This\u003cem> article was produced for \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/local-reporting-network\">ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network\u003c/a> in partnership with \u003c/em>\u003cem>KQED\u003c/em>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/newsletters/dispatches\">\u003cem>Sign up for Dispatches\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Agan was impossible to miss at Angelo Rodriguez High School. The Bay Area teacher was loud and gregarious, a fixture on campus since the Fairfield school opened in 2001. He ran the student government and called himself the man behind the curtain, organizing pep rallies and prom. He taught AP calculus, so advanced math students ended up in his classroom, jostling for his approval and letters of recommendation. Some considered him a mentor who inspired a love of math — and even a second father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for years, students also whispered about Agan’s behavior, according to interviews with 14 Rodriguez High graduates, most of whom he had taught. He touched some of them in public in ways that made them uncomfortable, they said, including hugging students and massaging their shoulders. And he seemed fixated on enforcing the dress code, calling out girls whose shorts were too short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two decades into Agan’s tenure, and on the heels of the #MeToo movement, students had enough. At least 11 students and one parent submitted written complaints about his behavior to school administrators in 2018, drawing at least two warnings to stop, a KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> investigation found. By January 2019, the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District had taken steps to fire him, suspending him without pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan pushed back, and nearly a year later, an independent panel convened by the state to hear his case deemed him “unfit to teach.” The panel’s decision meant that the popular educator was officially out of the job where he had spent his entire teaching career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the panel’s review only addressed his employment at this one school district, and its finding was not shared publicly. It would be up to the state’s teacher licensing agency to determine whether additional discipline would be imposed, including whether Agan could keep teaching in California public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next three years, Agan was hired at a second school and then a third. During that period, the state issued a one-week suspension of his teaching license for his behavior at his first school. Then, Agan faced another accusation of unwanted touching — this time, by an eighth grader at his second school, according to school records. The state’s teaching credentialing agency did not inform the other schools or the parents of students in Agan’s classes of the full extent of what went on at Rodriguez High.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082860\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082860 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12.jpg\" alt=\"A page in a yearbook that includes a photo of a man looking through a doorway and a feature on Jason Agan under the title, “Equations & Headaches.”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-12-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Math teacher Jason Agan, in the 2017-18 Rodriguez High School yearbook, said his goal is to “make RHS a place where all students can feel comfortable and safe.” The school district fired him in 2019 for sexually harassing students. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Agan, now 47, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview, and someone at his address hung up when a reporter rang his apartment buzzer and identified herself. Nor did he respond to questions sent via email or certified mail to his home about students’ accusations and his job history. He previously denied any sexual motivation in touching students, telling the independent panel that he was simply offering students support and encouragement — not massaging them, according to records obtained by the news outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A broad look at California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> shows a pattern of delays and inaction, combined with a lack of transparency, that has allowed educators to continue teaching after school districts reported them to the state for sexual harassment or other misconduct of a sexual nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan’s case is one of at least 67 in which the state has not revoked the professional licenses of educators after school districts determined they had sexually harassed students or committed other types of sexual misconduct, according to a review of available records from 2019 through 2025 obtained by the news outlets. At least 14 of those educators were rehired by other schools, and of those, at least 12, including Agan, still work in education, according to a review of school websites and employment records provided by schools.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Anita Fitzhugh, a spokesperson for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, said the state automatically revokes teachers’ credentials when they are convicted of sexual criminal offenses, but not necessarily when a district determines they have committed sexual misconduct. She said the state Legislature — not the licensing agency — determines the type of misconduct that results in automatic revocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency appoints a committee to assess noncriminal cases of misconduct, she said. Agan has not been accused of a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Commission’s authority balances protecting students as well as the legal rights of educators who have been accused but not convicted of specific crimes,” Fitzhugh said in a written statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency’s disciplinary process is unique among licensing bodies in California in how much is kept secret, Fitzhugh said. The fact that a teacher has been disciplined is noted on a state website of credentialed educators, but the database does not explain why.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contrast, the licensing bodies governing dozens of other professions in California, including doctors, nurses, police officers and lawyers, make the reasons that disciplinary actions were imposed easily accessible on their websites. And at least 12 states, including Oregon, Washington and Florida, do the same for teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our job as teachers is to keep children safe, we have to be held accountable for things we do that could harm them,” said Alicia DeRollo, a longtime teacher who served as one of 19 commissioners on California’s teacher licensing agency from 2011 to 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amid this gap in oversight, Agan found two new jobs and remains in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Student complaints start piling up\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For 17 years, Agan taught at Rodriguez High, a sprawling open-air campus nestled alongside rolling hills where cows graze. The school serves the racially diverse commuter town of Fairfield, halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in 2018, several sophomores in his accelerated math class reported him to school administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One girl alleged that he took her phone out of her back pocket while she was sitting down taking a test and that he would massage girls’ shoulders in class, according to school records. Assistant principal Gary Hiner cautioned Agan to be careful, sharing that students had told him they were uncomfortable when the teacher walked around class and touched them, according to a summary Hiner wrote about the spoken warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082859\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082859\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05.jpg\" alt=\"A sign that reads, “Rodriguez High School” and “Home of the Mustangs” outside surrounded by trees and bushes.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The entrance to Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March 2018, a father emailed another administrator after Agan wore a shirt to school that used the Pi symbol to spell out “Pimp.” The father wrote that a teacher should not be wearing a shirt making light of someone who “sexually exploits people for profit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, assistant principal Allison Klein emailed Agan, reminding him that school was not the place for “physically touching students, inappropriate innuendo, or jokes in poor taste.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the next school year, more students complained, records show. In October 2018, a student told her school counselor and then Hiner that Agan had come up behind her and started massaging her neck beneath her long hair. The student said she felt violated and froze, unsure of what to do, records show. She talked to her peers about Agan to see if others had similar experiences, and told Hiner that those classmates said he also made inappropriate comments and touched students in his leadership class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The student was so distraught that she asked to transfer out of the math class and had a panic attack two days later in the school psychologist’s office, school records show. Neither Hiner nor Klein agreed to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, at least nine more students submitted written complaints, alleging that Agan had massaged their shoulders and singled out female students for what they wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a case of someone overstepping boundaries, and we’re not afraid to call this person out,” said Julia Steed, who was a 15-year-old sophomore when she wrote to school administrators alleging that Agan “had tendencies to touch students,” including palming her head during class. “We were like, ‘Oh no, we’re not dealing with this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082858\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082858 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in her twenties sits on a sofa and looks at the camera with a serious expression.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260324-CATeacherDiscipline-17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Steed, a Rodriguez High graduate, had complained to school administrators about Agan touching students. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steed, now 23, told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she and her classmates were emboldened by the #MeToo movement to speak out as teenagers across the country were gaining more awareness of boundaries and consent. By the end of 2018, the Fairfield-Suisun school board approved the superintendent’s recommendation to fire Agan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan objected and demanded a hearing, something tenured California public school teachers facing termination are entitled to. His case would be evaluated by an independent panel, which would decide whether to uphold the district’s recommendation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts rarely fire tenured teachers because losing a case is expensive, and the teacher can wind up back in the job. Instead, many districts negotiate settlements that allow teachers to resign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Agan’s case, Kris Corey, the Fairfield-Suisun superintendent at the time, said she and the school board believed they had a strong case for termination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The board said, ‘We don’t care how much this costs. We are going to a hearing,’” Corey said. “It’s the principle of the matter. This is not OK.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For eight days in the Fairfield-Suisun district office beginning in July 2019, the three-member panel, including a teacher selected by Agan, heard testimony from students, teachers and administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven students, three administrators, a former guidance counselor and a parent spoke against Agan. Six of the students told the panel that Agan made them uncomfortable by touching them or commenting on their clothing, including calling one girl “short shorts.” Four of them, including Steed, said they did not feel comfortable going to Agan for extra help with math because they did not want to be alone with him. Several also said they refrained from speaking in class to avoid attracting his attention.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Four former students, three teachers and a staff member spoke on Agan’s behalf. The former students described Agan as a supportive mentor and caring teacher and said they felt at home in his classroom. All four students said he squeezed, rubbed or touched their shoulders, but that his actions did not make them uncomfortable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of those students told KQED and\u003cem> ProPublica\u003c/em> that her opinion about the teacher’s behavior has changed in recent years. She said she had considered his physical contact normal while in high school. But her perspective shifted as she got older, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I went to college and talked to people and realized it wasn’t normal,” said the former student, now in her 20s. “Looking back at it, I would have jumped to the other side, to be quite honest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the hearing, Agan testified that he would have stopped touching students’ shoulders if he had been clearly warned, according to a summary included in the panel’s decision. He said he became comfortable with his leadership students, and his actions carried over to math students even though he wasn’t as close with them. He denied massaging students’ shoulders and said students misinterpreted “squeezes or shakes” as massages. He said he did not intend to make students feel uncomfortable and regretted that some students did not feel safe in his class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the administrators, former director of human resources Mike Minahen, told the panel that the details students shared with him during his investigation “weighed heavy” on him. He said it was unusual for high school students to “break the code” and come forward to make a complaint about a teacher, “especially a leadership teacher who has influence over student activities throughout the entire school.” Minahen, who has retired, declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November 2019, the panel unanimously decided Agan should lose his job. Even the teacher chosen by Agan agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The likelihood of recurrence is high,” the panel wrote in its decision. “Over time, he has shown that he cannot or will not exercise good judgment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the panelists told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she voted to terminate Agan’s employment in part because his alleged behavior continued even after administrators issued warnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His actions were making students, particularly young women, want to not take advanced math classes. They didn’t want to be touched,” said the panelist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize her job in education. “All that directly impacts their access to good colleges because he was a calculus teacher.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2019, school district officials sent documentation of Agan’s firing, along with details of their investigation, to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California’s educator licensing agency, as state law requires for public school teachers who resign or are fired for misconduct. The educator licensing agency would decide whether Agan would be disciplined further, such as receiving a public warning, facing a suspension or losing his license to teach in a California public school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The disciplinary process typically takes one year, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would take the state licensing board nearly 500 days to decide what to do in Agan’s case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Agan returned to the classroom\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the state considered the matter, Agan applied for a job at a Sacramento middle school about an hour away from Rodriguez High in May 2020. It was a time of heightened teacher shortages, especially in subjects like math, during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan provided stellar letters of recommendation from former teaching colleagues in his application, which school representatives provided to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> in response to a public records request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any school searching Agan’s name on California’s credentialing database would have seen a clean record and valid credentials indicating he was legally fit to teach. That’s because while the state licensing agency knew Agan had been fired for what the district described as sexually harassing students, California law prevented the agency from disclosing information about the case. Nowhere \u003ca href=\"https://educator.ctc.ca.gov/siebel/app/esales/enu?SWECmd=GotoView&SWEView=CTC+Person+Adverse+Action+Public+View+Web&SWERF=1&SWEHo=&SWEBU=1&SWEApplet0=CTC+Public+Person+Detail+Form+Applet+Web&SWERowId0=1-27L-88&SWEApplet1=CTC+Adverse+Action+Applet+Web&SWERowId1=2-499IB5\">in the online public records\u003c/a> did it say that Agan remained under investigation by the agency — let alone any details of his employment record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his application for the middle school job, Agan acknowledged that he had been fired after being “accused of inappropriately touching students on the shoulders during class.” He wrote that he disagreed with the dismissal and explained that he would often place his hands on students’ shoulders while helping them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Math is a difficult subject for many and my actions were meant as a means of encouragement; a way to say, ‘It’s OK that you’re having trouble, keep trying,’” Agan wrote, adding that he recognized his actions “made some students feel uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan started teaching at Ephraim Williams College Prep Middle School that fall. The 175-person school is part of the Fortune network of charter schools. Administrators at Ephraim Williams at the time of Agan’s hiring did not respond to questions about how the school vetted him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082857 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20.jpg\" alt=\"A school building with a sign in front of it that shows a photograph of a student and text that reads, “Enroll Today! 6-8 grades.”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-20-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ephraim Williams College Prep Middle School, a charter school in Sacramento. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Former Fortune human resources consultant Rick Rubino, who helped the middle school recruit, interview and hire candidates at the time Agan was applying, said the school was not aware that Agan’s former employer concluded that he had sexually harassed multiple students. “Do you think any reasonable school district or principal would hire that person?” Rubino said. “No. So clearly, Fortune School did not get that information.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubino said he “would guarantee that somebody at Fortune called the principal at the school where Jason Agan was teaching in Fairfield and got a good report.” He said he does not remember making that call himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The former principal at Rodriguez High did not respond to questions about a reference check. But a Fortune School spokesperson, Tiffany Moffatt, said school officials follow “all state guidelines and regulations and conduct thorough vetting, making decisions based on the information available to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until near the end of Agan’s first school year at Ephraim Williams that the state licensing agency issued its decision regarding his actions at his first school. In May 2021, the state suspended Agan’s license for seven days; two of those days fell on a weekend. The sanction — along with a red flag icon — appeared in the state’s public database of credentialed educators. This would be the only visible clue schools would have of anything amiss in Agan’s work history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corey, the former superintendent of Fairfield-Suisun Unified, told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she was “flabbergasted” that he had only been suspended for seven days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a real mismatch of what happened,” Corey said. “What a disservice it was to those girls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steed, one of Agan’s accusers, said students had done the right thing and shared their concerns about Agan with their school, only for adults at the state level to give him the opportunity to teach elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s even the point of going through this whole process?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A middle school student details unwanted touching\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In September 2021, a month after Fortune students returned to in-person learning, an eighth grader at Agan’s second school complained about his conduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The student told her doctor during a routine physical that Agan had touched her lower back, according to a summary of the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl’s mother told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that she reported the incident to the principal, who connected mother and daughter with Rubino, Fortune’s human resources consultant. The mother told Rubino that Agan was giving her daughter a disproportionate amount of attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl, who is now 17, spoke to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> on the condition that only her middle name, Sherelle, be used because she is a minor. Leslie, the student’s mother, is also being identified by her middle name to protect her daughter’s identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082856 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09.jpg\" alt=\"A 17-year-old girl and a woman stand outside with their backs to the camera. The woman rests her hand on the girl’s back in an embrace.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260318-ProPublica-AnonymousPhotos-09-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sherelle, left, and her mother, Leslie, at their home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In that same meeting, Sherelle told Rubino that Agan removed his hand from her lower back after she asked him to stop, and he returned to the front of the classroom. But he came back moments later and placed his hand on her shoulder, according to a letter of warning Rubino wrote to Agan after interviewing the girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt disrespected. I felt uncomfortable. I felt mad,” Sherelle told the news outlets about the incident. “I felt like even speaking up didn’t matter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his letter, Rubino directed Agan to stop touching students and “dial back” his praise for the girl. Rubino also cautioned that failure to comply could result in further disciplinary action, up to suspension or termination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Agan denied the allegations in a written response to Rubino obtained by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. “I would like to be on record that I dispute it being listed as a ‘fact’ that I touched [the student] on the lower back,” Agan wrote. “I have been extremely diligent in avoiding personal contact with scholars due to my previous experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leslie had texted Rubino expressing concern about how Agan was vetted for the job after she said she saw online posts by students at his former school alleging that he had touched them inappropriately.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Actually, I was the one who investigated the matter in the Fairfield Suisun School District when Mr. Agan was a candidate,” Rubino texted back that same day in messages reviewed by KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. “I also checked social media and Google to see if I could find any information about the incident in Fairfield, but I did not find anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rubino did not answer subsequent questions about the details of his investigation or how much he knew about Agan’s conduct at the teacher’s previous school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the state licensing agency recommends that educators be disciplined, California law allows it to release its findings, which include a summary of the case, to current supervisors and prospective employers who request it within five years. Fortune appears never to have asked for such findings, according to the logs of these requests between 2020 and 2024 provided by the agency to KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>. A Fortune spokesperson did not say why the charter school did not ask for the information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leslie said her daughter’s experience at Ephraim Williams only worsened after she reported Agan. Math has always been Sherelle’s favorite subject. But as the school year went on, her grades in Agan’s class plummeted. She needed help but said Agan ignored her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With just weeks left in the school year, Leslie pulled her daughter out of Ephraim Williams to finish eighth grade at another school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She only learned about Agan’s disciplinary history when KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> contacted her in January. “The whole education system would rather protect him,” Leslie said. “You let him loose on all these kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fitzhugh, spokesperson for the teacher licensing agency, said the commission is “committed to keeping all students and schools safe,” but is bound by the law in how it disciplines teachers. “The Commission stands ready to implement any additional public protections that the Legislature authorizes,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting the following year, in 2022, records show that Fortune offered Agan a role supporting new teachers rather than assigning him his own classroom. Fortune administrators did not respond to questions about why he was offered the position, which he declined because he had received another job offer in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thank you for the last two years,” Agan wrote, resigning from the school. “It has meant more to me than you could ever know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082861\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082861 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02.jpg\" alt=\"A school building with a sign in front of it that reads, “Clifford School”\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260417-ProPublica-CATeacherDiscipline-02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clifford School, a prekindergarten through eighth grade public school in Redwood City, California. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By August 2022, Agan would begin teaching at Clifford School, which serves students in pre-K through eighth grade in Redwood City. He received tenure in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kelly, deputy superintendent at the Redwood City School District, declined to answer questions about Agan’s hiring or say whether the school district was aware he had been accused of misconduct at two previous schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> that the district, when hiring, typically calls candidates’ immediate supervisors and checks the database of licensed educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said school districts rely on decisions by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to “put the best people in the classroom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was pleased to see that the suspension was only seven days,” Kelly said of Agan’s discipline. “I have to trust that when the CTC reinstates the teacher, that the issue has been either resolved, learned from, there’s been consequences in place, which is why they’re employable to the next organization.\u003cem>” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>How we reported this story\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>KQED and\u003cem> ProPublica\u003c/em> obtained detailed teacher disciplinary records from school districts after filing public records requests with the 300 largest districts in California. We asked for records of sexual misconduct complaints from 2019 through 2025, including any reports to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. More than 150 districts provided records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the district determined that an educator had committed misconduct that it characterized as sexual, including sexual harassment by unwanted touching, sending sexual electronic messages and making sexual remarks, we checked the state licensing database to see whether the state had revoked the teacher’s license or imposed other discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Help us report on teacher misconduct in California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you have experience with the state’s opaque teacher disciplinary process, KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em> want to hear from you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can fill out a brief form or contact KQED reporter Holly McDede on Signal at hollymcdede.68 or via email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:hmcdede@kqed.org\">hmcdede@kqed.org\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://airtable.com/app0AkyDo9b8r1mFR/pagLr7CSAR8lvPhQz/form\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cbr>\nShare Your Experience\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>***\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was reported with support from the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Journalism and the Fund for Investigative Journalism, with reporting contributions from Luiz H. Monticelli.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a first-of-its-kind verdict in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>, a jury has convicted two San José parents of murder in the fentanyl overdose death of their 18-month-old daughter, Winter Rayo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Derek Vaughn Rayo and Kelly Gene Richardson were both found guilty of second-degree murder, as well as of multiple child endangerment felonies and enhancements in a San José courtroom Friday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple was the first parents in the county to ever be charged, and now convicted, with murdering their own child with drugs, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rayo and Richardson were charged in connection with the Aug. 12, 2023, death of Winter. Authorities said that the couple waited more than 11 hours before calling 911 to report her death, and that the baby had 25 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple could face up to life sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fentanyl kills,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement Friday evening. “In this case, the powerful opioid was left around this toddler like a loaded gun. The criminal recklessness of these two defendants killed their own child. I thank the jury for giving that child’s tragically short life some meaning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DA’s office also charged Phillip Ortega of Gilroy and Paige Vitale of San José with murder, on allegations they provided Winter’s parents with “a steady supply of opioids” and shared the drugs with them, and that the home where Winter lived was littered with drugs and paraphernalia.[aside postID=news_12080041 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BrookeJenkinsAltmanGetty1.jpg']A judge in 2024 dismissed the murder charge against Vitale, who was ultimately charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor child endangerment, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/09/09/baby-fentanyl-death-judge-upholds-murder-changes-for-two-in-unprecedented-murder-case/\">The Mercury News\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortega’s murder case is still pending, officials said. Ortega is also charged with murder due to his alleged role as a drug dealer in the fentanyl overdose death of another baby, Phoenix Castro, who also died in 2023 in a home with drug-addicted parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s mother later died, and her father, David Anthony Castro, is also charged with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a first-of-its-kind verdict in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>, a jury has convicted two San José parents of murder in the fentanyl overdose death of their 18-month-old daughter, Winter Rayo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Derek Vaughn Rayo and Kelly Gene Richardson were both found guilty of second-degree murder, as well as of multiple child endangerment felonies and enhancements in a San José courtroom Friday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple was the first parents in the county to ever be charged, and now convicted, with murdering their own child with drugs, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rayo and Richardson were charged in connection with the Aug. 12, 2023, death of Winter. Authorities said that the couple waited more than 11 hours before calling 911 to report her death, and that the baby had 25 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple could face up to life sentences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fentanyl kills,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement Friday evening. “In this case, the powerful opioid was left around this toddler like a loaded gun. The criminal recklessness of these two defendants killed their own child. I thank the jury for giving that child’s tragically short life some meaning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DA’s office also charged Phillip Ortega of Gilroy and Paige Vitale of San José with murder, on allegations they provided Winter’s parents with “a steady supply of opioids” and shared the drugs with them, and that the home where Winter lived was littered with drugs and paraphernalia.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A judge in 2024 dismissed the murder charge against Vitale, who was ultimately charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor child endangerment, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/09/09/baby-fentanyl-death-judge-upholds-murder-changes-for-two-in-unprecedented-murder-case/\">The Mercury News\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortega’s murder case is still pending, officials said. Ortega is also charged with murder due to his alleged role as a drug dealer in the fentanyl overdose death of another baby, Phoenix Castro, who also died in 2023 in a home with drug-addicted parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s mother later died, and her father, David Anthony Castro, is also charged with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oakland Police Shoot Driver Who Tried to Flee Stop, Striking Officers, OPD Says",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> shot a driver who tried to flee during a traffic stop early Friday, dragging one officer and pinning another against a parked car, authorities said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both officers and the suspect were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition, according to Oakland Police Department officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 3:15 a.m., the department said, officers conducted a traffic stop on the 1200 block of 9th Avenue, near International Boulevard. According to OPD, a firearm was in plain view in the suspect’s vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the driver tried to flee, injuring the officers, police officials say an officer then shot the suspect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, and OPD said the incident was under both criminal and administrative investigations by the department. The Alameda County district attorney’s office and the Community Police Review Agency are also conducting independent investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shooting is the second by Oakland police this year, following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081584/oakland-police-kill-man-who-was-reportedly-pointing-gun-at-people-in-the-street\">fatal shooting last month.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "An officer opened fire after the fleeing driver dragged one officer and pinned another against a parked car, the Oakland Police Department said. All three were in stable condition.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> shot a driver who tried to flee during a traffic stop early Friday, dragging one officer and pinning another against a parked car, authorities said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both officers and the suspect were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition, according to Oakland Police Department officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 3:15 a.m., the department said, officers conducted a traffic stop on the 1200 block of 9th Avenue, near International Boulevard. According to OPD, a firearm was in plain view in the suspect’s vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the driver tried to flee, injuring the officers, police officials say an officer then shot the suspect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, and OPD said the incident was under both criminal and administrative investigations by the department. The Alameda County district attorney’s office and the Community Police Review Agency are also conducting independent investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shooting is the second by Oakland police this year, following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081584/oakland-police-kill-man-who-was-reportedly-pointing-gun-at-people-in-the-street\">fatal shooting last month.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing",
"title": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070600/former-bay-area-officers-sentenced-in-scheme-to-steal-weed-during-traffic-stops\">federal sentencing\u003c/a> Wednesday of t\u003c/span>wo former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rohnert-park\">Rohnert Park\u003c/a> police officers \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">involved in \u003c/span>a scheme to steal and resell marijuana \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">marked the end of a yearslong legal battle, but it closes only p\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">art of a scandal that exposed broader failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">first reported in 2018\u003c/a> on allegations from drivers who said Rohnert Park officers had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops well outside city limits. In 2020, the city paid out more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11802870/rohnert-park-payouts-set-to-top-1-8-million-over-\">$1.8 million\u003c/a> to settle lawsuits filed by the victims of these officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, a federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">grand jury indicted \u003c/a>the two officers. Tatum pleaded guilty shortly thereafter and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Huffaker fought the charges, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">but was found guilty by a jury last summer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum spent three days on the witness stand describing how he used his role leading the department’s interdiction team to steal hundreds of pounds of cannabis during traffic stops between 2014 and 2018, bringing Huffaker into the scheme in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trial testimony, public records and interviews revealed questions about how supervisors, investigators and outside agencies failed to stop — or fully investigate — officers who allegedly robbed drivers along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11802872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg\" alt=\"Rear-view mirror along Highway 101 near Cloverdale, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum and former officer Joseph Huffaker face sentencing in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of bewilders me why there was only two officers that were prosecuted,” said Texas resident Zeke Flatten, a former undercover officer, private investigator and filmmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten was among the first people to report being robbed by officers, but eight years later, no one has been prosecuted in his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who stole from Zeke Flatten?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 5, 2017, Flatten said he was driving south on Highway 101 in Mendocino County in a rented Kia when he was pulled over by an unmarked SUV. Two white men wearing green tactical pants and black vests marked “police” approached him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immediately, things were not feeling right to me,” said Flatten, who honed his intuition working undercover in the 1990s. He said he began noticing other details: the officers were not wearing badges, name tags or insignia that identified the department they worked for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men asked for his license and the rental agreement, but did not explain why they had stopped him. In interviews with KQED, Flatten said they asked him to get out of the vehicle, patted him down and asked if there were any “money, guns or drugs” in the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten said he told them he had a medical marijuana license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11706933\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11706933 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16, 2018 \u003ccite>(Sukey Lewis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He [the officer] immediately opened the hatchback of the vehicle, went for a box that I had in the back,” Flatten said. The officers found three pounds of marijuana that Flatten said he was taking to Santa Rosa for lab testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men identified themselves as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Flatten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Marijuana is taking over in California, like cigarettes. You may get a letter from Washington,” Flatten recalled one of the officers saying as they handed him back his license and rental agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They kept the cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I knew at that moment that I had been robbed,” Flatten said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten filed complaints with the ATF, the FBI and Mendocino County authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Jeremy Heinrich testified at Huffaker’s trial that he received Flatten’s complaint on Dec. 11, 2017, and contacted local law enforcement agencies in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those calls went nowhere, Heinrich testified, and he closed the case eight days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, the FBI has not identified or arrested the men who stopped Flatten. Flatten said he is certain that Tatum was not involved because both men who stopped him were white and Tatum is Black. Flatten believes Huffaker was involved, though Huffaker has denied it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice declined to answer questions about the case and denied KQED’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the timeline of their investigation, citing privacy exemptions. KQED appealed the denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten’s complaint, however, would become key in exposing the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barron Lutz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About two weeks after Flatten was robbed, Humboldt County resident Barron Lutz was also driving south on Highway 101 when he was pulled over by two officers in an unmarked black SUV who identified themselves as ATF agents. They seized 23 pounds of cannabis from Lutz and refused to provide an inventory receipt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t sure if I was being robbed or I was being arrested,” Lutz said on the stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stop was nearly identical to Flatten’s, with one key difference: California Highway Patrol officers stopped to ask if the officers needed assistance. The CHP’s Scott Baker testified that he recognized Tatum from working with him on a joint narcotics operation in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047329\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-1536x1002.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barron Lutz, a victim, takes the stand during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lutz contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office the next day, asking whether it had a record of the stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said they would get back to me, and nobody ever got back to me,” Lutz testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Tatum’s testimony, a Mendocino County major crimes sergeant called him later that day about a civilian complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He talked to CHP, and CHP remembered seeing Joe and I up there,” Tatum testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rohnert Park is in Sonoma County, about an hour south of where Lutz was pulled over. Tatum told the sergeant the stop was legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Tatum said, he began trying to cover his tracks: obtaining an incident number and booking a cardboard box of loose marijuana buds into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1797px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082507\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1797\" height=\"1383\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg 1797w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-1536x1182.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1797px) 100vw, 1797px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two former Rohnert Park police officers, Joseph Huffaker and Jacy Tatum, are set to be sentenced in federal court after a yearslong legal battle over a scheme to steal and resell marijuana seized during traffic stops along Highway 101. This evidence photo from a court filing shows a cardboard box filled with loose marijuana buds. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 23 pounds of cannabis he and Huffaker took from Lutz, including designer strains such as Agent Orange and Serendipity, had already been handed off to Tatum’s “broker” and friend, Billy Timmins. Tatum said Timmins paid about $27,000 for the stolen marijuana, which the officers split and spent on high-end hunting rifles, scopes and ammunition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 13, 2018, Tatum received a call from Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He called me for a favor,” Tatum testified. “He [Allman] was getting a lot of media press and was pissed off because his department was getting blamed for our traffic stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coverage Allman told Tatum about appeared on the community news site \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/\">\u003cem>Redheaded Blackbelt\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. On Feb. 11, 2018, the site’s owner, Kym Kemp, published \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">articles\u003c/a> detailing Flatten’s \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">allegations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Flatten first called her, she had trouble believing his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, if he hadn’t been someone that knew people I knew, which is the way Southern Humboldt works, I probably would not have taken him seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the deeper she dug into Flatten’s allegations, the more credible his complaints appeared. And the story struck a nerve among residents who had long suspected law enforcement abuses during marijuana prohibition, Kemp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>False reports\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that after receiving that call from the sheriff, he contacted Huffaker, and together, they drafted a \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=b770269f56edcc0b&p=1&docid=fd386e41b0df5f08_b770269f56edcc0b&utm_source=highlight_deep_link&tab=documents&dapvm=1&highlight=bbe0056d3298ee94\">press release\u003c/a> taking responsibility for the stop. The release referenced an unspecified stop “in December,” and included the same case number tied to the marijuana Tatum had booked into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were both scared and thought that we’d got away with this,” Tatum testified. “But here we are, two months later, having to deal with it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047327 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-1536x1066.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon “Jacy” Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received the press release, officials forwarded it to the FBI and Kemp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special Agent Heinrich then asked Tatum for the incident report connected to Flatten’s complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was no report. Tatum testified that he and Huffaker did not know the driver’s name or the exact stop date. Heinrich, however, had shared those details from the complaint he had received: Zeke Flatten on Dec. 5, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just went with that date based upon what the FBI guy — the date that the FBI guy gave us,” Tatum said.[aside postID=news_11673412 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/06/RS31344_IMG_3493-qut-672x372.jpg']But in writing the report, Tatum said he and Huffaker drew on the details they could remember for the illegal stop of Lutz, not realizing they were conflating two different stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving the report, Heinrich took no further action, despite contradictions with Flatten’s complaint. The FBI declined to answer questions about Heinrich’s handling of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp, however, noticed discrepancies in the report after obtaining it through a public records request, including the date, vehicle description, the amount of cannabis seized and the presence of the CHP officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2018, she \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/04/26/rohnert-park-police-officers-being-investigated-following-two-incidents-where-humboldt-county-cannabis-was-seized-under-suspicious-circumstances/\">published another story\u003c/a>, showing that Flatten’s stop and the stop described in the report were different incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Rohnert Park officials had realized they had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were numerous things in the press release that gave me heartburn,” former Police Chief Brian Masterson testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He placed Huffaker and Tatum on administrative leave and hired an outside investigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A pattern emerges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the days after Kemp’s reporting, KQED received a tip from another driver who said they had also been robbed by Tatum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, KQED, in partnership with Kemp and the \u003cem>North Coast Journal,\u003c/em> published a joint \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">investigation\u003c/a> examining allegations from eight drivers and the role asset forfeiture played in funding the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Masterson, former chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, takes the stand as a witness for the prosecution during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, Tatum left the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. The city moved to fire Huffaker, but he fought back, ultimately \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735983/probe-into-rohnert-park-cannabis-and-cash-seizures-will-stay-secret-despite-transparency-law#:~:text=Rohnert%20Park%20struck%20a%20deal%20with%20an,way%20of%20'guaranteeing%20he%20is%20never%20reinstated\">securing a $75,000 payout to resign\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In follow-up stories, KQED uncovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11678122/documentation-missing-for-at-least-800-pounds-of-marijuana-seized-by-rohnert-park-police\">missing destruction orders\u003c/a> for hundreds of pounds of seized cannabis, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11768671/rohnert-park-settles-one-lawsuit-over-illegal-pot-seizures-5-more-plaintiffs-sue\">followed the lawsuits\u003c/a> that began to mount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Tatum testified that officers initially used an official foundry based in San Joaquin to incinerate the excess cannabis. But sometime around 2015, they changed that policy. Instead, they began taking the hundreds of pounds of marijuana to a local farm where they would bury it in the ground.[aside postID=news_12046733 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial6.jpg']“We took pictures of Joe on the backhoe digging the holes for the marijuana,” Tatum said, referring to Huffaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, Tatum testified, he began taking the marijuana home to sell instead of burying it. Investigators never searched the farm, according to testimony from a special agent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more drivers I stopped, or we stopped, the more chances we had to steal marijuana,” he testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he initially sold the weed through his wife’s uncle Joe Porcaro, splitting the proceeds before the two had a falling out. Porcaro strongly denied any involvement, calling Tatum an “unremorseful, pathological liar” in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porcaro said he spoke with the FBI, but was never questioned about Tatum’s allegations. Federal prosecutors declined to answer questions about how they verified Tatum’s testimony or why Porcaro was never pursued as a potential accomplice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Robin Hood’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometime in 2016, Tatum said he began selling marijuana through his childhood friend Billy Timmins, who later testified against Huffaker in exchange for immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timmins said he initially believed Tatum was growing the marijuana himself, but later realized the volume was too large.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew that it wasn’t out of his garage,” Timmins testified. Tatum told him he was “getting it off the highway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tatum said he gave drivers an ultimatum: disclaim ownership of the cannabis or face arrest. If drivers denied ownership, he could classify it as found property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For several years, Tatum testified, the scheme operated without detection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was almost like a Robin Hood story,” Timmins testified. “These guys are scumbags, and I’m going to take their weed and that’s that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, with legalization approaching under Proposition 64, the chief shut down the interdiction team.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Huffaker\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he and Huffaker became close friends. Their wives got along, and they spent time together after work. Tatum said that in late 2017, over drinks, they joked about the potential profits they could make from seizing marijuana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided that we’d tell people we were the ATF,” Tatum testified. “And not draw attention to the DEA or somebody locally they could complain to or that it could get back to.” Tatum did not tell Huffaker that he had already been stealing for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2017, Tatum said the pair carried out several illegal stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Phone records place Tatum and Huffaker in the Hopland area on Dec. 6. Tatum testified they were conducting what he called “illegal interdiction,” stopping drivers and seizing cannabis. He said they met Timmins off Highway 101 near the Commisky exit, where they transferred about eight large trash bags full of marijuana into Timmins’ car so the officers could continue making stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, Tatum told Timmins, his friend of more than three decades, that he planned to implicate him with the FBI. Timmins said he was furious that Tatum had dragged him into his “mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both men said that was the last time they spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before trial, Timmins agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least six of the peace officers who either worked alongside Tatum and Huffaker or supervised interdiction operations remain in law enforcement, including five with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety and one with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, incident reports and court filings show that when Tatum broke departmental policies in front of them — giving drivers ultimatums, refusing to give property receipts and issuing citations for felonies — they did not stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Huffaker’s attorney asked Tatum whether supervisors ever reviewed body camera footage that captured seizures of large amounts of marijuana and cash. Tatum said they did not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tim Mattos, who became chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety after the scandal, said in a recent interview that the officers were cleared by internal investigations and the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has since expanded oversight, implemented a new evidence auditing system, added GPS tracking to vehicles and changed procedures for destroying contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s not even let this creep into people’s mind because they’re just not gonna be able to do it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has spent years “living under this cloud” and hopes the sentencing will allow the city to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp said the case carried significance for cannabis growers who long feared driving their harvest through “the gauntlet” along Highway 101. But there still has not been a full reckoning with police abuses during prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t just those two officers,” Kemp said. “And it wasn’t just Rohnert Park. It was spread throughout the Emerald Triangle. And how bad was it? We may never know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten is still waiting for justice. He believes that at least one of the men who robbed him remains in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Former Rohnert Park police officers Brendon Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker were sentenced to prison in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California.",
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"title": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070600/former-bay-area-officers-sentenced-in-scheme-to-steal-weed-during-traffic-stops\">federal sentencing\u003c/a> Wednesday of t\u003c/span>wo former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rohnert-park\">Rohnert Park\u003c/a> police officers \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">involved in \u003c/span>a scheme to steal and resell marijuana \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">marked the end of a yearslong legal battle, but it closes only p\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">art of a scandal that exposed broader failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">first reported in 2018\u003c/a> on allegations from drivers who said Rohnert Park officers had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops well outside city limits. In 2020, the city paid out more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11802870/rohnert-park-payouts-set-to-top-1-8-million-over-\">$1.8 million\u003c/a> to settle lawsuits filed by the victims of these officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, a federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">grand jury indicted \u003c/a>the two officers. Tatum pleaded guilty shortly thereafter and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Huffaker fought the charges, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">but was found guilty by a jury last summer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum spent three days on the witness stand describing how he used his role leading the department’s interdiction team to steal hundreds of pounds of cannabis during traffic stops between 2014 and 2018, bringing Huffaker into the scheme in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trial testimony, public records and interviews revealed questions about how supervisors, investigators and outside agencies failed to stop — or fully investigate — officers who allegedly robbed drivers along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11802872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg\" alt=\"Rear-view mirror along Highway 101 near Cloverdale, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum and former officer Joseph Huffaker face sentencing in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of bewilders me why there was only two officers that were prosecuted,” said Texas resident Zeke Flatten, a former undercover officer, private investigator and filmmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten was among the first people to report being robbed by officers, but eight years later, no one has been prosecuted in his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who stole from Zeke Flatten?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 5, 2017, Flatten said he was driving south on Highway 101 in Mendocino County in a rented Kia when he was pulled over by an unmarked SUV. Two white men wearing green tactical pants and black vests marked “police” approached him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immediately, things were not feeling right to me,” said Flatten, who honed his intuition working undercover in the 1990s. He said he began noticing other details: the officers were not wearing badges, name tags or insignia that identified the department they worked for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men asked for his license and the rental agreement, but did not explain why they had stopped him. In interviews with KQED, Flatten said they asked him to get out of the vehicle, patted him down and asked if there were any “money, guns or drugs” in the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten said he told them he had a medical marijuana license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11706933\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11706933 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16, 2018 \u003ccite>(Sukey Lewis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He [the officer] immediately opened the hatchback of the vehicle, went for a box that I had in the back,” Flatten said. The officers found three pounds of marijuana that Flatten said he was taking to Santa Rosa for lab testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men identified themselves as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Flatten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Marijuana is taking over in California, like cigarettes. You may get a letter from Washington,” Flatten recalled one of the officers saying as they handed him back his license and rental agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They kept the cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I knew at that moment that I had been robbed,” Flatten said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten filed complaints with the ATF, the FBI and Mendocino County authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Jeremy Heinrich testified at Huffaker’s trial that he received Flatten’s complaint on Dec. 11, 2017, and contacted local law enforcement agencies in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those calls went nowhere, Heinrich testified, and he closed the case eight days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, the FBI has not identified or arrested the men who stopped Flatten. Flatten said he is certain that Tatum was not involved because both men who stopped him were white and Tatum is Black. Flatten believes Huffaker was involved, though Huffaker has denied it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice declined to answer questions about the case and denied KQED’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the timeline of their investigation, citing privacy exemptions. KQED appealed the denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten’s complaint, however, would become key in exposing the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barron Lutz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About two weeks after Flatten was robbed, Humboldt County resident Barron Lutz was also driving south on Highway 101 when he was pulled over by two officers in an unmarked black SUV who identified themselves as ATF agents. They seized 23 pounds of cannabis from Lutz and refused to provide an inventory receipt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t sure if I was being robbed or I was being arrested,” Lutz said on the stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stop was nearly identical to Flatten’s, with one key difference: California Highway Patrol officers stopped to ask if the officers needed assistance. The CHP’s Scott Baker testified that he recognized Tatum from working with him on a joint narcotics operation in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047329\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-1536x1002.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barron Lutz, a victim, takes the stand during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lutz contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office the next day, asking whether it had a record of the stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said they would get back to me, and nobody ever got back to me,” Lutz testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Tatum’s testimony, a Mendocino County major crimes sergeant called him later that day about a civilian complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He talked to CHP, and CHP remembered seeing Joe and I up there,” Tatum testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rohnert Park is in Sonoma County, about an hour south of where Lutz was pulled over. Tatum told the sergeant the stop was legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Tatum said, he began trying to cover his tracks: obtaining an incident number and booking a cardboard box of loose marijuana buds into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1797px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082507\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1797\" height=\"1383\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg 1797w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-1536x1182.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1797px) 100vw, 1797px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two former Rohnert Park police officers, Joseph Huffaker and Jacy Tatum, are set to be sentenced in federal court after a yearslong legal battle over a scheme to steal and resell marijuana seized during traffic stops along Highway 101. This evidence photo from a court filing shows a cardboard box filled with loose marijuana buds. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 23 pounds of cannabis he and Huffaker took from Lutz, including designer strains such as Agent Orange and Serendipity, had already been handed off to Tatum’s “broker” and friend, Billy Timmins. Tatum said Timmins paid about $27,000 for the stolen marijuana, which the officers split and spent on high-end hunting rifles, scopes and ammunition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 13, 2018, Tatum received a call from Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He called me for a favor,” Tatum testified. “He [Allman] was getting a lot of media press and was pissed off because his department was getting blamed for our traffic stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coverage Allman told Tatum about appeared on the community news site \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/\">\u003cem>Redheaded Blackbelt\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. On Feb. 11, 2018, the site’s owner, Kym Kemp, published \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">articles\u003c/a> detailing Flatten’s \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">allegations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Flatten first called her, she had trouble believing his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, if he hadn’t been someone that knew people I knew, which is the way Southern Humboldt works, I probably would not have taken him seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the deeper she dug into Flatten’s allegations, the more credible his complaints appeared. And the story struck a nerve among residents who had long suspected law enforcement abuses during marijuana prohibition, Kemp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>False reports\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that after receiving that call from the sheriff, he contacted Huffaker, and together, they drafted a \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=b770269f56edcc0b&p=1&docid=fd386e41b0df5f08_b770269f56edcc0b&utm_source=highlight_deep_link&tab=documents&dapvm=1&highlight=bbe0056d3298ee94\">press release\u003c/a> taking responsibility for the stop. The release referenced an unspecified stop “in December,” and included the same case number tied to the marijuana Tatum had booked into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were both scared and thought that we’d got away with this,” Tatum testified. “But here we are, two months later, having to deal with it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047327 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-1536x1066.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon “Jacy” Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received the press release, officials forwarded it to the FBI and Kemp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special Agent Heinrich then asked Tatum for the incident report connected to Flatten’s complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was no report. Tatum testified that he and Huffaker did not know the driver’s name or the exact stop date. Heinrich, however, had shared those details from the complaint he had received: Zeke Flatten on Dec. 5, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just went with that date based upon what the FBI guy — the date that the FBI guy gave us,” Tatum said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But in writing the report, Tatum said he and Huffaker drew on the details they could remember for the illegal stop of Lutz, not realizing they were conflating two different stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving the report, Heinrich took no further action, despite contradictions with Flatten’s complaint. The FBI declined to answer questions about Heinrich’s handling of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp, however, noticed discrepancies in the report after obtaining it through a public records request, including the date, vehicle description, the amount of cannabis seized and the presence of the CHP officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2018, she \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/04/26/rohnert-park-police-officers-being-investigated-following-two-incidents-where-humboldt-county-cannabis-was-seized-under-suspicious-circumstances/\">published another story\u003c/a>, showing that Flatten’s stop and the stop described in the report were different incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Rohnert Park officials had realized they had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were numerous things in the press release that gave me heartburn,” former Police Chief Brian Masterson testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He placed Huffaker and Tatum on administrative leave and hired an outside investigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A pattern emerges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the days after Kemp’s reporting, KQED received a tip from another driver who said they had also been robbed by Tatum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, KQED, in partnership with Kemp and the \u003cem>North Coast Journal,\u003c/em> published a joint \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">investigation\u003c/a> examining allegations from eight drivers and the role asset forfeiture played in funding the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Masterson, former chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, takes the stand as a witness for the prosecution during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, Tatum left the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. The city moved to fire Huffaker, but he fought back, ultimately \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735983/probe-into-rohnert-park-cannabis-and-cash-seizures-will-stay-secret-despite-transparency-law#:~:text=Rohnert%20Park%20struck%20a%20deal%20with%20an,way%20of%20'guaranteeing%20he%20is%20never%20reinstated\">securing a $75,000 payout to resign\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In follow-up stories, KQED uncovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11678122/documentation-missing-for-at-least-800-pounds-of-marijuana-seized-by-rohnert-park-police\">missing destruction orders\u003c/a> for hundreds of pounds of seized cannabis, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11768671/rohnert-park-settles-one-lawsuit-over-illegal-pot-seizures-5-more-plaintiffs-sue\">followed the lawsuits\u003c/a> that began to mount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Tatum testified that officers initially used an official foundry based in San Joaquin to incinerate the excess cannabis. But sometime around 2015, they changed that policy. Instead, they began taking the hundreds of pounds of marijuana to a local farm where they would bury it in the ground.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We took pictures of Joe on the backhoe digging the holes for the marijuana,” Tatum said, referring to Huffaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, Tatum testified, he began taking the marijuana home to sell instead of burying it. Investigators never searched the farm, according to testimony from a special agent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more drivers I stopped, or we stopped, the more chances we had to steal marijuana,” he testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he initially sold the weed through his wife’s uncle Joe Porcaro, splitting the proceeds before the two had a falling out. Porcaro strongly denied any involvement, calling Tatum an “unremorseful, pathological liar” in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porcaro said he spoke with the FBI, but was never questioned about Tatum’s allegations. Federal prosecutors declined to answer questions about how they verified Tatum’s testimony or why Porcaro was never pursued as a potential accomplice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Robin Hood’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometime in 2016, Tatum said he began selling marijuana through his childhood friend Billy Timmins, who later testified against Huffaker in exchange for immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timmins said he initially believed Tatum was growing the marijuana himself, but later realized the volume was too large.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew that it wasn’t out of his garage,” Timmins testified. Tatum told him he was “getting it off the highway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tatum said he gave drivers an ultimatum: disclaim ownership of the cannabis or face arrest. If drivers denied ownership, he could classify it as found property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For several years, Tatum testified, the scheme operated without detection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was almost like a Robin Hood story,” Timmins testified. “These guys are scumbags, and I’m going to take their weed and that’s that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, with legalization approaching under Proposition 64, the chief shut down the interdiction team.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Huffaker\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he and Huffaker became close friends. Their wives got along, and they spent time together after work. Tatum said that in late 2017, over drinks, they joked about the potential profits they could make from seizing marijuana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided that we’d tell people we were the ATF,” Tatum testified. “And not draw attention to the DEA or somebody locally they could complain to or that it could get back to.” Tatum did not tell Huffaker that he had already been stealing for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2017, Tatum said the pair carried out several illegal stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Phone records place Tatum and Huffaker in the Hopland area on Dec. 6. Tatum testified they were conducting what he called “illegal interdiction,” stopping drivers and seizing cannabis. He said they met Timmins off Highway 101 near the Commisky exit, where they transferred about eight large trash bags full of marijuana into Timmins’ car so the officers could continue making stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, Tatum told Timmins, his friend of more than three decades, that he planned to implicate him with the FBI. Timmins said he was furious that Tatum had dragged him into his “mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both men said that was the last time they spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before trial, Timmins agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least six of the peace officers who either worked alongside Tatum and Huffaker or supervised interdiction operations remain in law enforcement, including five with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety and one with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, incident reports and court filings show that when Tatum broke departmental policies in front of them — giving drivers ultimatums, refusing to give property receipts and issuing citations for felonies — they did not stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Huffaker’s attorney asked Tatum whether supervisors ever reviewed body camera footage that captured seizures of large amounts of marijuana and cash. Tatum said they did not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tim Mattos, who became chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety after the scandal, said in a recent interview that the officers were cleared by internal investigations and the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has since expanded oversight, implemented a new evidence auditing system, added GPS tracking to vehicles and changed procedures for destroying contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s not even let this creep into people’s mind because they’re just not gonna be able to do it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has spent years “living under this cloud” and hopes the sentencing will allow the city to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp said the case carried significance for cannabis growers who long feared driving their harvest through “the gauntlet” along Highway 101. But there still has not been a full reckoning with police abuses during prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t just those two officers,” Kemp said. “And it wasn’t just Rohnert Park. It was spread throughout the Emerald Triangle. And how bad was it? We may never know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten is still waiting for justice. He believes that at least one of the men who robbed him remains in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Two former Rohnert Park police officers were sentenced Wednesday to federal prison for their involvement in a scheme to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082387/former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing\">steal and resell marijuana\u003c/a> from people they pulled over along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Officer Joseph Huffaker was sentenced to 20 months in federal custody. His partner and former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum was sentenced to 30 months. Both sentences are to be followed by three years of supervised release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED first reported eight years ago on allegations from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">drivers who came forward\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to say that officers from Rohnert Park had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops along Highway 101. Even after Wednesday’s sentencing, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082387/former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">broader questions remain\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the scandal that exposed failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These guys committed a lot of crimes,” said Huedell Freeman, one of Tatum’s victims. “They’re only being taken to account on a few of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">federal grand jury indicted\u003c/a> the two officers in 2021, Tatum pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Huffaker fought the charges but was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">convicted by a federal jury\u003c/a> last summer of six counts, including conspiracy, extortion, falsifying records and impersonating a federal officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huffaker’s attorney declined to comment on whether he will appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was initially set for sentencing in April, but in an unusual move, Judge Maxine M. Chesney delayed it to coincide with Tatum’s sentencing. Chesney wanted to consider the penalties for the two codefendants in tandem to account for their relative culpability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was to Huffaker’s benefit. Prosecutors had sought 62 months in prison for Huffaker initially, but last week downgraded that ask to 40 months in recognition of Tatum’s larger role in the scheme. The government asked the judge to sentence Tatum to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Attorneys for both men asked for home confinement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum’s role as “the heavy in this case” is undisputed, the judge said at last month’s hearing. Tatum testified at trial that he stole hundreds of pounds of cannabis over dozens of traffic stops between 2014 and 2016, raking in about $500,000. It was only in late 2017 — on the eve of recreational marijuana legalization — that Tatum said he cut Huffaker in on the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does happen that you cooperate down,” said Tom Rybarczyk, a former federal prosecutor who is now with Kelley Drye & Warren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said she does not think it is a “good idea” for the government to make these kinds of deals. But she said that was not Tatum’s fault, and he deserved consideration for cooperating.\u003cbr>\nShe also said that Huffaker should not be penalized for exercising his right to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least there’s some accountability,” said Zeke Flatten, another victim of the scheme.[aside postID=news_12082387 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial6.jpg']Huffaker and Tatum both addressed the judge directly and apologized to the victims for their involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sincerely regret the decisions and actions I have made that brought me here today,” Huffaker wrote in a letter to the judge. “8 [sic] years ago, I should have made a different choice, but I didn’t, and I am owning up to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a police officer for 14 years, I took an oath to protect and serve, but I broke that oath,” Tatum wrote. “I made the selfish and criminal decision to steal marijuana from people I arrested and profit from it. I did it because I was being greedy, living beyond my means, and trying to build a life that looked better than the one I came from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freeman said the remorse Tatum expressed felt genuine, but he added that Huffaker has never acknowledged his role in things or taken accountability for his actions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum will have to pay $20,000 in restitution to Barron Lutz, $278,145.70 in restitution to the IRS, and forfeit $198,854.30 to the government. Huffaker \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will have to pay \u003c/span>$20,000 in restitution to Lutz and a $600 special assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman said the remorse Tatum expressed felt genuine, but that Huffaker has never acknowledged his role in things or taken accountability for his actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum’s defense attorney, Stuart Hanlon, asked the judge to take into account the difficulties that his client experienced early on. Tatum was raised by a single mother and never acknowledged by his biological father, a football player for the Oakland Raiders, according to court filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could sound like you’re being tear-jerky, but I think it had a huge effect on him,” Hanlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, when he was 22 years old, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ROHNERT-PARK-Police-shoot-kill-Santa-Rosa-man-2702266.php\">Tatum shot and killed a person\u003c/a> in the line of duty. It was found to be self-defense, but Hanlon said it affected the young officer who was just eight months out of the police academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said this behavior by Tatum was not an isolated incident of someone acting out, but a “calculated decision to make money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047328\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047328 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1847\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8-160x148.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8-1536x1418.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thanks to the yearslong delays in this case, Tatum has also had an unusual opportunity to prove his rehabilitation, Hanlon said. His probation officer recommended that Tatum receive just 24 months in prison in light of these mitigating factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am proud that Mr. Tatum is my last client,” Hanlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanlon, who is retiring after the case, said Tatum has been rehabilitated and asked what it would serve to send him to prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tatum’s record as an officer is not unblemished. While serving as an officer in 2014, Tatum was found to have violated a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11702984/federal-jury-rohnert-park-police-violated-couples-constitutional-rights\">couple’s Fourth Amendment rights\u003c/a> when he entered the back door of their home without a warrant and with his gun drawn. He was also placed on the Sonoma County district attorney’s so-called Brady list of officers with credibility issues due to shifting testimony \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701249/ex-cops-credibility-is-key-question-in-federal-suit-against-rohnert-park\">dating back to 2015\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, while awaiting sentencing, Tatum was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022803/exclusive-ex-rohnert-park-cop-faces-few-consequences-illegal-cannabis-grow\">busted by Sonoma County Code Enforcement\u003c/a> for renting out his barn for a large black market marijuana grow in a clear violation of the terms of his pretrial release. Prosecutors did not mention this violation in their sentencing memorandum, and the judge did not address it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge said likely no one would be happy with her decisions, but “I did not come to any of these decisions lightly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time for a police officer in custody is actually a significant amount of time,” Rybarczyk said. “ People in custody do not like police officers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said she was sensitive to the safety concerns for the former officers and recommended that the Bureau of Prisons place Tatum and Huffaker in minimum security prison camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney granted Hanlon’s request to let Tatum remain out of custody until Jan. 11, 2027, after this year’s fire season, in light of his job with Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service. Huffaker is set to surrender on Sep. 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Two former Rohnert Park police officers, Joseph Huffaker and Brendon Jacy Tatum, were sentenced to federal prison for stealing and reselling marijuana during Highway 101 traffic stops in a Northern California corruption case.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Two former Rohnert Park police officers were sentenced Wednesday to federal prison for their involvement in a scheme to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082387/former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing\">steal and resell marijuana\u003c/a> from people they pulled over along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Officer Joseph Huffaker was sentenced to 20 months in federal custody. His partner and former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum was sentenced to 30 months. Both sentences are to be followed by three years of supervised release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED first reported eight years ago on allegations from \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">drivers who came forward\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to say that officers from Rohnert Park had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops along Highway 101. Even after Wednesday’s sentencing, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082387/former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">broader questions remain\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the scandal that exposed failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These guys committed a lot of crimes,” said Huedell Freeman, one of Tatum’s victims. “They’re only being taken to account on a few of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">federal grand jury indicted\u003c/a> the two officers in 2021, Tatum pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Huffaker fought the charges but was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">convicted by a federal jury\u003c/a> last summer of six counts, including conspiracy, extortion, falsifying records and impersonating a federal officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huffaker’s attorney declined to comment on whether he will appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was initially set for sentencing in April, but in an unusual move, Judge Maxine M. Chesney delayed it to coincide with Tatum’s sentencing. Chesney wanted to consider the penalties for the two codefendants in tandem to account for their relative culpability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This was to Huffaker’s benefit. Prosecutors had sought 62 months in prison for Huffaker initially, but last week downgraded that ask to 40 months in recognition of Tatum’s larger role in the scheme. The government asked the judge to sentence Tatum to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Attorneys for both men asked for home confinement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum’s role as “the heavy in this case” is undisputed, the judge said at last month’s hearing. Tatum testified at trial that he stole hundreds of pounds of cannabis over dozens of traffic stops between 2014 and 2016, raking in about $500,000. It was only in late 2017 — on the eve of recreational marijuana legalization — that Tatum said he cut Huffaker in on the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does happen that you cooperate down,” said Tom Rybarczyk, a former federal prosecutor who is now with Kelley Drye & Warren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said she does not think it is a “good idea” for the government to make these kinds of deals. But she said that was not Tatum’s fault, and he deserved consideration for cooperating.\u003cbr>\nShe also said that Huffaker should not be penalized for exercising his right to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At least there’s some accountability,” said Zeke Flatten, another victim of the scheme.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Huffaker and Tatum both addressed the judge directly and apologized to the victims for their involvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sincerely regret the decisions and actions I have made that brought me here today,” Huffaker wrote in a letter to the judge. “8 [sic] years ago, I should have made a different choice, but I didn’t, and I am owning up to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a police officer for 14 years, I took an oath to protect and serve, but I broke that oath,” Tatum wrote. “I made the selfish and criminal decision to steal marijuana from people I arrested and profit from it. I did it because I was being greedy, living beyond my means, and trying to build a life that looked better than the one I came from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freeman said the remorse Tatum expressed felt genuine, but he added that Huffaker has never acknowledged his role in things or taken accountability for his actions. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum will have to pay $20,000 in restitution to Barron Lutz, $278,145.70 in restitution to the IRS, and forfeit $198,854.30 to the government. Huffaker \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will have to pay \u003c/span>$20,000 in restitution to Lutz and a $600 special assessment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman said the remorse Tatum expressed felt genuine, but that Huffaker has never acknowledged his role in things or taken accountability for his actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum’s defense attorney, Stuart Hanlon, asked the judge to take into account the difficulties that his client experienced early on. Tatum was raised by a single mother and never acknowledged by his biological father, a football player for the Oakland Raiders, according to court filings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It could sound like you’re being tear-jerky, but I think it had a huge effect on him,” Hanlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, when he was 22 years old, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ROHNERT-PARK-Police-shoot-kill-Santa-Rosa-man-2702266.php\">Tatum shot and killed a person\u003c/a> in the line of duty. It was found to be self-defense, but Hanlon said it affected the young officer who was just eight months out of the police academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said this behavior by Tatum was not an isolated incident of someone acting out, but a “calculated decision to make money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047328\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047328 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1847\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8-160x148.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial8-1536x1418.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thanks to the yearslong delays in this case, Tatum has also had an unusual opportunity to prove his rehabilitation, Hanlon said. His probation officer recommended that Tatum receive just 24 months in prison in light of these mitigating factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am proud that Mr. Tatum is my last client,” Hanlon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanlon, who is retiring after the case, said Tatum has been rehabilitated and asked what it would serve to send him to prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tatum’s record as an officer is not unblemished. While serving as an officer in 2014, Tatum was found to have violated a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11702984/federal-jury-rohnert-park-police-violated-couples-constitutional-rights\">couple’s Fourth Amendment rights\u003c/a> when he entered the back door of their home without a warrant and with his gun drawn. He was also placed on the Sonoma County district attorney’s so-called Brady list of officers with credibility issues due to shifting testimony \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701249/ex-cops-credibility-is-key-question-in-federal-suit-against-rohnert-park\">dating back to 2015\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, while awaiting sentencing, Tatum was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022803/exclusive-ex-rohnert-park-cop-faces-few-consequences-illegal-cannabis-grow\">busted by Sonoma County Code Enforcement\u003c/a> for renting out his barn for a large black market marijuana grow in a clear violation of the terms of his pretrial release. Prosecutors did not mention this violation in their sentencing memorandum, and the judge did not address it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The judge said likely no one would be happy with her decisions, but “I did not come to any of these decisions lightly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any time for a police officer in custody is actually a significant amount of time,” Rybarczyk said. “ People in custody do not like police officers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney said she was sensitive to the safety concerns for the former officers and recommended that the Bureau of Prisons place Tatum and Huffaker in minimum security prison camps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chesney granted Hanlon’s request to let Tatum remain out of custody until Jan. 11, 2027, after this year’s fire season, in light of his job with Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service. Huffaker is set to surrender on Sep. 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The families of victims of a school shooting in a British Columbia town sued artificial intelligence company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI \u003c/a>in a San Francisco court this week, alleging that the company behind \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a> failed to alert police of the shooter’s alarming interactions with the chatbot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the lawsuits was filed on behalf of Shannda Aviugana-Durand, an education assistant who was shot and killed in a library at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-tumbler-ridge-26d632a065e8420a263655c8ee29f961\">Tumbler Ridge Secondary School\u003c/a>. The suit alleges negligence, aiding and abetting a mass shooting, wrongful death and liability, among other claims. According to the lawsuit, Aviugana-Durand’s daughter was present at the time of the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The educational assistant was one of six people who were killed by an 18-year-old in February. The teen — who later shot herself — also killed her mother and her 11-year-old half-brother at home beforehand. Twenty-five people were also injured in the attack, Canada’s deadliest mass shooting in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was critically injured in the February shooting. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Jay Edelson, said in an interview with the \u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em> that decisions made by OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman “have destroyed the town. The people are really resilient, but what happened is unimaginable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Altman sent a letter last week \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/openai-altman-tumbler-ridge-killings-apology-dec2adaad3946583519370eede6a99e2\">formally apologizing\u003c/a> to the community that his company did not notify law enforcement about the shooter’s online behavior in the weeks leading up to the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case highlights concerns about the harms posed by \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-sycophancy-chatbots-science-study-8dc61e69278b661cab1e53d38b4173b6\">overly agreeable AI chatbots\u003c/a> and what obligations the tech industry has to control them or notify authorities about planned violence by chatbot users. This month, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/missing-grad-students-florida-6279adeef3d0540865de39ab3d6f8093\">prosecutors investigating the deaths\u003c/a> of two University of South Florida doctoral students said that the suspect asked ChatGPT about body disposal in the lead-up to the students’ disappearance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the first lawsuit of its kind,” said Robin Feldman, law professor at UC Law San Francisco and director of its AI Law and Innovation Institute. “This is part of an early wave of lawsuits in which citizens are asking to hold LLMs responsible for harms that happen down the line, whether they are crimes, mental health problems, suicide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ChatGPT was first on the scene. And it is the most widely known of the LLMs,” Feldman said. “That puts it in the hot seat as the law tries to understand how to wrangle this unusual beast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI said in a written statement that the “events in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy. We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence.”[aside postID=news_12081916 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26118555622828-2000x1333.jpg']“As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators,” the company said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edelson, a Chicago-based lawyer known for taking on the tech industry, is already juggling a number of high-profile cases against OpenAI, including from the family of a California teenager who killed himself after \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbot-teens-congress-chatgpt-character-ce3959b6a3ea1a4997bf1ccabb4f0de2\">conversations with ChatGPT\u003c/a> and another from the heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatgpt-wrongful-death-lawsuit-greenwich-97fd7da31c0fa08f3d3ea9efd6713151\">killed by her son\u003c/a> after ChatGPT allegedly amplified the man’s “paranoid delusions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a passive technology,” Edelson said, comparing the chatbot interactions with a more conventional online search for information. “What we’ve seen in the past is that (for) people who are mentally ill, the chatbot will validate what they’re saying and then amplify what they’re saying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Edelson visited the small town of Tumbler Ridge and met with dozens of people in the basement of a visitor center. He also visited Gebala at a children’s hospital in Vancouver, where she remains hospitalized and seemed alert but unable to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so heartbreaking,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082198\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082198 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candles, flowers, photographs, plush toys and other items at a makeshift memorial for the victims four days after a deadly mass shooting took place at a school, in the town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Paige Taylor White/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits filed Wednesday also represent the families of the five slain children targeted in the school shooting: Zoey Benoit, Abel Mwansa Jr., Ticaria “Tiki” Lampert and Kylie Smith, all 12, and Ezekiel Schofield, 13.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the shootings, OpenAI came forward to say that last June, the company flagged the shooter’s account as having been used to discuss violence against other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it considered whether to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but determined at the time that the account activity didn’t meet a threshold for referral to law enforcement. OpenAI banned the account in June for violating its usage policy.[aside postID=news_12080610 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-1020x680.jpg']The lawsuits filed Wednesday allege “the victims didn’t learn this because OpenAI was forthcoming, but because \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62\">its own employees leaked it to \u003cem>The Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>\u003c/a> after they could no longer stomach the company’s silence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://tumblerridgelines.com/2026/04/24/openai-apologizes-to-tumbler-ridge/\">his letter\u003c/a>, Altman said he was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” Altman wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>British Columbia Premier David Eby, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dave_eby/status/2047751590803886291?s=46&t=7BBzFwo6eYLzJIVfAlumEQ\">in a social media post\u003c/a>, called the apology “necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Gebala lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligence involving a failure to warn law enforcement and “aiding and abetting a mass shooting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with damages, the Gebala lawsuit seeks a court order that would require OpenAI to ban users from ChatGPT if their accounts were deactivated for violent misuse, and to require the company to alert law enforcement when its systems identify someone who poses a “real-world risk of violence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier case was filed in a court in British Columbia, but a team of lawyers in both countries is seeking to bring the affiliated cases to San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Untried territory’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Feldman called reports that the company flagged the risk but failed to act effectively “deeply troubling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As with so much about AI, the lawsuit will take us into untried territory,” she said. “The old doctrines are being applied to new circumstances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said if the families were to win, the company would have to pay damages and assume responsibility for altering its platform to identify and respond to risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major issues that the lawsuit will tackle are whether OpenAI and ChatGPT are protected by the First Amendment and whether or not OpenAI had “a duty to act,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082201 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members attend a vigil to honor the victims of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Paige Taylor White/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said that there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46751\">parts\u003c/a> of U.S. law that shield tech companies from liability for content that their users host. Essentially, this means platforms are more like “bulletin boards” and “are not responsible for the content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this case would raise the question, she said, “Are LLMs like a bulletin board or publisher? Or they like a facilitator who helped with the crime?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some companies struggle with the burden of responsibility when reviewing potential threats to public safety, Feldman said, “If they try to help out, they can be viewed as accepting the mantle of responsibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Feldman, families are also likely to argue that the LLM “is a defective product without appropriate safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In that case, the question is the following: ‘Is the LLM a defective product, or merely a product that was used improperly? And is it analogous to a product at all?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these are tough questions as we enter the age of AI, and the courts are just beginning to explore them,” Feldman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Associated Press’ Jim Morris contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The families of victims of a school shooting in a British Columbia town sued artificial intelligence company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI \u003c/a>in a San Francisco court this week, alleging that the company behind \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chatgpt\">ChatGPT\u003c/a> failed to alert police of the shooter’s alarming interactions with the chatbot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the lawsuits was filed on behalf of Shannda Aviugana-Durand, an education assistant who was shot and killed in a library at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-tumbler-ridge-26d632a065e8420a263655c8ee29f961\">Tumbler Ridge Secondary School\u003c/a>. The suit alleges negligence, aiding and abetting a mass shooting, wrongful death and liability, among other claims. According to the lawsuit, Aviugana-Durand’s daughter was present at the time of the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The educational assistant was one of six people who were killed by an 18-year-old in February. The teen — who later shot herself — also killed her mother and her 11-year-old half-brother at home beforehand. Twenty-five people were also injured in the attack, Canada’s deadliest mass shooting in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of 12-year-old Maya Gebala, who was critically injured in the February shooting. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Jay Edelson, said in an interview with the \u003cem>Associated Press\u003c/em> that decisions made by OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman “have destroyed the town. The people are really resilient, but what happened is unimaginable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Altman sent a letter last week \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/openai-altman-tumbler-ridge-killings-apology-dec2adaad3946583519370eede6a99e2\">formally apologizing\u003c/a> to the community that his company did not notify law enforcement about the shooter’s online behavior in the weeks leading up to the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case highlights concerns about the harms posed by \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-sycophancy-chatbots-science-study-8dc61e69278b661cab1e53d38b4173b6\">overly agreeable AI chatbots\u003c/a> and what obligations the tech industry has to control them or notify authorities about planned violence by chatbot users. This month, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/missing-grad-students-florida-6279adeef3d0540865de39ab3d6f8093\">prosecutors investigating the deaths\u003c/a> of two University of South Florida doctoral students said that the suspect asked ChatGPT about body disposal in the lead-up to the students’ disappearance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SamAltmanGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the first lawsuit of its kind,” said Robin Feldman, law professor at UC Law San Francisco and director of its AI Law and Innovation Institute. “This is part of an early wave of lawsuits in which citizens are asking to hold LLMs responsible for harms that happen down the line, whether they are crimes, mental health problems, suicide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ChatGPT was first on the scene. And it is the most widely known of the LLMs,” Feldman said. “That puts it in the hot seat as the law tries to understand how to wrangle this unusual beast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI said in a written statement that the “events in Tumbler Ridge are a tragedy. We have a zero-tolerance policy for using our tools to assist in committing violence.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“As we shared with Canadian officials, we have already strengthened our safeguards, including improving how ChatGPT responds to signs of distress, connecting people with local support and mental health resources, strengthening how we assess and escalate potential threats of violence, and improving detection of repeat policy violators,” the company said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edelson, a Chicago-based lawyer known for taking on the tech industry, is already juggling a number of high-profile cases against OpenAI, including from the family of a California teenager who killed himself after \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbot-teens-congress-chatgpt-character-ce3959b6a3ea1a4997bf1ccabb4f0de2\">conversations with ChatGPT\u003c/a> and another from the heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatgpt-wrongful-death-lawsuit-greenwich-97fd7da31c0fa08f3d3ea9efd6713151\">killed by her son\u003c/a> after ChatGPT allegedly amplified the man’s “paranoid delusions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not a passive technology,” Edelson said, comparing the chatbot interactions with a more conventional online search for information. “What we’ve seen in the past is that (for) people who are mentally ill, the chatbot will validate what they’re saying and then amplify what they’re saying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Edelson visited the small town of Tumbler Ridge and met with dozens of people in the basement of a visitor center. He also visited Gebala at a children’s hospital in Vancouver, where she remains hospitalized and seemed alert but unable to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so heartbreaking,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082198\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082198 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candles, flowers, photographs, plush toys and other items at a makeshift memorial for the victims four days after a deadly mass shooting took place at a school, in the town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Paige Taylor White/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits filed Wednesday also represent the families of the five slain children targeted in the school shooting: Zoey Benoit, Abel Mwansa Jr., Ticaria “Tiki” Lampert and Kylie Smith, all 12, and Ezekiel Schofield, 13.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the shootings, OpenAI came forward to say that last June, the company flagged the shooter’s account as having been used to discuss violence against other people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it considered whether to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but determined at the time that the account activity didn’t meet a threshold for referral to law enforcement. OpenAI banned the account in June for violating its usage policy.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The lawsuits filed Wednesday allege “the victims didn’t learn this because OpenAI was forthcoming, but because \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62\">its own employees leaked it to \u003cem>The Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>\u003c/a> after they could no longer stomach the company’s silence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://tumblerridgelines.com/2026/04/24/openai-apologizes-to-tumbler-ridge/\">his letter\u003c/a>, Altman said he was “deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered,” Altman wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>British Columbia Premier David Eby, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dave_eby/status/2047751590803886291?s=46&t=7BBzFwo6eYLzJIVfAlumEQ\">in a social media post\u003c/a>, called the apology “necessary, and yet grossly insufficient for the devastation done to the families of Tumbler Ridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Gebala lawsuit accuses OpenAI of negligence involving a failure to warn law enforcement and “aiding and abetting a mass shooting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with damages, the Gebala lawsuit seeks a court order that would require OpenAI to ban users from ChatGPT if their accounts were deactivated for violent misuse, and to require the company to alert law enforcement when its systems identify someone who poses a “real-world risk of violence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An earlier case was filed in a court in British Columbia, but a team of lawyers in both countries is seeking to bring the affiliated cases to San Francisco, where OpenAI is headquartered.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Untried territory’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Feldman called reports that the company flagged the risk but failed to act effectively “deeply troubling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As with so much about AI, the lawsuit will take us into untried territory,” she said. “The old doctrines are being applied to new circumstances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said if the families were to win, the company would have to pay damages and assume responsibility for altering its platform to identify and respond to risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major issues that the lawsuit will tackle are whether OpenAI and ChatGPT are protected by the First Amendment and whether or not OpenAI had “a duty to act,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082201 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TumblerRidgeGetty3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members attend a vigil to honor the victims of one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, on Feb. 13, 2026. \u003ccite>(Paige Taylor White/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said that there are \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46751\">parts\u003c/a> of U.S. law that shield tech companies from liability for content that their users host. Essentially, this means platforms are more like “bulletin boards” and “are not responsible for the content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this case would raise the question, she said, “Are LLMs like a bulletin board or publisher? Or they like a facilitator who helped with the crime?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some companies struggle with the burden of responsibility when reviewing potential threats to public safety, Feldman said, “If they try to help out, they can be viewed as accepting the mantle of responsibility.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Feldman, families are also likely to argue that the LLM “is a defective product without appropriate safeguards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In that case, the question is the following: ‘Is the LLM a defective product, or merely a product that was used improperly? And is it analogous to a product at all?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these are tough questions as we enter the age of AI, and the courts are just beginning to explore them,” Feldman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Associated Press’ Jim Morris contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As seven pro-Palestinian activists who blocked the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/golden-gate-bridge\">Golden Gate Bridge\u003c/a> two years ago prepare for felony trial, their attorneys are raising First Amendment concerns about a wide-ranging search of their social media activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Highway Patrol’s search warrant identified Facebook and Instagram accounts they believe belong to the defendants and sought three months of records from parent company Meta, including private messages, contact lists, liked posts, passwords and financial information. Defense attorneys aiming to block the data that was handed over from being used in court argue that the warrant was unconstitutionally broad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just say, ‘I’m looking for evidence of any crime,’” attorney Shaffy Moeel said. “You have to actually have a very particularized, specified thing that you’re looking for if you’re going to ask a judge to sign off on a warrant like this. And so what they got from Meta is hundreds of gigs of data related to what we think is absolutely First Amendment-protected activity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moeel filed a motion to suppress that evidence in court \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011165/felony-charges-against-golden-gate-bridge-protesters-can-go-to-trial-judge-rules\">ahead of trial\u003c/a>, where defendants face maximum sentences of 14 or 15 years in prison for charges including felony conspiracy, false imprisonment and trespassing to interfere with a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the requested information, such as content from accounts the defendants allegedly interacted with, has no relevance to the question of whether the protesters conspired to block traffic, Moeel argued in the motion. Instead, she told KQED, authorities were looking to build “a map of political association.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have the district attorney using law enforcement and the court to get data from people, Americans, regarding their political association, what accounts they’re liking, what accounts they’re reposting, what comments they’re posting related to accounts that might have a political message on it,” Moeel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1246387515-scaled-e1742325160899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 20, 2019. \u003ccite>(Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco district attorney’s office declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CHP analyst looked into Instagram accounts that “supported one another with spreading knowledge of events” as part of the agency’s assessment of protests, according to a CHP officer’s affidavit for the warrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the list were accounts for some of the groups most consistently responsible for planning pro-Palestinian protests in the Bay Area in recent years, including local chapters for the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP declined to comment, citing the pending case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta said in a statement that the company pushes back or refuses requests that are illegal. It did not do so in this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trial comes more than two years after protesters\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975859/golden-gate-bridge-blocked-by-activists-calling-for-cease-fire-in-gaza\"> blocked vehicle lanes\u003c/a> for hours on the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a broader day of demonstrations against U.S. economic support for Israel amid its war in Gaza. In Oakland, protesters also blocked lanes on Interstate 880.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jury selection and opening statements are expected in the coming weeks, Moeel said.[aside postID=news_12080402 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041526_CHADASHBY_9485-KQED.jpg']The defendants had previously hoped to avoid trial altogether and convince a judge to downgrade the felony charges to misdemeanors, but two judges ruled against them, most recently in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, San Francisco has had other protests where they’ve blocked bridges for environmental justice or to raise awareness regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKAIPOBWlY\">disparities in providing AIDS treatment\u003c/a>,” Moeel said. “And so, I think this is a part of San Francisco history, and the district attorney here in this case took the unprecedented step of charging felony conspiracy to commit misdemeanor crimes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with those two demonstrations, which occurred in 1996 and 1989 respectively, protesters have also flocked to the Golden Gate Bridge more recently. The environmental justice protest, which involved actor Woody Harrelson, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/history-research/moments-events/key-dates/#1990s\">listed among key dates \u003c/a>on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District’s website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anti-war protesters were also arrested on the bridge in 2002, though only one was charged with a felony for assaulting an officer, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Anti-war-rally-ties-up-bridge-Cops-stop-traffic-2818029.php\">SFGate.\u003c/a> In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11823356/day-8-of-protests-around-the-bay-taking-a-knee-for-change-and-a-march-across-the-golden-gate-bridge\">thousands marched\u003c/a> across the bridge as part of the wave of Black Lives Matter protests without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants in this case note that their action two years ago was seemingly the first time the bridge district filed a restitution claim against protesters, originally set at $163,000 in lost toll revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When lawyers for the defendants first argued that the felony charges should be reduced, Judge Brendan P. Conroy said he would have considered the motion more seriously because the defendants seemed well-intentioned, but\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011165/felony-charges-against-golden-gate-bridge-protesters-can-go-to-trial-judge-rules\"> the considerable restitution\u003c/a> amount stopped him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the bridge district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063531/golden-gate-bridge-agency-drops-163k-restitution-claim-against-pro-palestinian-protesters\">withdrew its restitution claim\u003c/a> last year, attorneys tried again, but again a separate judge denied the motion, which defense attorneys called disappointing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As seven pro-Palestinian activists who blocked the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/golden-gate-bridge\">Golden Gate Bridge\u003c/a> two years ago prepare for felony trial, their attorneys are raising First Amendment concerns about a wide-ranging search of their social media activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Highway Patrol’s search warrant identified Facebook and Instagram accounts they believe belong to the defendants and sought three months of records from parent company Meta, including private messages, contact lists, liked posts, passwords and financial information. Defense attorneys aiming to block the data that was handed over from being used in court argue that the warrant was unconstitutionally broad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just say, ‘I’m looking for evidence of any crime,’” attorney Shaffy Moeel said. “You have to actually have a very particularized, specified thing that you’re looking for if you’re going to ask a judge to sign off on a warrant like this. And so what they got from Meta is hundreds of gigs of data related to what we think is absolutely First Amendment-protected activity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moeel filed a motion to suppress that evidence in court \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011165/felony-charges-against-golden-gate-bridge-protesters-can-go-to-trial-judge-rules\">ahead of trial\u003c/a>, where defendants face maximum sentences of 14 or 15 years in prison for charges including felony conspiracy, false imprisonment and trespassing to interfere with a business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the requested information, such as content from accounts the defendants allegedly interacted with, has no relevance to the question of whether the protesters conspired to block traffic, Moeel argued in the motion. Instead, she told KQED, authorities were looking to build “a map of political association.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have the district attorney using law enforcement and the court to get data from people, Americans, regarding their political association, what accounts they’re liking, what accounts they’re reposting, what comments they’re posting related to accounts that might have a political message on it,” Moeel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12031870\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12031870\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-1246387515-scaled-e1742325160899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 20, 2019. \u003ccite>(Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco district attorney’s office declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A CHP analyst looked into Instagram accounts that “supported one another with spreading knowledge of events” as part of the agency’s assessment of protests, according to a CHP officer’s affidavit for the warrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the list were accounts for some of the groups most consistently responsible for planning pro-Palestinian protests in the Bay Area in recent years, including local chapters for the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP declined to comment, citing the pending case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meta said in a statement that the company pushes back or refuses requests that are illegal. It did not do so in this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trial comes more than two years after protesters\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975859/golden-gate-bridge-blocked-by-activists-calling-for-cease-fire-in-gaza\"> blocked vehicle lanes\u003c/a> for hours on the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a broader day of demonstrations against U.S. economic support for Israel amid its war in Gaza. In Oakland, protesters also blocked lanes on Interstate 880.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jury selection and opening statements are expected in the coming weeks, Moeel said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The defendants had previously hoped to avoid trial altogether and convince a judge to downgrade the felony charges to misdemeanors, but two judges ruled against them, most recently in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Historically, San Francisco has had other protests where they’ve blocked bridges for environmental justice or to raise awareness regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKAIPOBWlY\">disparities in providing AIDS treatment\u003c/a>,” Moeel said. “And so, I think this is a part of San Francisco history, and the district attorney here in this case took the unprecedented step of charging felony conspiracy to commit misdemeanor crimes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with those two demonstrations, which occurred in 1996 and 1989 respectively, protesters have also flocked to the Golden Gate Bridge more recently. The environmental justice protest, which involved actor Woody Harrelson, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/history-research/moments-events/key-dates/#1990s\">listed among key dates \u003c/a>on the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District’s website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anti-war protesters were also arrested on the bridge in 2002, though only one was charged with a felony for assaulting an officer, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Anti-war-rally-ties-up-bridge-Cops-stop-traffic-2818029.php\">SFGate.\u003c/a> In 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11823356/day-8-of-protests-around-the-bay-taking-a-knee-for-change-and-a-march-across-the-golden-gate-bridge\">thousands marched\u003c/a> across the bridge as part of the wave of Black Lives Matter protests without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants in this case note that their action two years ago was seemingly the first time the bridge district filed a restitution claim against protesters, originally set at $163,000 in lost toll revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When lawyers for the defendants first argued that the felony charges should be reduced, Judge Brendan P. Conroy said he would have considered the motion more seriously because the defendants seemed well-intentioned, but\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011165/felony-charges-against-golden-gate-bridge-protesters-can-go-to-trial-judge-rules\"> the considerable restitution\u003c/a> amount stopped him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the bridge district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063531/golden-gate-bridge-agency-drops-163k-restitution-claim-against-pro-palestinian-protesters\">withdrew its restitution claim\u003c/a> last year, attorneys tried again, but again a separate judge denied the motion, which defense attorneys called disappointing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A federal judge in Oakland has publicly revealed the identity of a key FBI informant in the corruption case against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071314/fbi-informant-tested-corruption-case-against-oaklands-former-mayor\">Mario Juarez\u003c/a>, a longtime Oakland businessman and former city council candidate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez is named in an order issued Monday and unsealed Tuesday, denying \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062614/defense-in-oakland-corruption-case-files-motion-targeting-key-informants-credibility\">several motions\u003c/a> to suppress evidence in the case. The motions had questioned Juarez’s credibility as an informant and the FBI’s reliance on his statements to secure search warrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court records, Juarez began working with the FBI in 2024, mere weeks before agents conducted highly publicized raids on Thao and the other defendants’ homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While his presence has loomed large in the case, he had yet to be publicly identified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thao was charged with bribery, conspiracy and fraud in an eight-count indictment in January last year. Her longtime partner, Andre Jones, and father and son recycling executives David and Andy Duong, were also charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Duongs own California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s current curbside recycling contractor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Duong speaks with guests after the screening of The King of Trash on Jan. 10, 2026, at Regal Jack London in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The indictment alleges a pay-to-play scheme in which the Duongs made payments to Jones through a no-show job and financed political mailers attacking Thao’s opponents in the 2022 mayoral race. In exchange, Thao promised to extend the Duongs’ recycling contract and commit the city to purchasing shipping containers converted into housing for the homeless from a company the Duongs co-owned, according to federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indictment also describes a fifth person who was allegedly involved in the scheme but has not been charged. That individual, now confirmed to be Juarez, is identified in the indictment as “CO-CONSPIRATOR 1.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The motions, filed by Thao and the other defendants, had accused the FBI of failing to leave out key information about Juarez’s past in affidavits used to secure search warrants of their homes, vehicles and businesses.[aside postID=news_12071314 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/IMG_1338-2000x1500.jpg']In their motions, the defendants alleged the FBI failed to disclose that Juarez has a decades-long track record of defrauding business partners and what they described as a “documented counter-attack history” of alleging misconduct by others in response to accusations and lawsuits lodged against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A simple search of Co-Conspirator 1’s name through the Alameda County Superior Court records reveals that he has been sued approximately 33 times between 1992 and 2022, including numerous fraud cases involving former business partners,” one motion reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez, they alleged, was continuing that pattern in this case. They requested an evidentiary hearing where they could question the FBI agents who wrote the affidavits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors had pushed back on that argument, saying they had amassed significant documentary evidence of the alleged corruption scheme well before interviewing Juarez, and that his statements were included merely for “context and completeness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her order, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the defendants’ request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Defendants present no credible evidence that the government intended to deceive or acted with reckless disregard,” she wrote. “The motion is deniable on this basis alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037105\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037105\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Courthouse in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One warrant, she wrote, included “significant documentary evidence tying David Duong, Andy Duong, Thao, Jones, and Juarez to the alleged corruption scheme, including messages and notes from Juarez’s iCloud account, financial records showing the allegedly corrupt payments, phone records showing significant communication regarding those payments, and other documentary evidence relating to the scheme.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong either declined to comment on the order or did not return KQED’s calls requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez also did not respond to a text message requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criminal defense attorney Jay Rorty said the judge’s decision could change the calculus for the defendants, who still have the option to accept a plea deal before the case goes to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each client will now need to make difficult choices as to whether it is in their interest to resolve the case or take the risk of a more severe penalty in the event they are convicted at trial,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A federal judge in Oakland has publicly revealed the identity of a key FBI informant in the corruption case against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071314/fbi-informant-tested-corruption-case-against-oaklands-former-mayor\">Mario Juarez\u003c/a>, a longtime Oakland businessman and former city council candidate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez is named in an order issued Monday and unsealed Tuesday, denying \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062614/defense-in-oakland-corruption-case-files-motion-targeting-key-informants-credibility\">several motions\u003c/a> to suppress evidence in the case. The motions had questioned Juarez’s credibility as an informant and the FBI’s reliance on his statements to secure search warrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court records, Juarez began working with the FBI in 2024, mere weeks before agents conducted highly publicized raids on Thao and the other defendants’ homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While his presence has loomed large in the case, he had yet to be publicly identified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thao was charged with bribery, conspiracy and fraud in an eight-count indictment in January last year. Her longtime partner, Andre Jones, and father and son recycling executives David and Andy Duong, were also charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Duongs own California Waste Solutions, Oakland’s current curbside recycling contractor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/011026_KingofTrash-_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andy Duong speaks with guests after the screening of The King of Trash on Jan. 10, 2026, at Regal Jack London in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The indictment alleges a pay-to-play scheme in which the Duongs made payments to Jones through a no-show job and financed political mailers attacking Thao’s opponents in the 2022 mayoral race. In exchange, Thao promised to extend the Duongs’ recycling contract and commit the city to purchasing shipping containers converted into housing for the homeless from a company the Duongs co-owned, according to federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indictment also describes a fifth person who was allegedly involved in the scheme but has not been charged. That individual, now confirmed to be Juarez, is identified in the indictment as “CO-CONSPIRATOR 1.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The motions, filed by Thao and the other defendants, had accused the FBI of failing to leave out key information about Juarez’s past in affidavits used to secure search warrants of their homes, vehicles and businesses.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In their motions, the defendants alleged the FBI failed to disclose that Juarez has a decades-long track record of defrauding business partners and what they described as a “documented counter-attack history” of alleging misconduct by others in response to accusations and lawsuits lodged against him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A simple search of Co-Conspirator 1’s name through the Alameda County Superior Court records reveals that he has been sued approximately 33 times between 1992 and 2022, including numerous fraud cases involving former business partners,” one motion reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez, they alleged, was continuing that pattern in this case. They requested an evidentiary hearing where they could question the FBI agents who wrote the affidavits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors had pushed back on that argument, saying they had amassed significant documentary evidence of the alleged corruption scheme well before interviewing Juarez, and that his statements were included merely for “context and completeness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her order, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the defendants’ request.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Defendants present no credible evidence that the government intended to deceive or acted with reckless disregard,” she wrote. “The motion is deniable on this basis alone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037105\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037105\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-01_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Federal Courthouse in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One warrant, she wrote, included “significant documentary evidence tying David Duong, Andy Duong, Thao, Jones, and Juarez to the alleged corruption scheme, including messages and notes from Juarez’s iCloud account, financial records showing the allegedly corrupt payments, phone records showing significant communication regarding those payments, and other documentary evidence relating to the scheme.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys for Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong either declined to comment on the order or did not return KQED’s calls requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez also did not respond to a text message requesting comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criminal defense attorney Jay Rorty said the judge’s decision could change the calculus for the defendants, who still have the option to accept a plea deal before the case goes to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each client will now need to make difficult choices as to whether it is in their interest to resolve the case or take the risk of a more severe penalty in the event they are convicted at trial,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> fatally shot a man in the Webster neighborhood on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just before 4 p.m., the Oakland Police Department said it responded to multiple reports from residents in the area of Auseon Avenue and Olive Street, who said the man was standing in the street, pointing a handgun at pedestrians and motorists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers found the man a block west and said he pointed a firearm at them as they approached. He continued moving west, to a yard on the next street, and again pointed his firearm at officers, according to OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple officers then shot him, according to interim Police Chief James Beere. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers “were able to initially make contact with the suspect, but as said, he ended up pointing the firearm at the police officers as well, at which point they discharged their firearms and struck the suspect,” Beere told reporters on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear how many officers fired at the man, or whether he discharged his weapon. OPD said those involved will be placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has launched a criminal and administrative investigation, and the Alameda County district attorney’s office and Community Police Review Agency are conducting their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday’s shooting was the first by Oakland police so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> fatally shot a man in the Webster neighborhood on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just before 4 p.m., the Oakland Police Department said it responded to multiple reports from residents in the area of Auseon Avenue and Olive Street, who said the man was standing in the street, pointing a handgun at pedestrians and motorists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers found the man a block west and said he pointed a firearm at them as they approached. He continued moving west, to a yard on the next street, and again pointed his firearm at officers, according to OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple officers then shot him, according to interim Police Chief James Beere. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers “were able to initially make contact with the suspect, but as said, he ended up pointing the firearm at the police officers as well, at which point they discharged their firearms and struck the suspect,” Beere told reporters on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear how many officers fired at the man, or whether he discharged his weapon. OPD said those involved will be placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has launched a criminal and administrative investigation, and the Alameda County district attorney’s office and Community Police Review Agency are conducting their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday’s shooting was the first by Oakland police so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The man who authorities say tried to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-first-amendment-a0a2446832e8596e66c6fccb8426c8aa\">storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner\u003c/a> with guns and knives was charged Monday with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump as federal authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of Washington’s glitziest events had been planned for at least several weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-correspondents-dinner-shooter-cole-tomas-allen-ea98b14e839217985bd7cf5ab169fb65\">Cole Tomas Allen\u003c/a> appeared in court Monday to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.291781/gov.uscourts.dcd.291781.1.1.pdf\">An FBI affidavit filed in the case\u003c/a> reveals additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved through the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man, armed with a shotgun and pistol, tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. “We will ensure accountability is swift and certain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was injured but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not directly say that Allen was responsible for shooting the officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Suspect’s email sheds light on motive\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, left, and FBI Director Kash Patel, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, on Monday, April 27, 2026, in Washington, following the initial appearance in federal court of the suspected White House Correspondents Dinner gunman, Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. \u003ccite>(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin,” alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention hearing set for Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Texira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she said.[aside postID=news_12078913 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/GettyImages-1697759766-1020x665.jpg']\u003cem>The Associated Press\u003c/em> called multiple phone numbers listed for Allen and relatives in public records, and there was no answer when a reporter knocked on the door of his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Collin Binkley contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The man who authorities say tried to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-first-amendment-a0a2446832e8596e66c6fccb8426c8aa\">storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner\u003c/a> with guns and knives was charged Monday with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump as federal authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of Washington’s glitziest events had been planned for at least several weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-correspondents-dinner-shooter-cole-tomas-allen-ea98b14e839217985bd7cf5ab169fb65\">Cole Tomas Allen\u003c/a> appeared in court Monday to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.291781/gov.uscourts.dcd.291781.1.1.pdf\">An FBI affidavit filed in the case\u003c/a> reveals additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved through the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man, armed with a shotgun and pistol, tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. “We will ensure accountability is swift and certain.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was injured but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not directly say that Allen was responsible for shooting the officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Suspect’s email sheds light on motive\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/WHCDAP2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, left, and FBI Director Kash Patel, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, on Monday, April 27, 2026, in Washington, following the initial appearance in federal court of the suspected White House Correspondents Dinner gunman, Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. \u003ccite>(Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin,” alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention hearing set for Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Texira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cem>The Associated Press\u003c/em> called multiple phone numbers listed for Allen and relatives in public records, and there was no answer when a reporter knocked on the door of his home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Collin Binkley contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "woman-killed-in-alleged-hit-and-run-was-a-kind-soul-not-a-threat-friends-say",
"title": "Woman Killed in Alleged Hit-and-Run Was a Kind Soul, Not a Threat, Friends Say",
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"headTitle": "Woman Killed in Alleged Hit-and-Run Was a Kind Soul, Not a Threat, Friends Say | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>After Dannielle Spillman, 74, was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080023/san-francisco-police-to-investigate-fatal-soma-hit-and-run-as-a-murder\">killed in an alleged hit-and-run\u003c/a> on Mission Street this month, the story that followed sounded nothing like the woman known to her loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for 30-year-old Valentino Amil, who pleaded not guilty to murder charges Friday, alleged that Spillman had posed a threat to Amil before he accelerated his black Mercedes into her, knocking her onto the car’s front windshield before crushing her under its tires. In court on Friday, the attorney described Spillman as an “agitator” and “belligerent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the two weeks since her death, a community of loving friends and family has shared a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080217/victim-of-alleged-sf-hit-and-run-murder-is-remembered-as-a-beloved-trans-elder\">different image of Spillman\u003c/a> — as a woman with decades’ worth of stories of far-flung travels, as a guitarist with a love for playing and listening to rock-and-roll music, and as a beloved elder in the transgender community with sincere benevolence and empathy for those in her orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was so kind, so nice, someone [who], if she’s around, it’s going to be a good vibe,” said Matt Stevens, a friend and employee at Real Guitars, a guitar shop where Spillman frequently hung out. “She was loved, and it’s a huge loss for the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, about 20 people donned rain jackets and bundled together under umbrellas to pay tribute to Spillman outside Real Guitars in the South of Market neighborhood, honoring her as a “member of the crew.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, she’d spend multiple long afternoons a week in the small, crowded shop, bonding with Stevens over their mutual love for oddball guitars and the Grateful Dead, offering up supplements and remedies to another employee who was a new dad with a constant sniffle, and teaching budding guitarists about the instrument. A few years ago, she planned the store’s first holiday party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She just sort of pitched her tent here one day, and that was that,” said Jesse Cobb, a manager at the store. “We were all really happy to have her. She’s just such a kind, empathetic person who just brought a lot of care and warmth to this store.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080714\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080714\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mourners embrace at a vigil for Dannielle Spillman in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cobb said Spillman began coming into Real Guitars occasionally more than a decade ago. They grew closer after the store reopened following the pandemic and Spillman’s visits became more frequent. She was known to come in about every other day while out on her daily walking route, which swept around the city from Rainbow Grocery in the Mission to Real Guitars, and sometimes up to the Guitar Center on Van Ness Avenue and California Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cobb remembers watching Spillman become great friends with Real Guitars’ owners, Ben Levin and his father, Chris Cobb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re two old crusty dudes that just have been sitting behind this counter for half of their life. They’ve built up a certain exterior over the years, and she just broke that wide open,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She’d call Ben and say, ‘Are you there by yourself? Do you need me to come down and help out?’” said Kelley Stoltz, another part-time employee and longtime customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some days, she’d spend just a few minutes in Real Guitars, but on others, she lingered for hours.[aside postID=news_12080217 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-hit-and-run-victim-01-KQED.jpg']“Dannielle was into it for the exchange,” Stoltz said. “Learning about people and letting them know about her and trading riffs, talking about different guitars, different pedals, different amps, different sounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon, Spillman would often be in the back of the store with two other regulars, teenage girls who come weekly to play guitars, sing and make TikToks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was back there teaching them guitar and talking to them about music, educating them and also educating herself on what they were into,” Stoltz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other days, she’d take on the role of a “self-appointed employee, intern, knowledge base,” pointing customers toward something they were looking for, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cobb said that since her passing, he’s been thinking about times when Spillman, who was over 6 feet tall, would climb on top of the rows of amps displayed throughout the small, narrow shop to grab a guitar off the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you would talk to Dannielle, you’d start with music, and … fact would just sort of come out slowly. She had a lot of great stories to tell,” Stoltz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillman grew up as an Air Force brat and discovered the Berkeley psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish as a kid in the 1960s. She fell in love with ’60s rock-and-roll music and began playing the guitar very young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later in life, she lived for a time in Iceland before eventually settling in San Francisco. She loved kids, eating healthy foods and going on extremely long walks to explore the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080715\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gather under umbrellas near a memorial for Dannielle Spillman in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s really tiring being around her because she just loves walking a lot,” said Jenny-Lou Cabanag, who described Spillman as part of her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabanag and her mother, Theresa, grew close with Spillman after immigrating from the Philippines in 2014, and Theresa became Spillman’s caregiver about two years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dannielle was a very pivotal person for my mom to have a footing here in America,” Cabanag said. Theresa got Spillman’s help studying for the citizenship exam, and when her relationship with Cabanag’s father became tenuous, Spillman offered her a place to stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Spillman died, she had lived with Theresa for about a decade. Often, on weekends, Cabanag would swap apartments with her mom, staying with Spillman while Theresa was off of work. Spillman was there for Cabanag’s graduation from San Francisco State University and the family’s celebratory lunch at their go-to spot, Burma Love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dannielle is a huge reason why I kept pushing; she was always just so proud of me,” Cabanag said. “My mom wanted to keep working for her until she really grew old. She was like family to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080712\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person walks past a sign marking the site of a fatal hit-and-run that killed Dannielle Spillman outside Real Guitars in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Spillman would often take photos of Theresa and her partner out on walks, or bring home a trinket from the thrift store that reminded her of someone she loved. When the family went to the beach, Spillman would return home with shells to frame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Derrick Guerra, another friend who met Spillman weekly for tea, said she was a “natural caregiver.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that before she died, they had often discussed her experiences as a transgender woman in San Francisco — and recent feelings of heightened anti-trans aggression. For the community to lose such a beloved elder, he said, is a huge loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if [the suspect] was aware of her gender identity or if that played into it at all, but … it’s still a very horrible thing that happened to an elder in our community,” he said. “She was such a compassionate, loving person.”[aside postID=news_12080041 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BrookeJenkinsAltmanGetty1.jpg']On Friday, Amil’s attorney Seth Morris argued for his release pending trial, saying that when he hit Spillman with his vehicle, his actions were “rooted in panic” and that he left the scene to get his family to a safer location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New video footage shows that after he initially drove away, he returned and got out of his car. Both Amil and his wife approached the victim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But prosecutors allege he jogged back to the car and again drove away after hearing a siren. He was later apprehended by police driving southbound on Highway 101 — away from the home address of his wife and children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said Amil had repeatedly lied about the circumstances of the incident. Morris has alleged that Amil believed Spillman might have poured gasoline on the car, but he told law enforcement he saw her drink out of the bottle she spilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amil has also alleged that Spillman banged on the windows where his children were sitting and was behind the vehicle when he started to pull away — claims that have been disputed by witness accounts and surveillance video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Leanne Dumas denied bail, citing his fleeing the scene and the violence of the action. When he was remanded into custody, Amil cried and called out to about 10 family members, including his wife and children, who were in the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s due back in court May 6 for a preliminary hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After Dannielle Spillman was hit while walking in front of a car, a defense attorney said she was aggressive. That’s nothing like the woman known to her loved ones, they said.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After Dannielle Spillman, 74, was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080023/san-francisco-police-to-investigate-fatal-soma-hit-and-run-as-a-murder\">killed in an alleged hit-and-run\u003c/a> on Mission Street this month, the story that followed sounded nothing like the woman known to her loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An attorney for 30-year-old Valentino Amil, who pleaded not guilty to murder charges Friday, alleged that Spillman had posed a threat to Amil before he accelerated his black Mercedes into her, knocking her onto the car’s front windshield before crushing her under its tires. In court on Friday, the attorney described Spillman as an “agitator” and “belligerent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the two weeks since her death, a community of loving friends and family has shared a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080217/victim-of-alleged-sf-hit-and-run-murder-is-remembered-as-a-beloved-trans-elder\">different image of Spillman\u003c/a> — as a woman with decades’ worth of stories of far-flung travels, as a guitarist with a love for playing and listening to rock-and-roll music, and as a beloved elder in the transgender community with sincere benevolence and empathy for those in her orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was so kind, so nice, someone [who], if she’s around, it’s going to be a good vibe,” said Matt Stevens, a friend and employee at Real Guitars, a guitar shop where Spillman frequently hung out. “She was loved, and it’s a huge loss for the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, about 20 people donned rain jackets and bundled together under umbrellas to pay tribute to Spillman outside Real Guitars in the South of Market neighborhood, honoring her as a “member of the crew.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, she’d spend multiple long afternoons a week in the small, crowded shop, bonding with Stevens over their mutual love for oddball guitars and the Grateful Dead, offering up supplements and remedies to another employee who was a new dad with a constant sniffle, and teaching budding guitarists about the instrument. A few years ago, she planned the store’s first holiday party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She just sort of pitched her tent here one day, and that was that,” said Jesse Cobb, a manager at the store. “We were all really happy to have her. She’s just such a kind, empathetic person who just brought a lot of care and warmth to this store.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080714\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080714\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mourners embrace at a vigil for Dannielle Spillman in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cobb said Spillman began coming into Real Guitars occasionally more than a decade ago. They grew closer after the store reopened following the pandemic and Spillman’s visits became more frequent. She was known to come in about every other day while out on her daily walking route, which swept around the city from Rainbow Grocery in the Mission to Real Guitars, and sometimes up to the Guitar Center on Van Ness Avenue and California Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cobb remembers watching Spillman become great friends with Real Guitars’ owners, Ben Levin and his father, Chris Cobb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re two old crusty dudes that just have been sitting behind this counter for half of their life. They’ve built up a certain exterior over the years, and she just broke that wide open,” he said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She’d call Ben and say, ‘Are you there by yourself? Do you need me to come down and help out?’” said Kelley Stoltz, another part-time employee and longtime customer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some days, she’d spend just a few minutes in Real Guitars, but on others, she lingered for hours.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Dannielle was into it for the exchange,” Stoltz said. “Learning about people and letting them know about her and trading riffs, talking about different guitars, different pedals, different amps, different sounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a Friday afternoon, Spillman would often be in the back of the store with two other regulars, teenage girls who come weekly to play guitars, sing and make TikToks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was back there teaching them guitar and talking to them about music, educating them and also educating herself on what they were into,” Stoltz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other days, she’d take on the role of a “self-appointed employee, intern, knowledge base,” pointing customers toward something they were looking for, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cobb said that since her passing, he’s been thinking about times when Spillman, who was over 6 feet tall, would climb on top of the rows of amps displayed throughout the small, narrow shop to grab a guitar off the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you would talk to Dannielle, you’d start with music, and … fact would just sort of come out slowly. She had a lot of great stories to tell,” Stoltz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spillman grew up as an Air Force brat and discovered the Berkeley psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish as a kid in the 1960s. She fell in love with ’60s rock-and-roll music and began playing the guitar very young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later in life, she lived for a time in Iceland before eventually settling in San Francisco. She loved kids, eating healthy foods and going on extremely long walks to explore the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080715\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People gather under umbrellas near a memorial for Dannielle Spillman in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s really tiring being around her because she just loves walking a lot,” said Jenny-Lou Cabanag, who described Spillman as part of her family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabanag and her mother, Theresa, grew close with Spillman after immigrating from the Philippines in 2014, and Theresa became Spillman’s caregiver about two years later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dannielle was a very pivotal person for my mom to have a footing here in America,” Cabanag said. Theresa got Spillman’s help studying for the citizenship exam, and when her relationship with Cabanag’s father became tenuous, Spillman offered her a place to stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Spillman died, she had lived with Theresa for about a decade. Often, on weekends, Cabanag would swap apartments with her mom, staying with Spillman while Theresa was off of work. Spillman was there for Cabanag’s graduation from San Francisco State University and the family’s celebratory lunch at their go-to spot, Burma Love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dannielle is a huge reason why I kept pushing; she was always just so proud of me,” Cabanag said. “My mom wanted to keep working for her until she really grew old. She was like family to us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080712\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042026DANNIELLE-SPILLMAN-VIGIL-_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person walks past a sign marking the site of a fatal hit-and-run that killed Dannielle Spillman outside Real Guitars in San Francisco, April 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Spillman would often take photos of Theresa and her partner out on walks, or bring home a trinket from the thrift store that reminded her of someone she loved. When the family went to the beach, Spillman would return home with shells to frame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Derrick Guerra, another friend who met Spillman weekly for tea, said she was a “natural caregiver.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that before she died, they had often discussed her experiences as a transgender woman in San Francisco — and recent feelings of heightened anti-trans aggression. For the community to lose such a beloved elder, he said, is a huge loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if [the suspect] was aware of her gender identity or if that played into it at all, but … it’s still a very horrible thing that happened to an elder in our community,” he said. “She was such a compassionate, loving person.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On Friday, Amil’s attorney Seth Morris argued for his release pending trial, saying that when he hit Spillman with his vehicle, his actions were “rooted in panic” and that he left the scene to get his family to a safer location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New video footage shows that after he initially drove away, he returned and got out of his car. Both Amil and his wife approached the victim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But prosecutors allege he jogged back to the car and again drove away after hearing a siren. He was later apprehended by police driving southbound on Highway 101 — away from the home address of his wife and children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said Amil had repeatedly lied about the circumstances of the incident. Morris has alleged that Amil believed Spillman might have poured gasoline on the car, but he told law enforcement he saw her drink out of the bottle she spilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amil has also alleged that Spillman banged on the windows where his children were sitting and was behind the vehicle when he started to pull away — claims that have been disputed by witness accounts and surveillance video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Leanne Dumas denied bail, citing his fleeing the scene and the violence of the action. When he was remanded into custody, Amil cried and called out to about 10 family members, including his wife and children, who were in the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s due back in court May 6 for a preliminary hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "state-oversight-expanded-for-child-welfare-agency-after-toddler-death",
"title": "State Oversight Expanded for Child Welfare Agency After Toddler Death",
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"headTitle": "State Oversight Expanded for Child Welfare Agency After Toddler Death | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>State officials will extend their oversight of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>’s beleaguered child welfare agency in the wake of a 2-year-old’s tragic death in foster care, as local leaders expressed outrage and called for further changes to protect kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services is also beefing up guardrails around where children can be placed, even in emergencies, requiring high-level staff to approve such placements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Children should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them. It is unacceptable,” County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said Thursday during a news conference. “This level of system failure demands immediate action, course correction and accountability in a way that we haven’t done before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the April 9 death of Jaxon Juarez, the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services said in a report on Thursday that it’s working with the California Department of Social Services to “extend and update” an existing oversight agreement in place since late 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the expanded state oversight, Arenas called for an “independent entity to take on episodic review” of the Department of Family and Children’s Services’ case files.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something that has helped other counties before, and I believe could support and be the transformative change that is needed here,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas is the chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, and has been vocal in raising alarms about the outcomes in the county’s child welfare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prior oversight effort, which included a “corrective action plan,” was prompted by the deaths of two other children in foster care in 2023, including the fentanyl poisoning of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, Arenas and critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrective action plan, which the agency was making progress on and was set to conclude in June, was aimed in part at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to the child welfare system in this county, the pendulum swung too far. We were prioritizing family preservation over child safety,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While being considerate of family connections and unity remains a valuable part of the child welfare system, those considerations should never overshadow our assessment of whether a home or an environment is safe for a child,” she said.[aside postID=news_12080838 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-20-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg']But Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said in the wake of Castro’s death, the county sharply increased removals of children from homes into the foster care system and that had unintended consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That did enormous harm to hundreds of children needlessly taken. It also so overwhelmed workers that they had even less time to investigate any case, or any potential caretaker, carefully,” Wexler said. “That made it more likely that more children in real danger would be missed. So the horrible irony here is that the failed response to the death of Phoenix Castro may well have contributed to the death of Jaxon Juarez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unionized workers employed at the agency have raised alarms about overwhelm, describing chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout, which they say jeopardize the safety of children in the county’s systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon, a special needs child, was placed by the county agency into the care of a relative of his father’s, Bridget Michelle Martinez, in late February. He died on April 9 after authorities said he was repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by Martinez’s 17-year-old son. The son, who has since turned 18, is facing murder and assault charges in juvenile court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family members of Jaxon have lambasted the agency for ever placing him with Martinez, who court records show was previously convicted of felony child endangerment tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials previously said that such a conviction would bar child welfare workers from placing a child in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the head of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, said effective immediately, reviews of emergency placements of children with relatives will need to be approved by senior managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any child welfare history or criminal record history will need to be signed off on by executives, she said during the meeting of the Children, Seniors, and Families Committee on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also said the agency is doing a “deeper dive” review of the caseloads of the staff who were connected to Jaxon’s case, “to make sure there are no safety concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Thursday, County Executive James Williams said in a memo that 10 staff members of the agency have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with Jaxon’s case while local investigations and a separate state investigation of the case continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Depending on the findings of our investigation, staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams also supported the creation of an independent auditing and oversight body for the agency.[aside postID=news_12080584 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-17-BL-KQED.jpg']“Throughout these reform efforts, the clear and unwavering focus of DFCS leadership and staff has been on child safety and taking all reasonable actions to ensure the safety of each child over whom DFCS has responsibility. Yet it is also clear that much more must be done, and as quickly as possible,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also acknowledged the grief and concern of child welfare staff in the county, and thanked them for doing “incredibly difficult, heart-wrenching work, day in and day out, as\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>our system appropriately faces calls to do more and do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas, during the tense committee meeting, became emotional when talking about the deaths of children in the county’s care, and said everyone should be angry about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to assurances from Williams about the work the county is doing, she openly questioned the leaders of the county agencies sitting to her sides on the dais in the county board chambers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m doubting the leadership that is currently in place. I’m not making any bones about it,” she said, looking at Kinnear-Rausch, Department of Social Services Director Daniel Little and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You all tell me how many children could die under your leadership and you still have a job. If they’re Brown, maybe five, like what is it? If they are white, none?” she said. “You all seem to think that you’re going to give your sorrow to the families and the relatives and the community. But where is your responsibility and your accountability?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State officials will extend their oversight of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>’s beleaguered child welfare agency in the wake of a 2-year-old’s tragic death in foster care, as local leaders expressed outrage and called for further changes to protect kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services is also beefing up guardrails around where children can be placed, even in emergencies, requiring high-level staff to approve such placements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Children should not be dying under the care and custody of a system that exists to protect them. It is unacceptable,” County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said Thursday during a news conference. “This level of system failure demands immediate action, course correction and accountability in a way that we haven’t done before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the April 9 death of Jaxon Juarez, the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services said in a report on Thursday that it’s working with the California Department of Social Services to “extend and update” an existing oversight agreement in place since late 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the expanded state oversight, Arenas called for an “independent entity to take on episodic review” of the Department of Family and Children’s Services’ case files.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is something that has helped other counties before, and I believe could support and be the transformative change that is needed here,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arenas is the chair of the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors, and Families Committee, and has been vocal in raising alarms about the outcomes in the county’s child welfare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080614\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260420-SCCDAANNOUNCEMENT-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">District Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks outside the Santa Clara County Juvenile Court in San José on April 20, 2026, where prosecutors announced charges against a San José teen accused of killing his 2-year-old foster brother, Jaxon Juarez. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prior oversight effort, which included a “corrective action plan,” was prompted by the deaths of two other children in foster care in 2023, including the fentanyl poisoning of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those deaths occurred, Arenas and critics said, while the agency pursued policies focused on keeping children with their families, even in the face of safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The corrective action plan, which the agency was making progress on and was set to conclude in June, was aimed in part at rebalancing the priorities of family reunification and child safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to the child welfare system in this county, the pendulum swung too far. We were prioritizing family preservation over child safety,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While being considerate of family connections and unity remains a valuable part of the child welfare system, those considerations should never overshadow our assessment of whether a home or an environment is safe for a child,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But Richard Wexler, the executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said in the wake of Castro’s death, the county sharply increased removals of children from homes into the foster care system and that had unintended consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That did enormous harm to hundreds of children needlessly taken. It also so overwhelmed workers that they had even less time to investigate any case, or any potential caretaker, carefully,” Wexler said. “That made it more likely that more children in real danger would be missed. So the horrible irony here is that the failed response to the death of Phoenix Castro may well have contributed to the death of Jaxon Juarez.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unionized workers employed at the agency have raised alarms about overwhelm, describing chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout, which they say jeopardize the safety of children in the county’s systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaxon, a special needs child, was placed by the county agency into the care of a relative of his father’s, Bridget Michelle Martinez, in late February. He died on April 9 after authorities said he was repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted by Martinez’s 17-year-old son. The son, who has since turned 18, is facing murder and assault charges in juvenile court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Family members of Jaxon have lambasted the agency for ever placing him with Martinez, who court records show was previously convicted of felony child endangerment tied to a DUI in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials previously said that such a conviction would bar child welfare workers from placing a child in Martinez’s care, even in extenuating circumstances. It’s not clear how Jaxon ended up in the home, and the county has not explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the head of the Department of Family and Children’s Services, said effective immediately, reviews of emergency placements of children with relatives will need to be approved by senior managers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080419\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260416-Jaxon-Folo-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jaxon, a 2-year-old South Bay boy who died while in Santa Clara County’s foster care system after allegedly being sexually assaulted, is seen in this photo provided by his aunt. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Riley Wallace)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any child welfare history or criminal record history will need to be signed off on by executives, she said during the meeting of the Children, Seniors, and Families Committee on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She also said the agency is doing a “deeper dive” review of the caseloads of the staff who were connected to Jaxon’s case, “to make sure there are no safety concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Thursday, County Executive James Williams said in a memo that 10 staff members of the agency have been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with Jaxon’s case while local investigations and a separate state investigation of the case continue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Depending on the findings of our investigation, staff may face disciplinary action up to and including termination,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams also supported the creation of an independent auditing and oversight body for the agency.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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