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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State court interpreters in Oakland are walking off their jobs on Wednesday, the latest half-day \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/workers-strike\">strike\u003c/a> to protest what they call stagnating wages and too-slow contract talks with administrators, as the system struggles to give people who speak little to no English \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/3656/interpreters-finally-coming-to-californias-civil-courts-2\">equal access to justice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interpreter employees at state courts earn lower salaries than interpreters in federal courts or private contractors, which contributes to persistent job vacancies, said Mary Lou Aranguren, bargaining spokesperson for the California Alliance of Legal Interpreters. Court officials have responded to interpreter shortages by going over budget to contract often costlier private services in recent years to meet language needs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They are not bargaining in good faith when they are throwing money at contractors, and then they tell us at the table, ‘Well, we don’t have the budget for paying you more.’ That just doesn’t make sense,” said Aranguren, a Spanish court interpreter in Alameda County with 30 years of experience. “Employees make a commitment. We’re available, we work all the time, and we’re making a lot less money.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The union, which represents 91 court staffers working in Spanish, Cantonese, Hindi and other languages in coastal Northern California counties, has \u003ca href=\"http://google.com/search?q=kqed+court+interpreter+strike&rlz=1C1GCHA_enUS1179US1179&oq=kqed+court+interpreter+strike+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORifBTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRiPAjIHCAcQIRiPAtIBCDY0MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on\">accused the employer\u003c/a> of engaging in unfair labor practices by favoring contractors with higher pay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098299\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland on March 19, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local court interpreters on staff earn about $86,000 to $105,000 per year, not including retirement, medical and other benefits, according to a 2025 report by the Judicial Council of California, which administers state courts. The union is pushing to gradually raise interpreters’ salary range to $128,000-$150,000, which Aranguren said would near pay in federal courts and help fill dozens of vacant positions in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alicia Vojnik, a state courts bargaining representative, said they remain committed to negotiating a fair agreement with interpreters. Contractor rates and employee salaries “cannot be compared directly” without considering the additional benefits employees receive or the assignment frequency for contractors, said Vojnik, administrative chair for Region 2 courts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The Region has proposed and continues to propose that the parties enter mediation to assist in resolving the significant difference between their respective wage proposals, as well as other outstanding issues,” said Vojnik, chief operating officer at Superior Court in Santa Clara County. “Every court in the Region is committed to maintaining essential operations and language services.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added that Alameda County Superior Court will remain open during the strike. The labor action on Wednesday at the Wiley W. Manuel and René C. Davidson courthouses, which is set to involve some of the nearly two dozen interpreters in the county, is the second by the union this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.\" class=\"wp-image-11647421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Oct. 16, San Francisco court interpreters were also on strike as the Judicial Council met in the city and decided to corral rising spending on private contractors by standardizing rates statewide to levels that don’t exceed those in the federal court system. Court officials said that contractors were often able to negotiate higher pay, with courts competing against each other for the same pool of interpreters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since 2023, courts have exceeded their funds for interpreter services due to growing contractor costs, with $19 million in overspending last year. The state increased the budget for interpreter services by $20 million this year, bringing the total available to pay employees and contractors to $155 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Slayton, court executive officer for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, said that higher pay for contractors disincentivizes interpreters from staying as employees with the courts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Sometimes [we see] those same interpreters that were employees come back two weeks later, paying them more, for the services they were providing as employees,” said Slayton, adding that Los Angeles County has more than 120 interpreter job vacancies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“When contract work pays more than court employment, it becomes harder to recruit and keep employees, and we fill the gap with contractors at a premium.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California state courts, the nation’s largest court system, are required to provide interpreter services to plaintiffs, witnesses and other users with limited English proficiency in criminal and civil cases. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While demand for language services has increased, staffing shortages have left vulnerable people without understanding legal procedures that are critical to their freedom, family or livelihood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An 18-year-old immigrant who only speaks Mixteco, a major indigenous language in Mexico, received a traffic ticket but was unable to get assistance at court with communication, Francisca Camarillo, with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, told the Judicial Council at a recent meeting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the teen contacted the organization for help, he discovered that there was already a warrant for his arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident is one of many across the state in which limited English speakers faced barriers to the courts, according to \u003ca href=\"https://crla.org/sites/default/files/2026-10/Written%20Comments%20to%20Judicial%20Council,%20October%2016,%202026%201_0.pdf\">a letter this month\u003c/a> by dozens of community organizations that asked the Judicial Council to review its language access program. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“While case records might make it appear that he is noncompliant for missing court, the reality is that no one provided language support,” Camarillo said. “A young adult seeking a better future was denied a fair chance to present his case simply because of a language barrier. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State court interpreters in Oakland are walking off their jobs on Wednesday, the latest half-day \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/workers-strike\">strike\u003c/a> to protest what they call stagnating wages and too-slow contract talks with administrators, as the system struggles to give people who speak little to no English \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/3656/interpreters-finally-coming-to-californias-civil-courts-2\">equal access to justice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>State court interpreters in Oakland are walking off their jobs on Wednesday, the latest half-day \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/workers-strike\">strike\u003c/a> to protest what they call stagnating wages and too-slow contract talks with administrators, as the system struggles to give people who speak little to no English \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/3656/interpreters-finally-coming-to-californias-civil-courts-2\">equal access to justice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Interpreter employees at state courts earn lower salaries than interpreters in federal courts or private contractors, which contributes to persistent job vacancies, said Mary Lou Aranguren, bargaining spokesperson for the California Alliance of Legal Interpreters. Court officials have responded to interpreter shortages by going over budget to contract often costlier private services in recent years to meet language needs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Interpreter employees at state courts earn lower salaries than interpreters in federal courts or private contractors, which contributes to persistent job vacancies, said Mary Lou Aranguren, bargaining spokesperson for the California Alliance of Legal Interpreters. Court officials have responded to interpreter shortages by going over budget to contract often costlier private services in recent years to meet language needs.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They are not bargaining in good faith when they are throwing money at contractors, and then they tell us at the table, ‘Well, we don’t have the budget for paying you more.’ That just doesn’t make sense,” said Aranguren, a Spanish court interpreter in Alameda County with 30 years of experience. “Employees make a commitment. We’re available, we work all the time, and we’re making a lot less money.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“They are not bargaining in good faith when they are throwing money at contractors, and then they tell us at the table, ‘Well, we don’t have the budget for paying you more.’ That just doesn’t make sense,” said Aranguren, a Spanish court interpreter in Alameda County with 30 years of experience. “Employees make a commitment. We’re available, we work all the time, and we’re making a lot less money.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The union, which represents 91 court staffers working in Spanish, Cantonese, Hindi and other languages in coastal Northern California counties, has \u003ca href=\"http://google.com/search?q=kqed+court+interpreter+strike&rlz=1C1GCHA_enUS1179US1179&oq=kqed+court+interpreter+strike+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORifBTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRiPAjIHCAcQIRiPAtIBCDY0MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on\">accused the employer\u003c/a> of engaging in unfair labor practices by favoring contractors with higher pay.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The union, which represents 91 court staffers working in Spanish, Cantonese, Hindi and other languages in coastal Northern California counties, has \u003ca href=\"http://google.com/search?q=kqed+court+interpreter+strike&rlz=1C1GCHA_enUS1179US1179&oq=kqed+court+interpreter+strike+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORifBTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRiPAjIHCAcQIRiPAtIBCDY0MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on\">accused the employer\u003c/a> of engaging in unfair labor practices by favoring contractors with higher pay.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098299\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland on March 19, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098299\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland on March 19, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Local court interpreters on staff earn about $86,000 to $105,000 per year, not including retirement, medical and other benefits, according to a 2025 report by the Judicial Council of California, which administers state courts. The union is pushing to gradually raise interpreters’ salary range to $128,000-$150,000, which Aranguren said would near pay in federal courts and help fill dozens of vacant positions in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Local court interpreters on staff earn about $86,000 to $105,000 per year, not including retirement, medical and other benefits, according to a 2025 report by the Judicial Council of California, which administers state courts. The union is pushing to gradually raise interpreters’ salary range to $128,000-$150,000, which Aranguren said would near pay in federal courts and help fill dozens of vacant positions in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alicia Vojnik, a state courts bargaining representative, said they remain committed to negotiating a fair agreement with interpreters. Contractor rates and employee salaries “cannot be compared directly” without considering the additional benefits employees receive or the assignment frequency for contractors, said Vojnik, administrative chair for Region 2 courts.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Alicia Vojnik, a state courts bargaining representative, said they remain committed to negotiating a fair agreement with interpreters. Contractor rates and employee salaries “cannot be compared directly” without considering the additional benefits employees receive or the assignment frequency for contractors, said Vojnik, administrative chair for Region 2 courts.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The Region has proposed and continues to propose that the parties enter mediation to assist in resolving the significant difference between their respective wage proposals, as well as other outstanding issues,” said Vojnik, chief operating officer at Superior Court in Santa Clara County. “Every court in the Region is committed to maintaining essential operations and language services.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The Region has proposed and continues to propose that the parties enter mediation to assist in resolving the significant difference between their respective wage proposals, as well as other outstanding issues,” said Vojnik, chief operating officer at Superior Court in Santa Clara County. “Every court in the Region is committed to maintaining essential operations and language services.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She added that Alameda County Superior Court will remain open during the strike. The labor action on Wednesday at the Wiley W. Manuel and René C. Davidson courthouses, which is set to involve some of the nearly two dozen interpreters in the county, is the second by the union this month. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>She added that Alameda County Superior Court will remain open during the strike. The labor action on Wednesday at the Wiley W. Manuel and René C. Davidson courthouses, which is set to involve some of the nearly two dozen interpreters in the county, is the second by the union this month. \u003c/p>\n"
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"alt": "An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.\" class=\"wp-image-11647421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.\" class=\"wp-image-11647421\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Oct. 16, San Francisco court interpreters were also on strike as the Judicial Council met in the city and decided to corral rising spending on private contractors by standardizing rates statewide to levels that don’t exceed those in the federal court system. Court officials said that contractors were often able to negotiate higher pay, with courts competing against each other for the same pool of interpreters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Oct. 16, San Francisco court interpreters were also on strike as the Judicial Council met in the city and decided to corral rising spending on private contractors by standardizing rates statewide to levels that don’t exceed those in the federal court system. Court officials said that contractors were often able to negotiate higher pay, with courts competing against each other for the same pool of interpreters.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since 2023, courts have exceeded their funds for interpreter services due to growing contractor costs, with $19 million in overspending last year. The state increased the budget for interpreter services by $20 million this year, bringing the total available to pay employees and contractors to $155 million.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Since 2023, courts have exceeded their funds for interpreter services due to growing contractor costs, with $19 million in overspending last year. The state increased the budget for interpreter services by $20 million this year, bringing the total available to pay employees and contractors to $155 million.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>David Slayton, court executive officer for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, said that higher pay for contractors disincentivizes interpreters from staying as employees with the courts.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>David Slayton, court executive officer for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, said that higher pay for contractors disincentivizes interpreters from staying as employees with the courts.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Sometimes [we see] those same interpreters that were employees come back two weeks later, paying them more, for the services they were providing as employees,” said Slayton, adding that Los Angeles County has more than 120 interpreter job vacancies. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Sometimes [we see] those same interpreters that were employees come back two weeks later, paying them more, for the services they were providing as employees,” said Slayton, adding that Los Angeles County has more than 120 interpreter job vacancies. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“When contract work pays more than court employment, it becomes harder to recruit and keep employees, and we fill the gap with contractors at a premium.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“When contract work pays more than court employment, it becomes harder to recruit and keep employees, and we fill the gap with contractors at a premium.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California state courts, the nation’s largest court system, are required to provide interpreter services to plaintiffs, witnesses and other users with limited English proficiency in criminal and civil cases. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California state courts, the nation’s largest court system, are required to provide interpreter services to plaintiffs, witnesses and other users with limited English proficiency in criminal and civil cases. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While demand for language services has increased, staffing shortages have left vulnerable people without understanding legal procedures that are critical to their freedom, family or livelihood.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While demand for language services has increased, staffing shortages have left vulnerable people without understanding legal procedures that are critical to their freedom, family or livelihood.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The incident is one of many across the state in which limited English speakers faced barriers to the courts, according to \u003ca href=\"https://crla.org/sites/default/files/2026-10/Written%20Comments%20to%20Judicial%20Council,%20October%2016,%202026%201_0.pdf\">a letter this month\u003c/a> by dozens of community organizations that asked the Judicial Council to review its language access program. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“While case records might make it appear that he is noncompliant for missing court, the reality is that no one provided language support,” Camarillo said. “A young adult seeking a better future was denied a fair chance to present his case simply because of a language barrier. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Interpreter employees say they earn less than contractors or interpreters in federal court, which leads to unfilled job vacancies in a system struggling to meet language demands.",
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"title": "State Court Interpreters Go on Strike in Oakland Over Pay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State court interpreters in Oakland are walking off their jobs on Wednesday, the latest half-day \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/workers-strike\">strike\u003c/a> to protest what they call stagnating wages and too-slow contract talks with administrators, as the system struggles to give people who speak little to no English \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/3656/interpreters-finally-coming-to-californias-civil-courts-2\">equal access to justice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interpreter employees at state courts earn lower salaries than interpreters in federal courts or private contractors, which contributes to persistent job vacancies, said Mary Lou Aranguren, bargaining spokesperson for the California Alliance of Legal Interpreters. Court officials have responded to interpreter shortages by going over budget to contract often costlier private services in recent years to meet language needs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They are not bargaining in good faith when they are throwing money at contractors, and then they tell us at the table, ‘Well, we don’t have the budget for paying you more.’ That just doesn’t make sense,” said Aranguren, a Spanish court interpreter in Alameda County with 30 years of experience. “Employees make a commitment. We’re available, we work all the time, and we’re making a lot less money.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The union, which represents 91 court staffers working in Spanish, Cantonese, Hindi and other languages in coastal Northern California counties, has \u003ca href=\"http://google.com/search?q=kqed+court+interpreter+strike&rlz=1C1GCHA_enUS1179US1179&oq=kqed+court+interpreter+strike+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORifBTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRigATIHCAUQIRigATIHCAYQIRiPAjIHCAcQIRiPAtIBCDY0MTdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on\">accused the employer\u003c/a> of engaging in unfair labor practices by favoring contractors with higher pay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098299\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20250319_AlamedaCourthouse_GC-15_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland on March 19, 2025. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local court interpreters on staff earn about $86,000 to $105,000 per year, not including retirement, medical and other benefits, according to a 2025 report by the Judicial Council of California, which administers state courts. The union is pushing to gradually raise interpreters’ salary range to $128,000-$150,000, which Aranguren said would near pay in federal courts and help fill dozens of vacant positions in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alicia Vojnik, a state courts bargaining representative, said they remain committed to negotiating a fair agreement with interpreters. Contractor rates and employee salaries “cannot be compared directly” without considering the additional benefits employees receive or the assignment frequency for contractors, said Vojnik, administrative chair for Region 2 courts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The Region has proposed and continues to propose that the parties enter mediation to assist in resolving the significant difference between their respective wage proposals, as well as other outstanding issues,” said Vojnik, chief operating officer at Superior Court in Santa Clara County. “Every court in the Region is committed to maintaining essential operations and language services.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added that Alameda County Superior Court will remain open during the strike. The labor action on Wednesday at the Wiley W. Manuel and René C. Davidson courthouses, which is set to involve some of the nearly two dozen interpreters in the county, is the second by the union this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland.\" class=\"wp-image-11647421\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/01/RS24075_courthouse-sign-cameo-qut-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An engraving outside of the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. (Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Oct. 16, San Francisco court interpreters were also on strike as the Judicial Council met in the city and decided to corral rising spending on private contractors by standardizing rates statewide to levels that don’t exceed those in the federal court system. Court officials said that contractors were often able to negotiate higher pay, with courts competing against each other for the same pool of interpreters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since 2023, courts have exceeded their funds for interpreter services due to growing contractor costs, with $19 million in overspending last year. The state increased the budget for interpreter services by $20 million this year, bringing the total available to pay employees and contractors to $155 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Slayton, court executive officer for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, said that higher pay for contractors disincentivizes interpreters from staying as employees with the courts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Sometimes [we see] those same interpreters that were employees come back two weeks later, paying them more, for the services they were providing as employees,” said Slayton, adding that Los Angeles County has more than 120 interpreter job vacancies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“When contract work pays more than court employment, it becomes harder to recruit and keep employees, and we fill the gap with contractors at a premium.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California state courts, the nation’s largest court system, are required to provide interpreter services to plaintiffs, witnesses and other users with limited English proficiency in criminal and civil cases. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While demand for language services has increased, staffing shortages have left vulnerable people without understanding legal procedures that are critical to their freedom, family or livelihood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An 18-year-old immigrant who only speaks Mixteco, a major indigenous language in Mexico, received a traffic ticket but was unable to get assistance at court with communication, Francisca Camarillo, with the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, told the Judicial Council at a recent meeting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the teen contacted the organization for help, he discovered that there was already a warrant for his arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident is one of many across the state in which limited English speakers faced barriers to the courts, according to \u003ca href=\"https://crla.org/sites/default/files/2026-10/Written%20Comments%20to%20Judicial%20Council,%20October%2016,%202026%201_0.pdf\">a letter this month\u003c/a> by dozens of community organizations that asked the Judicial Council to review its language access program. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“While case records might make it appear that he is noncompliant for missing court, the reality is that no one provided language support,” Camarillo said. “A young adult seeking a better future was denied a fair chance to present his case simply because of a language barrier. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-to-pay-10-million-to-settle-class-action-over-women-gassed-at-chowchilla-prison",
"title": "California Agrees to Pay $10 Million in Class Action Over Women Gassed at Chowchilla Prison",
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"headTitle": "California Agrees to Pay $10 Million in Class Action Over Women Gassed at Chowchilla Prison | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California has reached a tentative $10 million agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of incarcerated women at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a> who were held in a crowded dining hall and sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s no amount of money that can fix what we went through that day,” said Angelina Hernandez, who is no longer in prison. “I have really bad PTSD. It really messed me up in a lot of different ways.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the morning of Aug. 2, 2024, correctional officers at the Chowchilla facility moved more than 150 women to the dining hall to conduct a massive search of their unit, according to the suit, and seize any personal belongings that did not fit in a 6-cubic-foot box. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a8Fb2UwB1c&t=6s\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After hours of being confined to the cafeteria without food, water or access to medication, tensions became heightened. Women shouted at the officers and banged on the tables, according to internal documents obtained by KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officers deployed chemical grenades and pepper spray on the women — first inside the chow hall, and then again after the women were zip-tied and seated in the yard outside. At least one woman named Christina Wind was also beaten by officers with batons. Women suffered injuries ranging from seizures, stroke and loss of eyesight. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the incident, officers were captured on body camera saying things like “Put them down with gas,” and “Fun, fun, fun, baby,” according to internal documents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mass use-of-force event led to the largest corrective action related to a single incident in state history, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Three correctional officers were fired and 31 more received discipline, ranging from reprimands to pay cuts. Several officers are still appealing those actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the agreement, $7.45 million would be split among the class members, while $2.5 million would go to their attorneys. Another lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 women who were injured during the incident was settled for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">$1.9 million in March\u003c/a>, bringing the combined value of the settlements to nearly $12 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It was a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said attorney Mark Merin, who represents the women in the class action. “The state obviously recognizes that on some level and is coming forward with substantial compensation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prison agency has not admitted fault in either suit. CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the agency cannot comment on active litigation, but that the department “continues its commitment to safe and constitutional operations at all institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104812/put-them-down-with-gas-kqed-investigation-finds-abuse-and-retaliation-at-chowchilla-prison\">KQED investigation found\u003c/a> the mass use-of-force incident was carried out amid a striking rise in sexual assault complaints —known as Prison Rape Elimination Act complaints — at the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five women told KQED they believed the incident was intended to stop the flood of PREA complaints. But those allegations of retaliation were not looked into by the agency, according to documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090738\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers lead an incarcerated woman through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, on June 30, 2026. The prison is the largest women’s correctional facility in California, and the R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hardy wrote that CDCR “has implemented significant reforms to strengthen investigative processes, enhance facility oversight, expand fixed and Body Worn camera coverage, and improve PREA reporting pathways.” And she said the agency “is fully committed” to supporting sexual assault victims. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, the CCWF warden \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">was transferred and demoted\u003c/a>, amid a new investigation into sexual abuse by officers at the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A judge is set to review the settlement agreement on Dec. 4. If it is approved, claim forms and notices will be mailed to the 142 women represented in the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I feel like [CDCR] should do a lot more,” Hernandez said. “I feel like all those officers [involved in Aug. 2] should be walked off.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Officers deployed chemical grenades and pepper spray on the women — first inside the chow hall, and then again after the women were zip-tied and seated in the yard outside. At least one woman named Christina Wind was also beaten by officers with batons. Women suffered injuries ranging from seizures, stroke and loss of eyesight. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Officers deployed chemical grenades and pepper spray on the women — first inside the chow hall, and then again after the women were zip-tied and seated in the yard outside. At least one woman named Christina Wind was also beaten by officers with batons. Women suffered injuries ranging from seizures, stroke and loss of eyesight. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During the incident, officers were captured on body camera saying things like “Put them down with gas,” and “Fun, fun, fun, baby,” according to internal documents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The mass use-of-force event led to the largest corrective action related to a single incident in state history, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Three correctional officers were fired and 31 more received discipline, ranging from reprimands to pay cuts. Several officers are still appealing those actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under the agreement, $7.45 million would be split among the class members, while $2.5 million would go to their attorneys. Another lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 women who were injured during the incident was settled for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">$1.9 million in March\u003c/a>, bringing the combined value of the settlements to nearly $12 million.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Under the agreement, $7.45 million would be split among the class members, while $2.5 million would go to their attorneys. Another lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 women who were injured during the incident was settled for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">$1.9 million in March\u003c/a>, bringing the combined value of the settlements to nearly $12 million.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said attorney Mark Merin, who represents the women in the class action. “The state obviously recognizes that on some level and is coming forward with substantial compensation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It was a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said attorney Mark Merin, who represents the women in the class action. “The state obviously recognizes that on some level and is coming forward with substantial compensation.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The prison agency has not admitted fault in either suit. CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the agency cannot comment on active litigation, but that the department “continues its commitment to safe and constitutional operations at all institutions.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The prison agency has not admitted fault in either suit. CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the agency cannot comment on active litigation, but that the department “continues its commitment to safe and constitutional operations at all institutions.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104812/put-them-down-with-gas-kqed-investigation-finds-abuse-and-retaliation-at-chowchilla-prison\">KQED investigation found\u003c/a> the mass use-of-force incident was carried out amid a striking rise in sexual assault complaints —known as Prison Rape Elimination Act complaints — at the prison. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Five women told KQED they believed the incident was intended to stop the flood of PREA complaints. But those allegations of retaliation were not looked into by the agency, according to documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hardy wrote that CDCR “has implemented significant reforms to strengthen investigative processes, enhance facility oversight, expand fixed and Body Worn camera coverage, and improve PREA reporting pathways.” And she said the agency “is fully committed” to supporting sexual assault victims. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last month, the CCWF warden \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">was transferred and demoted\u003c/a>, amid a new investigation into sexual abuse by officers at the prison. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A judge is set to review the settlement agreement on Dec. 4. If it is approved, claim forms and notices will be mailed to the 142 women represented in the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I feel like [CDCR] should do a lot more,” Hernandez said. “I feel like all those officers [involved in Aug. 2] should be walked off.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The operation at the Central California Women’s Facility resulted in the largest corrective action related to a single incident in state history.",
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"title": "California Agrees to Pay $10 Million in Class Action Over Women Gassed at Chowchilla Prison | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California has reached a tentative $10 million agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of incarcerated women at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a> who were held in a crowded dining hall and sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s no amount of money that can fix what we went through that day,” said Angelina Hernandez, who is no longer in prison. “I have really bad PTSD. It really messed me up in a lot of different ways.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the morning of Aug. 2, 2024, correctional officers at the Chowchilla facility moved more than 150 women to the dining hall to conduct a massive search of their unit, according to the suit, and seize any personal belongings that did not fit in a 6-cubic-foot box. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/-a8Fb2UwB1c'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/-a8Fb2UwB1c'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After hours of being confined to the cafeteria without food, water or access to medication, tensions became heightened. Women shouted at the officers and banged on the tables, according to internal documents obtained by KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officers deployed chemical grenades and pepper spray on the women — first inside the chow hall, and then again after the women were zip-tied and seated in the yard outside. At least one woman named Christina Wind was also beaten by officers with batons. Women suffered injuries ranging from seizures, stroke and loss of eyesight. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the incident, officers were captured on body camera saying things like “Put them down with gas,” and “Fun, fun, fun, baby,” according to internal documents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mass use-of-force event led to the largest corrective action related to a single incident in state history, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Three correctional officers were fired and 31 more received discipline, ranging from reprimands to pay cuts. Several officers are still appealing those actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the agreement, $7.45 million would be split among the class members, while $2.5 million would go to their attorneys. Another lawsuit filed on behalf of 13 women who were injured during the incident was settled for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077737/california-agrees-to-1-9m-settlement-in-prison-use-of-force-case\">$1.9 million in March\u003c/a>, bringing the combined value of the settlements to nearly $12 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It was a gross violation of constitutional rights,” said attorney Mark Merin, who represents the women in the class action. “The state obviously recognizes that on some level and is coming forward with substantial compensation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prison agency has not admitted fault in either suit. CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the agency cannot comment on active litigation, but that the department “continues its commitment to safe and constitutional operations at all institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104812/put-them-down-with-gas-kqed-investigation-finds-abuse-and-retaliation-at-chowchilla-prison\">KQED investigation found\u003c/a> the mass use-of-force incident was carried out amid a striking rise in sexual assault complaints —known as Prison Rape Elimination Act complaints — at the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five women told KQED they believed the incident was intended to stop the flood of PREA complaints. But those allegations of retaliation were not looked into by the agency, according to documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090738\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/260630-CCWFTOUR-23-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers lead an incarcerated woman through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, California, on June 30, 2026. The prison is the largest women’s correctional facility in California, and the R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hardy wrote that CDCR “has implemented significant reforms to strengthen investigative processes, enhance facility oversight, expand fixed and Body Worn camera coverage, and improve PREA reporting pathways.” And she said the agency “is fully committed” to supporting sexual assault victims. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month, the CCWF warden \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">was transferred and demoted\u003c/a>, amid a new investigation into sexual abuse by officers at the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A judge is set to review the settlement agreement on Dec. 4. If it is approved, claim forms and notices will be mailed to the 142 women represented in the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I feel like [CDCR] should do a lot more,” Hernandez said. “I feel like all those officers [involved in Aug. 2] should be walked off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "northern-california-rep-proposes-new-pet-protections-in-wake-of-animal-welfare-probes",
"title": "Northern California Representative Proposes New Pet Protections in Wake of Animal Welfare Probes",
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"headTitle": "Northern California Representative Proposes New Pet Protections in Wake of Animal Welfare Probes | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Northern California congressman has proposed strengthening the country’s animal welfare laws after local and federal investigators \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088995/117-dog-remains-found-at-mirandas-rescue-during-multiagency-investigation\">uncovered a mass grave at an animal sanctuary\u003c/a> in Humboldt County earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It was a shocking story, and we were talking in my office about what can we do to really have some better teeth, some better tools, penalties, to stop this from happening?,” Rep. James Gallagher, R-Chico, said in an interview with KQED on Tuesday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://gallagher.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/gallagher.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Dunkins%20Law.pdf\">legislation\u003c/a> he introduced this week would amend the Animal Welfare Act to create a special designation for companion animals as “sentient beings.” It would give pet owners the ability to federally sue commercial pet facilities like boarding houses if their animal “suffers harm or neglect or dies” while in their care. It would not apply to farm animals or livestock.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gallagher was elected to the 1st Congressional District in a special election in June following the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. He is seeking reelection next week in the district —whose boundaries were redrawn under Proposition 50 — in a tight race against former state Sen. Mike McGuire. McGuire has also \u003ca href=\"https://sd02.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-pro-tem-emeritus-mike-mcguire-and-assemblymember-chris-rogers-issue-joint-statement\">expressed concerns\u003c/a> about Miranda’s Rescue and animal welfare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2292508700-44061c88-scaled-e1793145974125.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104200\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. James Gallagher arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 1, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Humboldt County Sheriff began investigating Miranda’s Rescue after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915363/the-whistleblowers-who-exposed-a-no-kill-shelter\">two local animal advocates\u003c/a> entered the sanctuary at night and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084725/bay-area-dogs-found-dead-at-humboldt-county-no-kill-rescue\">uncovered the bodies of eight dead dogs\u003c/a>, which they turned over to authorities. Rescue owner Shannon Miranda took in more than 900 dogs between Jan. 1, 2025, and May 2026, charging fees ranging from $400 to several thousand dollars per animal. As of last month, 750 of those dogs remained unaccounted for, according to the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Miranda has denied any wrongdoing and has not been arrested.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We remain laser-focused on this investigation and are committed to identifying and holding accountable every individual responsible for criminal acts of animal cruelty and fraud uncovered at this nonprofit animal rescue organization,” Sheriff William Honsal wrote in an email to KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honsal said the investigation, which has included the FBI, the USDA and the state attorney general’s office, has revealed the gaps in the animal welfare system, and that he appreciates Gallagher’s proposal. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“My hope is that something positive can come from this deeply disturbing case,” Honsal wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Dunkin’s Law” is named after a 2-year-old Bernese mountain dog that died of apparent heat exhaustion while in the care of a dog trainer in Los Angeles, according to documents provided to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In late August, Andrew Fedyk and Madeline White Fedyk sent Dunkin and their other dog, Poutine, for training with Smart Dogs Training Academy as due diligence because they had just had a baby. Fedyk, who is a DJ and part of the touring duo Loud Luxury, said Dunkin was a part of their family and “ pretty much the closest you can get to a perfect dog.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement sent to police, the couple said they were assured that the animals would be kept in air conditioning. But on Aug. 26, while the city was in the midst of a heat wave, Smart Dogs owner Jeff Todd called Fedyk, saying that Dunkin had died of apparent heat exhaustion. He had been at a park with another trainer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After discovering allegations from other pet owners whose dogs had died while in Todd’s care, the Fedyks decided to pursue criminal action. They told KQED an investigation by Los Angeles Animal Services is ongoing, but the agency did not respond to requests for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106990\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A photo of Andrew Fedyk and his Bernese mountain dog, Dunkin, who died in August 2026 in the care of an animal trainer. (Courtesy of Andrew Fedyk and Madeleine White Fedyk)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The passing of Dunkin is very sad and unfortunate,” Smart Dogs said in an email. “We do however maintain that allegations of any wrongdoing or negligence are completely false. There is no factual evidence to support these or the additional claims that have been made.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Fedyks said so far they are frustrated by the investigation, but they hope that new federal protections can improve the pet care industry and provide relief for people like them — and those who brought animals to the “no-kill” rescue in Fortuna. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“ We wanted to make sure that there [are] not people in this industry that do just see your dog as a dollar bill,” Madeleine White Fedyk said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gallagher said his office is sending out “ Dear Colleague” letters to other lawmakers to try and gather co-sponsors. Next, the bill would likely be referred for a hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was a shocking story, and we were talking in my office about what can we do to really have some better teeth, some better tools, penalties, to stop this from happening?,” Rep. James Gallagher, R-Chico, said in an interview with KQED on Tuesday. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://gallagher.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/gallagher.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Dunkins%20Law.pdf\">legislation\u003c/a> he introduced this week would amend the Animal Welfare Act to create a special designation for companion animals as “sentient beings.” It would give pet owners the ability to federally sue commercial pet facilities like boarding houses if their animal “suffers harm or neglect or dies” while in their care. It would not apply to farm animals or livestock.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gallagher was elected to the 1st Congressional District in a special election in June following the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. He is seeking reelection next week in the district —whose boundaries were redrawn under Proposition 50 — in a tight race against former state Sen. Mike McGuire. McGuire has also \u003ca href=\"https://sd02.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-pro-tem-emeritus-mike-mcguire-and-assemblymember-chris-rogers-issue-joint-statement\">expressed concerns\u003c/a> about Miranda’s Rescue and animal welfare.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Humboldt County Sheriff began investigating Miranda’s Rescue after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915363/the-whistleblowers-who-exposed-a-no-kill-shelter\">two local animal advocates\u003c/a> entered the sanctuary at night and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084725/bay-area-dogs-found-dead-at-humboldt-county-no-kill-rescue\">uncovered the bodies of eight dead dogs\u003c/a>, which they turned over to authorities. Rescue owner Shannon Miranda took in more than 900 dogs between Jan. 1, 2025, and May 2026, charging fees ranging from $400 to several thousand dollars per animal. As of last month, 750 of those dogs remained unaccounted for, according to the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Humboldt County Sheriff began investigating Miranda’s Rescue after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915363/the-whistleblowers-who-exposed-a-no-kill-shelter\">two local animal advocates\u003c/a> entered the sanctuary at night and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084725/bay-area-dogs-found-dead-at-humboldt-county-no-kill-rescue\">uncovered the bodies of eight dead dogs\u003c/a>, which they turned over to authorities. Rescue owner Shannon Miranda took in more than 900 dogs between Jan. 1, 2025, and May 2026, charging fees ranging from $400 to several thousand dollars per animal. As of last month, 750 of those dogs remained unaccounted for, according to the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We remain laser-focused on this investigation and are committed to identifying and holding accountable every individual responsible for criminal acts of animal cruelty and fraud uncovered at this nonprofit animal rescue organization,” Sheriff William Honsal wrote in an email to KQED. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Honsal said the investigation, which has included the FBI, the USDA and the state attorney general’s office, has revealed the gaps in the animal welfare system, and that he appreciates Gallagher’s proposal. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My hope is that something positive can come from this deeply disturbing case,” Honsal wrote.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Dunkin’s Law” is named after a 2-year-old Bernese mountain dog that died of apparent heat exhaustion while in the care of a dog trainer in Los Angeles, according to documents provided to KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In late August, Andrew Fedyk and Madeline White Fedyk sent Dunkin and their other dog, Poutine, for training with Smart Dogs Training Academy as due diligence because they had just had a baby. Fedyk, who is a DJ and part of the touring duo Loud Luxury, said Dunkin was a part of their family and “ pretty much the closest you can get to a perfect dog.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In late August, Andrew Fedyk and Madeline White Fedyk sent Dunkin and their other dog, Poutine, for training with Smart Dogs Training Academy as due diligence because they had just had a baby. Fedyk, who is a DJ and part of the touring duo Loud Luxury, said Dunkin was a part of their family and “ pretty much the closest you can get to a perfect dog.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement sent to police, the couple said they were assured that the animals would be kept in air conditioning. But on Aug. 26, while the city was in the midst of a heat wave, Smart Dogs owner Jeff Todd called Fedyk, saying that Dunkin had died of apparent heat exhaustion. He had been at a park with another trainer. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a statement sent to police, the couple said they were assured that the animals would be kept in air conditioning. But on Aug. 26, while the city was in the midst of a heat wave, Smart Dogs owner Jeff Todd called Fedyk, saying that Dunkin had died of apparent heat exhaustion. He had been at a park with another trainer. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After discovering allegations from other pet owners whose dogs had died while in Todd’s care, the Fedyks decided to pursue criminal action. They told KQED an investigation by Los Angeles Animal Services is ongoing, but the agency did not respond to requests for comment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After discovering allegations from other pet owners whose dogs had died while in Todd’s care, the Fedyks decided to pursue criminal action. They told KQED an investigation by Los Angeles Animal Services is ongoing, but the agency did not respond to requests for comment. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106990\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A photo of Andrew Fedyk and his Bernese mountain dog, Dunkin, who died in August 2026 in the care of an animal trainer. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Andrew Fedyk and Madeleine White Fedyk)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The passing of Dunkin is very sad and unfortunate,” Smart Dogs said in an email. “We do however maintain that allegations of any wrongdoing or negligence are completely false. There is no factual evidence to support these or the additional claims that have been made.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Fedyks said so far they are frustrated by the investigation, but they hope that new federal protections can improve the pet care industry and provide relief for people like them — and those who brought animals to the “no-kill” rescue in Fortuna. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ We wanted to make sure that there [are] not people in this industry that do just see your dog as a dollar bill,” Madeleine White Fedyk said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gallagher said his office is sending out “ Dear Colleague” letters to other lawmakers to try and gather co-sponsors. Next, the bill would likely be referred for a hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The legislation would make it easier to hold commercial pet facilities accountable for harm, after the discovery of a mass dog grave in Humboldt County this summer. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Northern California congressman has proposed strengthening the country’s animal welfare laws after local and federal investigators \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12088995/117-dog-remains-found-at-mirandas-rescue-during-multiagency-investigation\">uncovered a mass grave at an animal sanctuary\u003c/a> in Humboldt County earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It was a shocking story, and we were talking in my office about what can we do to really have some better teeth, some better tools, penalties, to stop this from happening?,” Rep. James Gallagher, R-Chico, said in an interview with KQED on Tuesday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://gallagher.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/gallagher.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Dunkins%20Law.pdf\">legislation\u003c/a> he introduced this week would amend the Animal Welfare Act to create a special designation for companion animals as “sentient beings.” It would give pet owners the ability to federally sue commercial pet facilities like boarding houses if their animal “suffers harm or neglect or dies” while in their care. It would not apply to farm animals or livestock.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gallagher was elected to the 1st Congressional District in a special election in June following the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. He is seeking reelection next week in the district —whose boundaries were redrawn under Proposition 50 — in a tight race against former state Sen. Mike McGuire. McGuire has also \u003ca href=\"https://sd02.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-pro-tem-emeritus-mike-mcguire-and-assemblymember-chris-rogers-issue-joint-statement\">expressed concerns\u003c/a> about Miranda’s Rescue and animal welfare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2292508700-44061c88-scaled-e1793145974125.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104200\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. James Gallagher arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 1, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Humboldt County Sheriff began investigating Miranda’s Rescue after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915363/the-whistleblowers-who-exposed-a-no-kill-shelter\">two local animal advocates\u003c/a> entered the sanctuary at night and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084725/bay-area-dogs-found-dead-at-humboldt-county-no-kill-rescue\">uncovered the bodies of eight dead dogs\u003c/a>, which they turned over to authorities. Rescue owner Shannon Miranda took in more than 900 dogs between Jan. 1, 2025, and May 2026, charging fees ranging from $400 to several thousand dollars per animal. As of last month, 750 of those dogs remained unaccounted for, according to the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Miranda has denied any wrongdoing and has not been arrested.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We remain laser-focused on this investigation and are committed to identifying and holding accountable every individual responsible for criminal acts of animal cruelty and fraud uncovered at this nonprofit animal rescue organization,” Sheriff William Honsal wrote in an email to KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honsal said the investigation, which has included the FBI, the USDA and the state attorney general’s office, has revealed the gaps in the animal welfare system, and that he appreciates Gallagher’s proposal. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“My hope is that something positive can come from this deeply disturbing case,” Honsal wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Dunkin’s Law” is named after a 2-year-old Bernese mountain dog that died of apparent heat exhaustion while in the care of a dog trainer in Los Angeles, according to documents provided to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In late August, Andrew Fedyk and Madeline White Fedyk sent Dunkin and their other dog, Poutine, for training with Smart Dogs Training Academy as due diligence because they had just had a baby. Fedyk, who is a DJ and part of the touring duo Loud Luxury, said Dunkin was a part of their family and “ pretty much the closest you can get to a perfect dog.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement sent to police, the couple said they were assured that the animals would be kept in air conditioning. But on Aug. 26, while the city was in the midst of a heat wave, Smart Dogs owner Jeff Todd called Fedyk, saying that Dunkin had died of apparent heat exhaustion. He had been at a park with another trainer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After discovering allegations from other pet owners whose dogs had died while in Todd’s care, the Fedyks decided to pursue criminal action. They told KQED an investigation by Los Angeles Animal Services is ongoing, but the agency did not respond to requests for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106990\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261028_CompanionAnimalsLaw-KQED-ca1a1803-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A photo of Andrew Fedyk and his Bernese mountain dog, Dunkin, who died in August 2026 in the care of an animal trainer. (Courtesy of Andrew Fedyk and Madeleine White Fedyk)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The passing of Dunkin is very sad and unfortunate,” Smart Dogs said in an email. “We do however maintain that allegations of any wrongdoing or negligence are completely false. There is no factual evidence to support these or the additional claims that have been made.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Fedyks said so far they are frustrated by the investigation, but they hope that new federal protections can improve the pet care industry and provide relief for people like them — and those who brought animals to the “no-kill” rescue in Fortuna. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“ We wanted to make sure that there [are] not people in this industry that do just see your dog as a dollar bill,” Madeleine White Fedyk said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gallagher said his office is sending out “ Dear Colleague” letters to other lawmakers to try and gather co-sponsors. Next, the bill would likely be referred for a hearing in the House Committee on Agriculture.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-corruption-trial-fbi-agent-testimony-stretches-into-fifth-day",
"title": "Thao Trial: Defense Attorneys Poke Holes in FBI’s Oakland Corruption Investigation",
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"headTitle": "Thao Trial: Defense Attorneys Poke Holes in FBI’s Oakland Corruption Investigation | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the course of four days in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103084/ex-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-is-going-on-trial-for-bribery-heres-what-you-need-to-know\">federal corruption trial\u003c/a> of former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Mayor Sheng Thao, an FBI agent’s testimony has allowed the court to admit thousands of pages of private texts, digital files and audio recordings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on what the government believes that evidence proves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Special FBI Agent Katherine Barclay completed her testimony on Tuesday, after providing nearly 20 hours of testimony. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly promising to trade campaign support for Thao’s mayoral campaign, and a $300,000 bribe for favorable treatment for the Duongs’ businesses and interests. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All four have pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here’s what Barclay’s testimony and cross-examination revealed so far about the alleged quid pro quo:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who paid what for 2022 campaign mailers?\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense team called into question who paid for negative campaign mailers attacking Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents, which prosecutors say are central to the alleged bribery scheme. Government attorneys have alleged the Duongs paid Mario Juarez, a former business partner, to produce them, pointing to a $75,000 payment that Andy Duong discussed with Juarez via text in October 2022 as evidence supporting their claim. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But on Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense attorney Erik Babcock pointed to expense filings that Juarez filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that indicate he spent a total of around $110,000 on two mailers attacking Thao’s opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098354\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Duong exits the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, was criminally indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation that centered on City Hall and the powerful Duong family that operates the city’s curbside recycling program, a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“So he didn’t claim to have spent $75,000, did he?” Babcock asked the FBI agent.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay confirmed that was not the total he wrote on his FPPC forms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later, though, Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Priedeman, an attorney for the prosecution, directed Barclay back to the document from Juarez’s iCloud account that lays out the alleged “Deal Points for Sheng Thao.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It includes two line items related to the mailers: a $75,000 payment from California Waste Solutions, and a separate $40,000 advance payment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“That roughly adds up to $110,000, right?” she asked Barclay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Yes,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes job wasn’t on his computer\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors also asked Barclay earlier in her testimony about a number of devices that the FBI confiscated during a series of early morning raids on June 20, 2024, which included the home Thao and Jones shared, both David and Andy Duong’s homes, and the waterfront offices of California Waste Solutions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the pieces of evidence was Jones’ laptop. On it, Barclay said, investigators found no references to Evolutionary Homes — a housing startup Andy Duong founded with Juarez — where Jones purported to work as a government relations specialist. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between December 2022 and January 2023, Jones cashed five checks from Juarez totaling $20,000 for his work at the housing startup, according to a government indictment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in January 2024, Jones was not listed on an organizational chart for the company, which Cecilia Mendez, a former California Waste Solutions employee and Juarez’s onetime romantic partner, sent to the Duongs and others.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors say the multiple checks from Evolutionary Homes and another of Juarez’s companies, called Ciudad Holdings, were bribes, but Jones’ attorneys have characterized them as advances to “keep him available” to work as a consultant selling contracts to municipalities once their container homes were ready to be sold.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones’ attorney spent time during his opening statement pointing to Evolutionary Homes presentations that list him as an employee, as well as a note that indicates he was going to get business cards made by the company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his cross examination of Barclay on Tuesday, Jones’ attorney Mark Goldrosen pointed out that a contact page on the Evolutionary Homes website didn’t include a comprehensive list of employees — it didn’t have information for reaching Cecily Frost, an Evolutionary Homes representative, or Michael Duong, who he suggested was the company’s chief financial officer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investigators did, however, find evidence on Jones’ computer that he worked for another company, called Kearns and West, a national communications firm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thao and Jones financial struggles come to light\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay’s testimony also allowed for the admission of a number of text exchanges between Thao and Jones regarding their bills. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the course of at least two years when they lived together, Thao sent messages to Jones multiple times reminding him to pay rent. At one point, their landlord told them that, after several months when Jones didn’t pay his portion of the rent on time, the couple would need to provide a cashier’s check, instead of using online deposits. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andre Jones, longtime partner of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and a co-defendant in her federal corruption trial, enters the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the trial, prosecutors have raised questions about Jones’ financial status. In 2021 and 2022, Jones and Thao split rent payments or Thao paid them in their entirety. But beginning in January 2023, when Jones began receiving payments from Evolutionary Homes, he began to cover the couple’s monthly rent payments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors have tried to link that shift — Jones’ payments toward his and Thao’s living expenses — to his receiving money for a “now-show” job from Evolutionary Homes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April 2022, Thao texted Jones: “I don’t have enough to cover rent by myself this month. Your mom hasn’t pitched in on any bills either.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May 2023, Thao texted Jones that PG&E wanted $6,000 to turn their power back on, and in another message from November 2023, she said: “Please don’t turn on heater, please turn off lights and electricity. The bill this month is 3000 I cannot pay that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Evolutionary Homes’ rendering of a proposed container home unit for people who are exiting homelessness. (Courtesy of Evolutionary Homes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Nov. 29 of that year, Jones deposited a check from Evolutionary Homes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Goldrosen tried to dispel prosecutors’ connection between Jones’ bill payment and checks from Evolutionary Homes. He asked Barclay if she had looked into Jones’ and Thao’s financial records to see if they paid a $3,000 bill to PG&E between Nov. 14, when Thao sent a text about that bill, and Nov. 29, when Jones deposited the check from Evolutionary homes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Wouldn’t it have been important to see if any payments were made to that PG&E bill before the payment from Evolutionary Homes?” Goldrosen asked. “But you yourself didn’t look into that, did you?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay said she did not. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Barclay told the court that in a series of interviews, Juarez alleged “that other local politicians had taken bribes.” Tsai then went on to ask her if the government had interviewed a number of current and former Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro elected officials. She said it had not, except in one case; that politician declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KQED is not naming the elected officials, because the claims have not been substantiated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense attorneys have repeatedly attempted to discredit Juarez’s allegations to cast further doubt on Juarez as a witness. He’s been called a “consummate hustler” with a “decades-long history” of fraudulent behavior.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, Barclay identified the voices in a series of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">phone calls\u003c/a> Andy Duong recorded with Thao, Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and others — many of which were seemingly recorded without their knowledge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jenkins previously told KQED it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the call because he is a government witness. Bas is also expected to testify later in the trial. Neither politician has been accused of wrongdoing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098817\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The California Waste Solutions headquarters at 1211 Embarcadero, in Oakland, on Sept. 8, 2026. The company provides curbside recycling service in Oakland. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one phone conversation between Thao and Andy Duong in April 2019, made public in court filings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">last month\u003c/a>, Thao told him about a confidential conversation the Oakland City Council had regarding a legal dispute with his family’s recycling company, California Waste Solutions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly overcharging rate payers. The recycling vendor countersued, alleging Oakland breached its contract, and the parties settled in 2021 with California Waste Solutions \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/09/cws-oakland-lawsuit-recycling-contract-duong-fbi/\">agreeing to pay ratepayers $6 million\u003c/a> in alleged overcharges. The city of Oakland paid the company nearly $2 million and released it from agreements the company made to pay for waste studies and community outreach totaling about $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During that litigation, in 2019, Thao told Andy Duong that multiple council members had questions about a potential refund his family’s company could have been required to give ratepayers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, who was then a first-term city councilmember, advised Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day: “This is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103152\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks during a rally against her recall at Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland on Oct. 15, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao goes on to say that she, Andy Duong, and others attending the meeting, who aren’t explicitly named, should meet in a private place for lunch, “because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In another call from September 2023, Thao tells Andy Duong that he and his business partners will have to “pick and choose” between her support and that of two council members at the time, Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’m not f–king with those bitches, they don’t do me any favors at all,” Thao can be heard saying on the call.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What comes next\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Barclay wrapped up her lengthy testimony, FBI intelligence analyst Katherine Higgons briefly testified Tuesday about participating in the June 20, 2024, search of Andy Duong’s house. She said she found a watch and chain in Andy Duong’s garage, which Juarez has alleged was stolen from him during a May 2024 altercation with the Duongs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, Cecilia Mendez will testify. She is Juarez’s former romantic partner and an Evolutionary Homes representative. Prosecutors say she made a number of recordings of Evolutionary Homes board meetings they plan to play when she takes the stand. \u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [
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"\n\u003cp>Over the course of four days in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103084/ex-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-is-going-on-trial-for-bribery-heres-what-you-need-to-know\">federal corruption trial\u003c/a> of former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Mayor Sheng Thao, an FBI agent’s testimony has allowed the court to admit thousands of pages of private texts, digital files and audio recordings.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Special FBI Agent Katherine Barclay completed her testimony on Tuesday, after providing nearly 20 hours of testimony. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly promising to trade campaign support for Thao’s mayoral campaign, and a $300,000 bribe for favorable treatment for the Duongs’ businesses and interests. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly promising to trade campaign support for Thao’s mayoral campaign, and a $300,000 bribe for favorable treatment for the Duongs’ businesses and interests. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Here’s what Barclay’s testimony and cross-examination revealed so far about the alleged quid pro quo:\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Here’s what Barclay’s testimony and cross-examination revealed so far about the alleged quid pro quo:\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "Who paid what for 2022 campaign mailers? ",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who paid what for 2022 campaign mailers?\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who paid what for 2022 campaign mailers?\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense team called into question who paid for negative campaign mailers attacking Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents, which prosecutors say are central to the alleged bribery scheme. Government attorneys have alleged the Duongs paid Mario Juarez, a former business partner, to produce them, pointing to a $75,000 payment that Andy Duong discussed with Juarez via text in October 2022 as evidence supporting their claim. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense team called into question who paid for negative campaign mailers attacking Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents, which prosecutors say are central to the alleged bribery scheme. Government attorneys have alleged the Duongs paid Mario Juarez, a former business partner, to produce them, pointing to a $75,000 payment that Andy Duong discussed with Juarez via text in October 2022 as evidence supporting their claim. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But on Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense attorney Erik Babcock pointed to expense filings that Juarez filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that indicate he spent a total of around $110,000 on two mailers attacking Thao’s opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But on Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense attorney Erik Babcock pointed to expense filings that Juarez filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that indicate he spent a total of around $110,000 on two mailers attacking Thao’s opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098354\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Duong exits the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, was criminally indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation that centered on City Hall and the powerful Duong family that operates the city’s curbside recycling program, a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098354\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Duong exits the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, was criminally indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation that centered on City Hall and the powerful Duong family that operates the city’s curbside recycling program, a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“So he didn’t claim to have spent $75,000, did he?” Babcock asked the FBI agent.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay confirmed that was not the total he wrote on his FPPC forms. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Later, though, Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Priedeman, an attorney for the prosecution, directed Barclay back to the document from Juarez’s iCloud account that lays out the alleged “Deal Points for Sheng Thao.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Later, though, Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Priedeman, an attorney for the prosecution, directed Barclay back to the document from Juarez’s iCloud account that lays out the alleged “Deal Points for Sheng Thao.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It includes two line items related to the mailers: a $75,000 payment from California Waste Solutions, and a separate $40,000 advance payment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It includes two line items related to the mailers: a $75,000 payment from California Waste Solutions, and a separate $40,000 advance payment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That roughly adds up to $110,000, right?” she asked Barclay. \u003c/p>\n",
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes job wasn’t on his computer",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes job wasn’t on his computer\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes job wasn’t on his computer\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors also asked Barclay earlier in her testimony about a number of devices that the FBI confiscated during a series of early morning raids on June 20, 2024, which included the home Thao and Jones shared, both David and Andy Duong’s homes, and the waterfront offices of California Waste Solutions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors also asked Barclay earlier in her testimony about a number of devices that the FBI confiscated during a series of early morning raids on June 20, 2024, which included the home Thao and Jones shared, both David and Andy Duong’s homes, and the waterfront offices of California Waste Solutions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the pieces of evidence was Jones’ laptop. On it, Barclay said, investigators found no references to Evolutionary Homes — a housing startup Andy Duong founded with Juarez — where Jones purported to work as a government relations specialist. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One of the pieces of evidence was Jones’ laptop. On it, Barclay said, investigators found no references to Evolutionary Homes — a housing startup Andy Duong founded with Juarez — where Jones purported to work as a government relations specialist. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Between December 2022 and January 2023, Jones cashed five checks from Juarez totaling $20,000 for his work at the housing startup, according to a government indictment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Between December 2022 and January 2023, Jones cashed five checks from Juarez totaling $20,000 for his work at the housing startup, according to a government indictment. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But in January 2024, Jones was not listed on an organizational chart for the company, which Cecilia Mendez, a former California Waste Solutions employee and Juarez’s onetime romantic partner, sent to the Duongs and others.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But in January 2024, Jones was not listed on an organizational chart for the company, which Cecilia Mendez, a former California Waste Solutions employee and Juarez’s onetime romantic partner, sent to the Duongs and others.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors say the multiple checks from Evolutionary Homes and another of Juarez’s companies, called Ciudad Holdings, were bribes, but Jones’ attorneys have characterized them as advances to “keep him available” to work as a consultant selling contracts to municipalities once their container homes were ready to be sold.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors say the multiple checks from Evolutionary Homes and another of Juarez’s companies, called Ciudad Holdings, were bribes, but Jones’ attorneys have characterized them as advances to “keep him available” to work as a consultant selling contracts to municipalities once their container homes were ready to be sold.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jones’ attorney spent time during his opening statement pointing to Evolutionary Homes presentations that list him as an employee, as well as a note that indicates he was going to get business cards made by the company. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Jones’ attorney spent time during his opening statement pointing to Evolutionary Homes presentations that list him as an employee, as well as a note that indicates he was going to get business cards made by the company. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During his cross examination of Barclay on Tuesday, Jones’ attorney Mark Goldrosen pointed out that a contact page on the Evolutionary Homes website didn’t include a comprehensive list of employees — it didn’t have information for reaching Cecily Frost, an Evolutionary Homes representative, or Michael Duong, who he suggested was the company’s chief financial officer. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During his cross examination of Barclay on Tuesday, Jones’ attorney Mark Goldrosen pointed out that a contact page on the Evolutionary Homes website didn’t include a comprehensive list of employees — it didn’t have information for reaching Cecily Frost, an Evolutionary Homes representative, or Michael Duong, who he suggested was the company’s chief financial officer. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Investigators did, however, find evidence on Jones’ computer that he worked for another company, called Kearns and West, a national communications firm.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Investigators did, however, find evidence on Jones’ computer that he worked for another company, called Kearns and West, a national communications firm.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay’s testimony also allowed for the admission of a number of text exchanges between Thao and Jones regarding their bills. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Over the course of at least two years when they lived together, Thao sent messages to Jones multiple times reminding him to pay rent. At one point, their landlord told them that, after several months when Jones didn’t pay his portion of the rent on time, the couple would need to provide a cashier’s check, instead of using online deposits. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Over the course of at least two years when they lived together, Thao sent messages to Jones multiple times reminding him to pay rent. At one point, their landlord told them that, after several months when Jones didn’t pay his portion of the rent on time, the couple would need to provide a cashier’s check, instead of using online deposits. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andre Jones, longtime partner of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and a co-defendant in her federal corruption trial, enters the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104320\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andre Jones, longtime partner of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and a co-defendant in her federal corruption trial, enters the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Throughout the trial, prosecutors have raised questions about Jones’ financial status. In 2021 and 2022, Jones and Thao split rent payments or Thao paid them in their entirety. But beginning in January 2023, when Jones began receiving payments from Evolutionary Homes, he began to cover the couple’s monthly rent payments.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Throughout the trial, prosecutors have raised questions about Jones’ financial status. In 2021 and 2022, Jones and Thao split rent payments or Thao paid them in their entirety. But beginning in January 2023, when Jones began receiving payments from Evolutionary Homes, he began to cover the couple’s monthly rent payments.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors have tried to link that shift — Jones’ payments toward his and Thao’s living expenses — to his receiving money for a “now-show” job from Evolutionary Homes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors have tried to link that shift — Jones’ payments toward his and Thao’s living expenses — to his receiving money for a “now-show” job from Evolutionary Homes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In April 2022, Thao texted Jones: “I don’t have enough to cover rent by myself this month. Your mom hasn’t pitched in on any bills either.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In April 2022, Thao texted Jones: “I don’t have enough to cover rent by myself this month. Your mom hasn’t pitched in on any bills either.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In May 2023, Thao texted Jones that PG&E wanted $6,000 to turn their power back on, and in another message from November 2023, she said: “Please don’t turn on heater, please turn off lights and electricity. The bill this month is 3000 I cannot pay that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In May 2023, Thao texted Jones that PG&E wanted $6,000 to turn their power back on, and in another message from November 2023, she said: “Please don’t turn on heater, please turn off lights and electricity. The bill this month is 3000 I cannot pay that.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Evolutionary Homes’ rendering of a proposed container home unit for people who are exiting homelessness. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Evolutionary Homes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103337\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Evolutionary Homes’ rendering of a proposed container home unit for people who are exiting homelessness. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Evolutionary Homes)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Nov. 29 of that year, Jones deposited a check from Evolutionary Homes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Nov. 29 of that year, Jones deposited a check from Evolutionary Homes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Goldrosen tried to dispel prosecutors’ connection between Jones’ bill payment and checks from Evolutionary Homes. He asked Barclay if she had looked into Jones’ and Thao’s financial records to see if they paid a $3,000 bill to PG&E between Nov. 14, when Thao sent a text about that bill, and Nov. 29, when Jones deposited the check from Evolutionary homes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Goldrosen tried to dispel prosecutors’ connection between Jones’ bill payment and checks from Evolutionary Homes. He asked Barclay if she had looked into Jones’ and Thao’s financial records to see if they paid a $3,000 bill to PG&E between Nov. 14, when Thao sent a text about that bill, and Nov. 29, when Jones deposited the check from Evolutionary homes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Wouldn’t it have been important to see if any payments were made to that PG&E bill before the payment from Evolutionary Homes?” Goldrosen asked. “But you yourself didn’t look into that, did you?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Wouldn’t it have been important to see if any payments were made to that PG&E bill before the payment from Evolutionary Homes?” Goldrosen asked. “But you yourself didn’t look into that, did you?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay said she did not. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay said she did not. \u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Monday, Barclay told the court that in a series of interviews, Juarez alleged “that other local politicians had taken bribes.” Tsai then went on to ask her if the government had interviewed a number of current and former Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro elected officials. She said it had not, except in one case; that politician declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Monday, Barclay told the court that in a series of interviews, Juarez alleged “that other local politicians had taken bribes.” Tsai then went on to ask her if the government had interviewed a number of current and former Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro elected officials. She said it had not, except in one case; that politician declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED is not naming the elected officials, because the claims have not been substantiated. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED is not naming the elected officials, because the claims have not been substantiated. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Defense attorneys have repeatedly attempted to discredit Juarez’s allegations to cast further doubt on Juarez as a witness. He’s been called a “consummate hustler” with a “decades-long history” of fraudulent behavior.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Defense attorneys have repeatedly attempted to discredit Juarez’s allegations to cast further doubt on Juarez as a witness. He’s been called a “consummate hustler” with a “decades-long history” of fraudulent behavior.\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
"attrs": {
"text": "Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last week, Barclay identified the voices in a series of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">phone calls\u003c/a> Andy Duong recorded with Thao, Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and others — many of which were seemingly recorded without their knowledge. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Last week, Barclay identified the voices in a series of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">phone calls\u003c/a> Andy Duong recorded with Thao, Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and others — many of which were seemingly recorded without their knowledge. \u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/paragraph",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jenkins previously told KQED it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the call because he is a government witness. Bas is also expected to testify later in the trial. Neither politician has been accused of wrongdoing. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Jenkins previously told KQED it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the call because he is a government witness. Bas is also expected to testify later in the trial. Neither politician has been accused of wrongdoing. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098817\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The California Waste Solutions headquarters at 1211 Embarcadero, in Oakland, on Sept. 8, 2026. The company provides curbside recycling service in Oakland.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098817\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The California Waste Solutions headquarters at 1211 Embarcadero, in Oakland, on Sept. 8, 2026. The company provides curbside recycling service in Oakland.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In one phone conversation between Thao and Andy Duong in April 2019, made public in court filings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">last month\u003c/a>, Thao told him about a confidential conversation the Oakland City Council had regarding a legal dispute with his family’s recycling company, California Waste Solutions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In one phone conversation between Thao and Andy Duong in April 2019, made public in court filings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">last month\u003c/a>, Thao told him about a confidential conversation the Oakland City Council had regarding a legal dispute with his family’s recycling company, California Waste Solutions. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly overcharging rate payers. The recycling vendor countersued, alleging Oakland breached its contract, and the parties settled in 2021 with California Waste Solutions \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/09/cws-oakland-lawsuit-recycling-contract-duong-fbi/\">agreeing to pay ratepayers $6 million\u003c/a> in alleged overcharges. The city of Oakland paid the company nearly $2 million and released it from agreements the company made to pay for waste studies and community outreach totaling about $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly overcharging rate payers. The recycling vendor countersued, alleging Oakland breached its contract, and the parties settled in 2021 with California Waste Solutions \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/09/cws-oakland-lawsuit-recycling-contract-duong-fbi/\">agreeing to pay ratepayers $6 million\u003c/a> in alleged overcharges. The city of Oakland paid the company nearly $2 million and released it from agreements the company made to pay for waste studies and community outreach totaling about $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During that litigation, in 2019, Thao told Andy Duong that multiple council members had questions about a potential refund his family’s company could have been required to give ratepayers. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>During that litigation, in 2019, Thao told Andy Duong that multiple council members had questions about a potential refund his family’s company could have been required to give ratepayers. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao, who was then a first-term city councilmember, advised Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day: “This is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this.”\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Thao, who was then a first-term city councilmember, advised Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day: “This is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
"sizes": "(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103152\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks during a rally against her recall at Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland on Oct. 15, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103152\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks during a rally against her recall at Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland on Oct. 15, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao goes on to say that she, Andy Duong, and others attending the meeting, who aren’t explicitly named, should meet in a private place for lunch, “because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thao goes on to say that she, Andy Duong, and others attending the meeting, who aren’t explicitly named, should meet in a private place for lunch, “because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In another call from September 2023, Thao tells Andy Duong that he and his business partners will have to “pick and choose” between her support and that of two council members at the time, Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In another call from September 2023, Thao tells Andy Duong that he and his business partners will have to “pick and choose” between her support and that of two council members at the time, Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’m not f–king with those bitches, they don’t do me any favors at all,” Thao can be heard saying on the call.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>“I’m not f–king with those bitches, they don’t do me any favors at all,” Thao can be heard saying on the call.\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "What comes next",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What comes next\u003c/h2>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What comes next\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Barclay wrapped up her lengthy testimony, FBI intelligence analyst Katherine Higgons briefly testified Tuesday about participating in the June 20, 2024, search of Andy Duong’s house. She said she found a watch and chain in Andy Duong’s garage, which Juarez has alleged was stolen from him during a May 2024 altercation with the Duongs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After Barclay wrapped up her lengthy testimony, FBI intelligence analyst Katherine Higgons briefly testified Tuesday about participating in the June 20, 2024, search of Andy Duong’s house. She said she found a watch and chain in Andy Duong’s garage, which Juarez has alleged was stolen from him during a May 2024 altercation with the Duongs. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Cecilia Mendez will testify. She is Juarez’s former romantic partner and an Evolutionary Homes representative. Prosecutors say she made a number of recordings of Evolutionary Homes board meetings they plan to play when she takes the stand. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, Cecilia Mendez will testify. She is Juarez’s former romantic partner and an Evolutionary Homes representative. Prosecutors say she made a number of recordings of Evolutionary Homes board meetings they plan to play when she takes the stand. \u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "After prosecutors introduced thousands of pages of private text messages, recorded phone calls and digital files, defense attorneys tried to poke holes in what the government believes the evidence proves.",
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"title": "Thao Trial: Defense Attorneys Poke Holes in FBI’s Oakland Corruption Investigation | KQED",
"description": "After prosecutors introduced thousands of pages of private text messages, recorded phone calls and digital files, defense attorneys tried to poke holes in what the government believes the evidence proves.",
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"headline": "Thao Trial: Defense Attorneys Poke Holes in FBI’s Oakland Corruption Investigation",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the course of four days in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103084/ex-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-is-going-on-trial-for-bribery-heres-what-you-need-to-know\">federal corruption trial\u003c/a> of former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Mayor Sheng Thao, an FBI agent’s testimony has allowed the court to admit thousands of pages of private texts, digital files and audio recordings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, defense attorneys tried to cast doubt on what the government believes that evidence proves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Special FBI Agent Katherine Barclay completed her testimony on Tuesday, after providing nearly 20 hours of testimony. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son Andy Duong face bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly promising to trade campaign support for Thao’s mayoral campaign, and a $300,000 bribe for favorable treatment for the Duongs’ businesses and interests. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All four have pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here’s what Barclay’s testimony and cross-examination revealed so far about the alleged quid pro quo:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who paid what for 2022 campaign mailers?\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense team called into question who paid for negative campaign mailers attacking Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents, which prosecutors say are central to the alleged bribery scheme. Government attorneys have alleged the Duongs paid Mario Juarez, a former business partner, to produce them, pointing to a $75,000 payment that Andy Duong discussed with Juarez via text in October 2022 as evidence supporting their claim. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But on Tuesday, Andy Duong’s defense attorney Erik Babcock pointed to expense filings that Juarez filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that indicate he spent a total of around $110,000 on two mailers attacking Thao’s opponents, Loren Taylor and Ignacio De La Fuente. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098354\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-16-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andy Duong exits the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, was criminally indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation that centered on City Hall and the powerful Duong family that operates the city’s curbside recycling program, a source familiar with the matter told the Chronicle. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“So he didn’t claim to have spent $75,000, did he?” Babcock asked the FBI agent.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay confirmed that was not the total he wrote on his FPPC forms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later, though, Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Priedeman, an attorney for the prosecution, directed Barclay back to the document from Juarez’s iCloud account that lays out the alleged “Deal Points for Sheng Thao.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It includes two line items related to the mailers: a $75,000 payment from California Waste Solutions, and a separate $40,000 advance payment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“That roughly adds up to $110,000, right?” she asked Barclay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Yes,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andre Jones’ Evolutionary Homes job wasn’t on his computer\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors also asked Barclay earlier in her testimony about a number of devices that the FBI confiscated during a series of early morning raids on June 20, 2024, which included the home Thao and Jones shared, both David and Andy Duong’s homes, and the waterfront offices of California Waste Solutions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the pieces of evidence was Jones’ laptop. On it, Barclay said, investigators found no references to Evolutionary Homes — a housing startup Andy Duong founded with Juarez — where Jones purported to work as a government relations specialist. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between December 2022 and January 2023, Jones cashed five checks from Juarez totaling $20,000 for his work at the housing startup, according to a government indictment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in January 2024, Jones was not listed on an organizational chart for the company, which Cecilia Mendez, a former California Waste Solutions employee and Juarez’s onetime romantic partner, sent to the Duongs and others.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors say the multiple checks from Evolutionary Homes and another of Juarez’s companies, called Ciudad Holdings, were bribes, but Jones’ attorneys have characterized them as advances to “keep him available” to work as a consultant selling contracts to municipalities once their container homes were ready to be sold.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones’ attorney spent time during his opening statement pointing to Evolutionary Homes presentations that list him as an employee, as well as a note that indicates he was going to get business cards made by the company. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his cross examination of Barclay on Tuesday, Jones’ attorney Mark Goldrosen pointed out that a contact page on the Evolutionary Homes website didn’t include a comprehensive list of employees — it didn’t have information for reaching Cecily Frost, an Evolutionary Homes representative, or Michael Duong, who he suggested was the company’s chief financial officer. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Investigators did, however, find evidence on Jones’ computer that he worked for another company, called Kearns and West, a national communications firm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Thao and Jones financial struggles come to light\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay’s testimony also allowed for the admission of a number of text exchanges between Thao and Jones regarding their bills. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the course of at least two years when they lived together, Thao sent messages to Jones multiple times reminding him to pay rent. At one point, their landlord told them that, after several months when Jones didn’t pay his portion of the rent on time, the couple would need to provide a cashier’s check, instead of using online deposits. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-13-BL-KQED-e1d5bdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Andre Jones, longtime partner of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and a co-defendant in her federal corruption trial, enters the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Throughout the trial, prosecutors have raised questions about Jones’ financial status. In 2021 and 2022, Jones and Thao split rent payments or Thao paid them in their entirety. But beginning in January 2023, when Jones began receiving payments from Evolutionary Homes, he began to cover the couple’s monthly rent payments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors have tried to link that shift — Jones’ payments toward his and Thao’s living expenses — to his receiving money for a “now-show” job from Evolutionary Homes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In April 2022, Thao texted Jones: “I don’t have enough to cover rent by myself this month. Your mom hasn’t pitched in on any bills either.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May 2023, Thao texted Jones that PG&E wanted $6,000 to turn their power back on, and in another message from November 2023, she said: “Please don’t turn on heater, please turn off lights and electricity. The bill this month is 3000 I cannot pay that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Evolutionary_Homes_PROJECT_PRESENTATION_-_EHLLC_Model_ONE-copy-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Evolutionary Homes’ rendering of a proposed container home unit for people who are exiting homelessness. (Courtesy of Evolutionary Homes)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Nov. 29 of that year, Jones deposited a check from Evolutionary Homes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Goldrosen tried to dispel prosecutors’ connection between Jones’ bill payment and checks from Evolutionary Homes. He asked Barclay if she had looked into Jones’ and Thao’s financial records to see if they paid a $3,000 bill to PG&E between Nov. 14, when Thao sent a text about that bill, and Nov. 29, when Jones deposited the check from Evolutionary homes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Wouldn’t it have been important to see if any payments were made to that PG&E bill before the payment from Evolutionary Homes?” Goldrosen asked. “But you yourself didn’t look into that, did you?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay said she did not. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barclay says Juarez accused others of bribes\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Barclay told the court that in a series of interviews, Juarez alleged “that other local politicians had taken bribes.” Tsai then went on to ask her if the government had interviewed a number of current and former Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro elected officials. She said it had not, except in one case; that politician declined to be interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">KQED is not naming the elected officials, because the claims have not been substantiated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense attorneys have repeatedly attempted to discredit Juarez’s allegations to cast further doubt on Juarez as a witness. He’s been called a “consummate hustler” with a “decades-long history” of fraudulent behavior.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Andy Duong’s secret recordings enter the courtroom\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, Barclay identified the voices in a series of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">phone calls\u003c/a> Andy Duong recorded with Thao, Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas and others — many of which were seemingly recorded without their knowledge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jenkins previously told KQED it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the call because he is a government witness. Bas is also expected to testify later in the trial. Neither politician has been accused of wrongdoing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098817\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/090826_ShengThao-Trial-File_GH_011_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The California Waste Solutions headquarters at 1211 Embarcadero, in Oakland, on Sept. 8, 2026. The company provides curbside recycling service in Oakland. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one phone conversation between Thao and Andy Duong in April 2019, made public in court filings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101387/sheng-thao-case-recordings-reveal-taped-phone-calls-fbi-informant-appearing-to-describe-bribes\">last month\u003c/a>, Thao told him about a confidential conversation the Oakland City Council had regarding a legal dispute with his family’s recycling company, California Waste Solutions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, Oakland sued the company for allegedly overcharging rate payers. The recycling vendor countersued, alleging Oakland breached its contract, and the parties settled in 2021 with California Waste Solutions \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/09/cws-oakland-lawsuit-recycling-contract-duong-fbi/\">agreeing to pay ratepayers $6 million\u003c/a> in alleged overcharges. The city of Oakland paid the company nearly $2 million and released it from agreements the company made to pay for waste studies and community outreach totaling about $1.5 million.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During that litigation, in 2019, Thao told Andy Duong that multiple council members had questions about a potential refund his family’s company could have been required to give ratepayers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, who was then a first-term city councilmember, advised Andy Duong on how to prepare for a meeting the following day: “This is what you guys need to do, OK? You guys need to prepare and talk amongst yourselves and how to figure out how to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103152\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/241015-OaklandChinatownThaoRecall-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks during a rally against her recall at Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland on Oct. 15, 2024.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao goes on to say that she, Andy Duong, and others attending the meeting, who aren’t explicitly named, should meet in a private place for lunch, “because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In another call from September 2023, Thao tells Andy Duong that he and his business partners will have to “pick and choose” between her support and that of two council members at the time, Janani Ramachandran and Treva Reid. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’m not f–king with those bitches, they don’t do me any favors at all,” Thao can be heard saying on the call.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What comes next\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Barclay wrapped up her lengthy testimony, FBI intelligence analyst Katherine Higgons briefly testified Tuesday about participating in the June 20, 2024, search of Andy Duong’s house. She said she found a watch and chain in Andy Duong’s garage, which Juarez has alleged was stolen from him during a May 2024 altercation with the Duongs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, Cecilia Mendez will testify. She is Juarez’s former romantic partner and an Evolutionary Homes representative. Prosecutors say she made a number of recordings of Evolutionary Homes board meetings they plan to play when she takes the stand. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "despite-the-evidence-contra-costa-countys-sheriff-coroner-called-her-death-a-suicide",
"title": "Despite the Evidence, Contra Costa County’s Sheriff-Coroner Called Her Death a Suicide",
"publishDate": 1792771200,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Despite the Evidence, Contra Costa County’s Sheriff-Coroner Called Her Death a Suicide | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A man who once ran for mayor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/antioch\">Antioch\u003c/a> will stand trial for the murder of his wife more than a decade after he told police she killed herself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a preliminary hearing Oct. 16, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge H. Glenn Kim found there was probable cause to show that Michael Leon, 68, shot and killed Brenda Leon, 52, in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key evidence presented in court was found in electronics seized from the family home roughly two weeks after Brenda’s death. A suicide note found on Brenda’s computer was written on Michael’s laptop, then transferred to Brenda’s computer on the morning of her death, according to a forensic analysis by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael, who is in jail awaiting trial, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Matt Cuthbertson, said his client was “disappointed” in the judge’s decision and looks forward to a jury trial where he will be “afforded proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the courtroom, Brenda and Michael Leon’s daughters appeared frail and shaken; both declined to comment. Matt Guichard, an attorney who is representing the daughters in a civil suit against Michael Leon, told KQED, “ You’re sitting in a courtroom discussing the death of your mother, and seeing your father, the accused, in the same courtroom. It’s hard to wrap your head around.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loved ones of murder victim, Brenda Leon, outside the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That Michael Leon will stand trial for murder more than a decade after his wife died underscores an ongoing debate in California about the reliability of death investigations in counties such as Contra Costa, where the sheriff is also the coroner. Critics say the sheriff-coroner arrangement is prone to conflicts of interest and can — intentionally or otherwise — undercut the medical expertise that’s standard in other death-investigation systems. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In these counties, the sheriff-coroner must consult with a forensic pathologist on the medical cause of death — such as a gunshot wound or heart attack — in sudden, violent or unnatural cases. But the sheriff-coroner, who typically has no medical training, has the last word on the \u003cem>manner\u003c/em> of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. In Brenda Leon’s case, the sheriff-coroner determined that the manner of her death was suicide.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An analysis by the California Newsroom found that 48 of the state’s 58 counties use a sheriff-coroner system. More than 19 million people — nearly half of California’s population — live under a combined sheriff-coroner office, according to the 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html\">American Community Survey\u003c/a> and other publicly available data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That leaves just six counties — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Ventura — where a licensed physician and surgeon with board certification in pathology, known as a medical examiner, investigates the cause and manner of deaths. (The remaining four counties appoint or vote for their coroners, who don’t have to be medical professionals.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr />\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yOWuq/3/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, along with Montana and Nevada, are the only three states where county officials can choose a sheriff-coroner system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/impacts-governing-agency-comparison-resources-patchwork-medicolegal-death\">A 2024 federal survey\u003c/a> of death investigation systems across the United States found that standalone medical examiners or coroners conduct the most efficient and high-quality investigations, in part because they can “make operating decisions without having to balance competing priorities or influences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics say there’s an inherent conflict of interest in having sheriffs determine the manner of deaths in the jails they run or when a civilian dies as a result of an officer’s actions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11634689/autopsy-doctors-sheriff-overrode-death-findings-to-protect-law-enforcement\">two forensic pathologists accused\u003c/a> then-San Joaquin County Sheriff-Coroner Steve Moore of overriding their opinions in death investigations to shield himself and other law enforcement officers from prosecution. County supervisors later voted to replace the sheriff-coroner’s office with an independent medical examiner’s office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Riverside County jail deaths reached a two-decade high in 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation, which is ongoing. In the meantime, state legislators passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1379\">a law\u003c/a> this year to take coroner duties away from the Riverside County Sheriff’s department and install an independent medical examiner by next July. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1108/id/3209248\">new law\u003c/a>, prompted by a string of deputy-involved deaths in Santa Barbara County jails, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. It requires counties with sheriff-coroners to ask another county with a medical examiner or standalone coroner, or an independent forensic pathologist, to determine both cause and manner of in-custody deaths. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner Chad Bianco, who is also president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, told KQED that both bills, “[weren’t] about just getting it away from the jurisdiction of the place where the death occurred.” The bills were driven, he said, by liberal politicians “making sheriffs appear to be corrupt in the eyes of the public.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics say there’s also the issue of who is qualified to manage forensic procedures such as autopsies and tissue analyses. While sheriff-coroners work with licensed physicians who draw conclusions based on science, skeptics are troubled that a sheriff-coroner has the final say. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Having someone with no medical expertise running the show,” said Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist with the Center for Policing Equity at Yale, “How are they even going to judge whether or not their procedures are up to standard?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bianco bristled at the idea and suggested he’d defer to medical professionals. “If I didn’t have 100% confidence in my chief pathologist,” he said, “they wouldn’t be the chief pathologist.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a suspicious death investigation stalled \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The murder case against Michael Leon would not have wound up in court last week if not for the perseverance of Brenda’s family. Her parents and two daughters never believed she had killed herself and fought for more than a decade to prove it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Antioch Police Department denied KQED’s request for records or interviews, but a KQED analysis of the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner’s report, death certificates and court documents shows that evidence pointed to a homicide from the start. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deputy-Coroner Waimun Wong, with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, led the agency’s investigation of Brenda’s death. Michael Leon told Antioch police that he found his wife lying in bed deceased, still holding the gun, according to Wong’s report. It also indicated that Brenda’s laptop was at the foot of the bed, which police said contained a suicide note.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family and friends of murder victim Brenda Leon leaving a preliminary hearing at the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to court documents, Wong later told a police detective that he’d found no gunshot residue on Brenda’s hands, which he considered odd; typically, when a person shoots themself, there would be some residue.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leon’s two adult daughters told the detective they suspected their father was responsible, according to court filings. They described his mood swings and explosive temper, and said they believed he was capable of murder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most significantly, the detective discovered that the suicide note on Brenda’s laptop had been transferred there from a USB drive that was not found inside the house.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wong kept Brenda’s manner of death “unassigned” pending a forensic analysis of other electronics seized in the home, the coroner’s report said. But he closed the case while the analysis was underway and called it a suicide.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105781\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, like all California sheriff-coroners, has the last word on the manner of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office declined KQED’s request for comment, as did Wong, who retired in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a KQED review of Wong’s report shows that his determination contradicted two significant forensic findings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Arnold Josselson, the consulting forensic pathologist for the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner, confirmed that Brenda Leon died of a gunshot wound to the head. But in his report, he also noted a key detail: While most self-inflicted gunshots leave soot and tiny abrasions or burns, known as stippling, around the wound, Josselson wrote that there was “no soot or stippling.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Guichard, an attorney representing Brenda Leon’s daughters in a wrongful death suit, attends a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against their father, Michael Leon, on Oct. 16, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That discovery, coupled with the lack of gunshot residue on Brenda’s hand, stood out to Matt Guichard, an attorney who Brenda’s daughters had contacted on the advice of a friend. Guichard had spent seven years as a deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County in charge of the homicide unit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It didn’t add up,” Guichard told KQED. “If you put a gun to your head, you will have a circle where the barrel imprints itself.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He subpoenaed police records, including the electronic evidence that investigators had gathered shortly after Brenda’s death, and shared his findings with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The DA revived the case, and Michael Leon was arrested Jan. 22, nearly 11 years after Brenda’s death.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next court date is set for Nov. 2.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg\" alt=\"Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepali at a preliminary hearing Oct. 16 for Micheal Leon to stand trial for the 2015 murder of his wife Brenda Leon.\" class=\"wp-image-12105261\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepalli (right) leaves a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16 in the case of Michael Leon, who faces charges for the 2015 murder of his wife, Brenda Leon. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge’s decision to move the case to trial was encouraging to Gael Strack, a former San Diego County prosecutor who founded Alliance for HOPE International, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic violence victims and their families. In 2022, Strack helped pass \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB989/id/3023396\">a state law\u003c/a> that requires law enforcement agencies to investigate further when a victim of domestic violence dies by an apparent suicide or accident. She and her colleagues identified roughly a dozen deaths in California that they believe were misclassified as suicides or accidents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strack said getting sheriff-coroners to reconsider closed cases has been especially challenging. “The laws do not protect family members as much as they protect sheriff-coroners,” she said. “They have total discretion on whether to investigate further or to change a death certificate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guichard echoed Strack’s concerns. “If not for reading the coroner’s report and seeing the electronics, this never would have been uncovered,” he said. “There are lots of questionable deaths that don’t get the thorough investigations they deserve.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Data Journalist Emily Zentner of The California Newsroom contributed data analysis to this reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was published with support from\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">\u003cem>The California Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state with NPR as its national partner. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A man who once ran for mayor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/antioch\">Antioch\u003c/a> will stand trial for the murder of his wife more than a decade after he told police she killed herself.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At a preliminary hearing Oct. 16, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge H. Glenn Kim found there was probable cause to show that Michael Leon, 68, shot and killed Brenda Leon, 52, in 2015.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At a preliminary hearing Oct. 16, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge H. Glenn Kim found there was probable cause to show that Michael Leon, 68, shot and killed Brenda Leon, 52, in 2015.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Key evidence presented in court was found in electronics seized from the family home roughly two weeks after Brenda’s death. A suicide note found on Brenda’s computer was written on Michael’s laptop, then transferred to Brenda’s computer on the morning of her death, according to a forensic analysis by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Key evidence presented in court was found in electronics seized from the family home roughly two weeks after Brenda’s death. A suicide note found on Brenda’s computer was written on Michael’s laptop, then transferred to Brenda’s computer on the morning of her death, according to a forensic analysis by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Michael, who is in jail awaiting trial, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Matt Cuthbertson, said his client was “disappointed” in the judge’s decision and looks forward to a jury trial where he will be “afforded proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Michael, who is in jail awaiting trial, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Matt Cuthbertson, said his client was “disappointed” in the judge’s decision and looks forward to a jury trial where he will be “afforded proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the courtroom, Brenda and Michael Leon’s daughters appeared frail and shaken; both declined to comment. Matt Guichard, an attorney who is representing the daughters in a civil suit against Michael Leon, told KQED, “ You’re sitting in a courtroom discussing the death of your mother, and seeing your father, the accused, in the same courtroom. It’s hard to wrap your head around.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the courtroom, Brenda and Michael Leon’s daughters appeared frail and shaken; both declined to comment. Matt Guichard, an attorney who is representing the daughters in a civil suit against Michael Leon, told KQED, “ You’re sitting in a courtroom discussing the death of your mother, and seeing your father, the accused, in the same courtroom. It’s hard to wrap your head around.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That Michael Leon will stand trial for murder more than a decade after his wife died underscores an ongoing debate in California about the reliability of death investigations in counties such as Contra Costa, where the sheriff is also the coroner. Critics say the sheriff-coroner arrangement is prone to conflicts of interest and can — intentionally or otherwise — undercut the medical expertise that’s standard in other death-investigation systems. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In these counties, the sheriff-coroner must consult with a forensic pathologist on the medical cause of death — such as a gunshot wound or heart attack — in sudden, violent or unnatural cases. But the sheriff-coroner, who typically has no medical training, has the last word on the \u003cem>manner\u003c/em> of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. In Brenda Leon’s case, the sheriff-coroner determined that the manner of her death was suicide.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In these counties, the sheriff-coroner must consult with a forensic pathologist on the medical cause of death — such as a gunshot wound or heart attack — in sudden, violent or unnatural cases. But the sheriff-coroner, who typically has no medical training, has the last word on the \u003cem>manner\u003c/em> of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. In Brenda Leon’s case, the sheriff-coroner determined that the manner of her death was suicide.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>An analysis by the California Newsroom found that 48 of the state’s 58 counties use a sheriff-coroner system. More than 19 million people — nearly half of California’s population — live under a combined sheriff-coroner office, according to the 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html\">American Community Survey\u003c/a> and other publicly available data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>An analysis by the California Newsroom found that 48 of the state’s 58 counties use a sheriff-coroner system. More than 19 million people — nearly half of California’s population — live under a combined sheriff-coroner office, according to the 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html\">American Community Survey\u003c/a> and other publicly available data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That leaves just six counties — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Ventura — where a licensed physician and surgeon with board certification in pathology, known as a medical examiner, investigates the cause and manner of deaths. (The remaining four counties appoint or vote for their coroners, who don’t have to be medical professionals.)\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That leaves just six counties — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Ventura — where a licensed physician and surgeon with board certification in pathology, known as a medical examiner, investigates the cause and manner of deaths. (The remaining four counties appoint or vote for their coroners, who don’t have to be medical professionals.)\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California, along with Montana and Nevada, are the only three states where county officials can choose a sheriff-coroner system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California, along with Montana and Nevada, are the only three states where county officials can choose a sheriff-coroner system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Yet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/impacts-governing-agency-comparison-resources-patchwork-medicolegal-death\">A 2024 federal survey\u003c/a> of death investigation systems across the United States found that standalone medical examiners or coroners conduct the most efficient and high-quality investigations, in part because they can “make operating decisions without having to balance competing priorities or influences.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Yet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/impacts-governing-agency-comparison-resources-patchwork-medicolegal-death\">A 2024 federal survey\u003c/a> of death investigation systems across the United States found that standalone medical examiners or coroners conduct the most efficient and high-quality investigations, in part because they can “make operating decisions without having to balance competing priorities or influences.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Critics say there’s an inherent conflict of interest in having sheriffs determine the manner of deaths in the jails they run or when a civilian dies as a result of an officer’s actions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Critics say there’s an inherent conflict of interest in having sheriffs determine the manner of deaths in the jails they run or when a civilian dies as a result of an officer’s actions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11634689/autopsy-doctors-sheriff-overrode-death-findings-to-protect-law-enforcement\">two forensic pathologists accused\u003c/a> then-San Joaquin County Sheriff-Coroner Steve Moore of overriding their opinions in death investigations to shield himself and other law enforcement officers from prosecution. County supervisors later voted to replace the sheriff-coroner’s office with an independent medical examiner’s office.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Riverside County jail deaths reached a two-decade high in 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation, which is ongoing. In the meantime, state legislators passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1379\">a law\u003c/a> this year to take coroner duties away from the Riverside County Sheriff’s department and install an independent medical examiner by next July. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After Riverside County jail deaths reached a two-decade high in 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation, which is ongoing. In the meantime, state legislators passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1379\">a law\u003c/a> this year to take coroner duties away from the Riverside County Sheriff’s department and install an independent medical examiner by next July. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1108/id/3209248\">new law\u003c/a>, prompted by a string of deputy-involved deaths in Santa Barbara County jails, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. It requires counties with sheriff-coroners to ask another county with a medical examiner or standalone coroner, or an independent forensic pathologist, to determine both cause and manner of in-custody deaths. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1108/id/3209248\">new law\u003c/a>, prompted by a string of deputy-involved deaths in Santa Barbara County jails, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. It requires counties with sheriff-coroners to ask another county with a medical examiner or standalone coroner, or an independent forensic pathologist, to determine both cause and manner of in-custody deaths. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner Chad Bianco, who is also president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, told KQED that both bills, “[weren’t] about just getting it away from the jurisdiction of the place where the death occurred.” The bills were driven, he said, by liberal politicians “making sheriffs appear to be corrupt in the eyes of the public.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner Chad Bianco, who is also president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, told KQED that both bills, “[weren’t] about just getting it away from the jurisdiction of the place where the death occurred.” The bills were driven, he said, by liberal politicians “making sheriffs appear to be corrupt in the eyes of the public.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Critics say there’s also the issue of who is qualified to manage forensic procedures such as autopsies and tissue analyses. While sheriff-coroners work with licensed physicians who draw conclusions based on science, skeptics are troubled that a sheriff-coroner has the final say. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Critics say there’s also the issue of who is qualified to manage forensic procedures such as autopsies and tissue analyses. While sheriff-coroners work with licensed physicians who draw conclusions based on science, skeptics are troubled that a sheriff-coroner has the final say. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Having someone with no medical expertise running the show,” said Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist with the Center for Policing Equity at Yale, “How are they even going to judge whether or not their procedures are up to standard?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Having someone with no medical expertise running the show,” said Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist with the Center for Policing Equity at Yale, “How are they even going to judge whether or not their procedures are up to standard?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco bristled at the idea and suggested he’d defer to medical professionals. “If I didn’t have 100% confidence in my chief pathologist,” he said, “they wouldn’t be the chief pathologist.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bianco bristled at the idea and suggested he’d defer to medical professionals. “If I didn’t have 100% confidence in my chief pathologist,” he said, “they wouldn’t be the chief pathologist.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The murder case against Michael Leon would not have wound up in court last week if not for the perseverance of Brenda’s family. Her parents and two daughters never believed she had killed herself and fought for more than a decade to prove it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The murder case against Michael Leon would not have wound up in court last week if not for the perseverance of Brenda’s family. Her parents and two daughters never believed she had killed herself and fought for more than a decade to prove it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Antioch Police Department denied KQED’s request for records or interviews, but a KQED analysis of the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner’s report, death certificates and court documents shows that evidence pointed to a homicide from the start. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Antioch Police Department denied KQED’s request for records or interviews, but a KQED analysis of the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner’s report, death certificates and court documents shows that evidence pointed to a homicide from the start. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Deputy-Coroner Waimun Wong, with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, led the agency’s investigation of Brenda’s death. Michael Leon told Antioch police that he found his wife lying in bed deceased, still holding the gun, according to Wong’s report. It also indicated that Brenda’s laptop was at the foot of the bed, which police said contained a suicide note.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Deputy-Coroner Waimun Wong, with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, led the agency’s investigation of Brenda’s death. Michael Leon told Antioch police that he found his wife lying in bed deceased, still holding the gun, according to Wong’s report. It also indicated that Brenda’s laptop was at the foot of the bed, which police said contained a suicide note.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-1536x1025.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family and friends of murder victim Brenda Leon leaving a preliminary hearing at the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105257\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family and friends of murder victim Brenda Leon leaving a preliminary hearing at the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to court documents, Wong later told a police detective that he’d found no gunshot residue on Brenda’s hands, which he considered odd; typically, when a person shoots themself, there would be some residue.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>According to court documents, Wong later told a police detective that he’d found no gunshot residue on Brenda’s hands, which he considered odd; typically, when a person shoots themself, there would be some residue.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Leon’s two adult daughters told the detective they suspected their father was responsible, according to court filings. They described his mood swings and explosive temper, and said they believed he was capable of murder. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Leon’s two adult daughters told the detective they suspected their father was responsible, according to court filings. They described his mood swings and explosive temper, and said they believed he was capable of murder. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Most significantly, the detective discovered that the suicide note on Brenda’s laptop had been transferred there from a USB drive that was not found inside the house.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Most significantly, the detective discovered that the suicide note on Brenda’s laptop had been transferred there from a USB drive that was not found inside the house.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wong kept Brenda’s manner of death “unassigned” pending a forensic analysis of other electronics seized in the home, the coroner’s report said. But he closed the case while the analysis was underway and called it a suicide.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wong kept Brenda’s manner of death “unassigned” pending a forensic analysis of other electronics seized in the home, the coroner’s report said. But he closed the case while the analysis was underway and called it a suicide.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-1536x1025.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105781\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, like all California sheriff-coroners, has the last word on the manner of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105781\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, like all California sheriff-coroners, has the last word on the manner of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office declined KQED’s request for comment, as did Wong, who retired in 2025.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office declined KQED’s request for comment, as did Wong, who retired in 2025.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But a KQED review of Wong’s report shows that his determination contradicted two significant forensic findings.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dr. Arnold Josselson, the consulting forensic pathologist for the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner, confirmed that Brenda Leon died of a gunshot wound to the head. But in his report, he also noted a key detail: While most self-inflicted gunshots leave soot and tiny abrasions or burns, known as stippling, around the wound, Josselson wrote that there was “no soot or stippling.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Dr. Arnold Josselson, the consulting forensic pathologist for the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner, confirmed that Brenda Leon died of a gunshot wound to the head. But in his report, he also noted a key detail: While most self-inflicted gunshots leave soot and tiny abrasions or burns, known as stippling, around the wound, Josselson wrote that there was “no soot or stippling.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Guichard, an attorney representing Brenda Leon’s daughters in a wrongful death suit, attends a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against their father, Michael Leon, on Oct. 16, in Martinez.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105780\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Guichard, an attorney representing Brenda Leon’s daughters in a wrongful death suit, attends a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against their father, Michael Leon, on Oct. 16, in Martinez.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That discovery, coupled with the lack of gunshot residue on Brenda’s hand, stood out to Matt Guichard, an attorney who Brenda’s daughters had contacted on the advice of a friend. Guichard had spent seven years as a deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County in charge of the homicide unit. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That discovery, coupled with the lack of gunshot residue on Brenda’s hand, stood out to Matt Guichard, an attorney who Brenda’s daughters had contacted on the advice of a friend. Guichard had spent seven years as a deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County in charge of the homicide unit. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It didn’t add up,” Guichard told KQED. “If you put a gun to your head, you will have a circle where the barrel imprints itself.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It didn’t add up,” Guichard told KQED. “If you put a gun to your head, you will have a circle where the barrel imprints itself.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He subpoenaed police records, including the electronic evidence that investigators had gathered shortly after Brenda’s death, and shared his findings with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The DA revived the case, and Michael Leon was arrested Jan. 22, nearly 11 years after Brenda’s death.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He subpoenaed police records, including the electronic evidence that investigators had gathered shortly after Brenda’s death, and shared his findings with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The DA revived the case, and Michael Leon was arrested Jan. 22, nearly 11 years after Brenda’s death.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The next court date is set for Nov. 2.\u003c/p>\n",
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"alt": "Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepali at a preliminary hearing Oct. 16 for Micheal Leon to stand trial for the 2015 murder of his wife Brenda Leon.",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg\" alt=\"Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepali at a preliminary hearing Oct. 16 for Micheal Leon to stand trial for the 2015 murder of his wife Brenda Leon.\" class=\"wp-image-12105261\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepalli (right) leaves a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16 in the case of Michael Leon, who faces charges for the 2015 murder of his wife, Brenda Leon.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg\" alt=\"Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepali at a preliminary hearing Oct. 16 for Micheal Leon to stand trial for the 2015 murder of his wife Brenda Leon.\" class=\"wp-image-12105261\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepalli (right) leaves a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16 in the case of Michael Leon, who faces charges for the 2015 murder of his wife, Brenda Leon.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The judge’s decision to move the case to trial was encouraging to Gael Strack, a former San Diego County prosecutor who founded Alliance for HOPE International, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic violence victims and their families. In 2022, Strack helped pass \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB989/id/3023396\">a state law\u003c/a> that requires law enforcement agencies to investigate further when a victim of domestic violence dies by an apparent suicide or accident. She and her colleagues identified roughly a dozen deaths in California that they believe were misclassified as suicides or accidents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The judge’s decision to move the case to trial was encouraging to Gael Strack, a former San Diego County prosecutor who founded Alliance for HOPE International, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic violence victims and their families. In 2022, Strack helped pass \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB989/id/3023396\">a state law\u003c/a> that requires law enforcement agencies to investigate further when a victim of domestic violence dies by an apparent suicide or accident. She and her colleagues identified roughly a dozen deaths in California that they believe were misclassified as suicides or accidents. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Strack said getting sheriff-coroners to reconsider closed cases has been especially challenging. “The laws do not protect family members as much as they protect sheriff-coroners,” she said. “They have total discretion on whether to investigate further or to change a death certificate.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Strack said getting sheriff-coroners to reconsider closed cases has been especially challenging. “The laws do not protect family members as much as they protect sheriff-coroners,” she said. “They have total discretion on whether to investigate further or to change a death certificate.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Guichard echoed Strack’s concerns. “If not for reading the coroner’s report and seeing the electronics, this never would have been uncovered,” he said. “There are lots of questionable deaths that don’t get the thorough investigations they deserve.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Guichard echoed Strack’s concerns. “If not for reading the coroner’s report and seeing the electronics, this never would have been uncovered,” he said. “There are lots of questionable deaths that don’t get the thorough investigations they deserve.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Data Journalist Emily Zentner of The California Newsroom contributed data analysis to this reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was published with support from\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">\u003cem>The California Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state with NPR as its national partner. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "More than a decade after Brenda Leon died, her husband will stand trial for her murder. The case underscores an ongoing debate about the reliability of death investigations in some California counties. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A man who once ran for mayor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/antioch\">Antioch\u003c/a> will stand trial for the murder of his wife more than a decade after he told police she killed herself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a preliminary hearing Oct. 16, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge H. Glenn Kim found there was probable cause to show that Michael Leon, 68, shot and killed Brenda Leon, 52, in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key evidence presented in court was found in electronics seized from the family home roughly two weeks after Brenda’s death. A suicide note found on Brenda’s computer was written on Michael’s laptop, then transferred to Brenda’s computer on the morning of her death, according to a forensic analysis by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael, who is in jail awaiting trial, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Matt Cuthbertson, said his client was “disappointed” in the judge’s decision and looks forward to a jury trial where he will be “afforded proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the courtroom, Brenda and Michael Leon’s daughters appeared frail and shaken; both declined to comment. Matt Guichard, an attorney who is representing the daughters in a civil suit against Michael Leon, told KQED, “ You’re sitting in a courtroom discussing the death of your mother, and seeing your father, the accused, in the same courtroom. It’s hard to wrap your head around.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105260\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-12-MC-KQED-3f571583-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loved ones of murder victim, Brenda Leon, outside the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That Michael Leon will stand trial for murder more than a decade after his wife died underscores an ongoing debate in California about the reliability of death investigations in counties such as Contra Costa, where the sheriff is also the coroner. Critics say the sheriff-coroner arrangement is prone to conflicts of interest and can — intentionally or otherwise — undercut the medical expertise that’s standard in other death-investigation systems. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In these counties, the sheriff-coroner must consult with a forensic pathologist on the medical cause of death — such as a gunshot wound or heart attack — in sudden, violent or unnatural cases. But the sheriff-coroner, who typically has no medical training, has the last word on the \u003cem>manner\u003c/em> of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. In Brenda Leon’s case, the sheriff-coroner determined that the manner of her death was suicide.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An analysis by the California Newsroom found that 48 of the state’s 58 counties use a sheriff-coroner system. More than 19 million people — nearly half of California’s population — live under a combined sheriff-coroner office, according to the 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about.html\">American Community Survey\u003c/a> and other publicly available data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That leaves just six counties — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Joaquin and Ventura — where a licensed physician and surgeon with board certification in pathology, known as a medical examiner, investigates the cause and manner of deaths. (The remaining four counties appoint or vote for their coroners, who don’t have to be medical professionals.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr />\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/yOWuq/3/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, along with Montana and Nevada, are the only three states where county officials can choose a sheriff-coroner system, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/impacts-governing-agency-comparison-resources-patchwork-medicolegal-death\">A 2024 federal survey\u003c/a> of death investigation systems across the United States found that standalone medical examiners or coroners conduct the most efficient and high-quality investigations, in part because they can “make operating decisions without having to balance competing priorities or influences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics say there’s an inherent conflict of interest in having sheriffs determine the manner of deaths in the jails they run or when a civilian dies as a result of an officer’s actions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11634689/autopsy-doctors-sheriff-overrode-death-findings-to-protect-law-enforcement\">two forensic pathologists accused\u003c/a> then-San Joaquin County Sheriff-Coroner Steve Moore of overriding their opinions in death investigations to shield himself and other law enforcement officers from prosecution. County supervisors later voted to replace the sheriff-coroner’s office with an independent medical examiner’s office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Riverside County jail deaths reached a two-decade high in 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation, which is ongoing. In the meantime, state legislators passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1379\">a law\u003c/a> this year to take coroner duties away from the Riverside County Sheriff’s department and install an independent medical examiner by next July. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1108/id/3209248\">new law\u003c/a>, prompted by a string of deputy-involved deaths in Santa Barbara County jails, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. It requires counties with sheriff-coroners to ask another county with a medical examiner or standalone coroner, or an independent forensic pathologist, to determine both cause and manner of in-custody deaths. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner Chad Bianco, who is also president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association, told KQED that both bills, “[weren’t] about just getting it away from the jurisdiction of the place where the death occurred.” The bills were driven, he said, by liberal politicians “making sheriffs appear to be corrupt in the eyes of the public.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics say there’s also the issue of who is qualified to manage forensic procedures such as autopsies and tissue analyses. While sheriff-coroners work with licensed physicians who draw conclusions based on science, skeptics are troubled that a sheriff-coroner has the final say. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Having someone with no medical expertise running the show,” said Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist with the Center for Policing Equity at Yale, “How are they even going to judge whether or not their procedures are up to standard?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bianco bristled at the idea and suggested he’d defer to medical professionals. “If I didn’t have 100% confidence in my chief pathologist,” he said, “they wouldn’t be the chief pathologist.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a suspicious death investigation stalled \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The murder case against Michael Leon would not have wound up in court last week if not for the perseverance of Brenda’s family. Her parents and two daughters never believed she had killed herself and fought for more than a decade to prove it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Antioch Police Department denied KQED’s request for records or interviews, but a KQED analysis of the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner’s report, death certificates and court documents shows that evidence pointed to a homicide from the start. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deputy-Coroner Waimun Wong, with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, led the agency’s investigation of Brenda’s death. Michael Leon told Antioch police that he found his wife lying in bed deceased, still holding the gun, according to Wong’s report. It also indicated that Brenda’s laptop was at the foot of the bed, which police said contained a suicide note.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-11-MC-KQED-019a5aee-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family and friends of murder victim Brenda Leon leaving a preliminary hearing at the A.F. Bray Courts Building on Oct. 16, 2026, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to court documents, Wong later told a police detective that he’d found no gunshot residue on Brenda’s hands, which he considered odd; typically, when a person shoots themself, there would be some residue.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leon’s two adult daughters told the detective they suspected their father was responsible, according to court filings. They described his mood swings and explosive temper, and said they believed he was capable of murder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most significantly, the detective discovered that the suicide note on Brenda’s laptop had been transferred there from a USB drive that was not found inside the house.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wong kept Brenda’s manner of death “unassigned” pending a forensic analysis of other electronics seized in the home, the coroner’s report said. But he closed the case while the analysis was underway and called it a suicide.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105781\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-04-MC-KQED-eecc31d0-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, like all California sheriff-coroners, has the last word on the manner of death, whether natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office declined KQED’s request for comment, as did Wong, who retired in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a KQED review of Wong’s report shows that his determination contradicted two significant forensic findings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Arnold Josselson, the consulting forensic pathologist for the Contra Costa County sheriff-coroner, confirmed that Brenda Leon died of a gunshot wound to the head. But in his report, he also noted a key detail: While most self-inflicted gunshots leave soot and tiny abrasions or burns, known as stippling, around the wound, Josselson wrote that there was “no soot or stippling.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-09-MC-KQED-fe63b5d6-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Guichard, an attorney representing Brenda Leon’s daughters in a wrongful death suit, attends a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against their father, Michael Leon, on Oct. 16, in Martinez. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That discovery, coupled with the lack of gunshot residue on Brenda’s hand, stood out to Matt Guichard, an attorney who Brenda’s daughters had contacted on the advice of a friend. Guichard had spent seven years as a deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County in charge of the homicide unit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It didn’t add up,” Guichard told KQED. “If you put a gun to your head, you will have a circle where the barrel imprints itself.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He subpoenaed police records, including the electronic evidence that investigators had gathered shortly after Brenda’s death, and shared his findings with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The DA revived the case, and Michael Leon was arrested Jan. 22, nearly 11 years after Brenda’s death.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next court date is set for Nov. 2.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg\" alt=\"Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepali at a preliminary hearing Oct. 16 for Micheal Leon to stand trial for the 2015 murder of his wife Brenda Leon.\" class=\"wp-image-12105261\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101626-ANTIOCHMAYORCANDIDATEMURDERHEARING-19-MC-KQED-1-c816f730-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Contra Costa County prosecutor Satish Jallepalli (right) leaves a preliminary hearing on Oct. 16 in the case of Michael Leon, who faces charges for the 2015 murder of his wife, Brenda Leon. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge’s decision to move the case to trial was encouraging to Gael Strack, a former San Diego County prosecutor who founded Alliance for HOPE International, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic violence victims and their families. In 2022, Strack helped pass \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB989/id/3023396\">a state law\u003c/a> that requires law enforcement agencies to investigate further when a victim of domestic violence dies by an apparent suicide or accident. She and her colleagues identified roughly a dozen deaths in California that they believe were misclassified as suicides or accidents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strack said getting sheriff-coroners to reconsider closed cases has been especially challenging. “The laws do not protect family members as much as they protect sheriff-coroners,” she said. “They have total discretion on whether to investigate further or to change a death certificate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guichard echoed Strack’s concerns. “If not for reading the coroner’s report and seeing the electronics, this never would have been uncovered,” he said. “There are lots of questionable deaths that don’t get the thorough investigations they deserve.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Data Journalist Emily Zentner of The California Newsroom contributed data analysis to this reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was published with support from\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">\u003cem>The California Newsroom\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state with NPR as its national partner. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-corruption-trial-fbi-agent-expected-to-testify-on-backdoor-dealings-in-city-hall",
"title": "Oakland Corruption Trial: FBI Agent Describes Texts, Photos Seized From Defendants",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Corruption Trial: FBI Agent Describes Texts, Photos Seized From Defendants | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After testimony in the corruption trial involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104960/following-explosive-allegations-testimony-in-ex-oakland-mayors-corruption-trial-continues\">revealed the origins\u003c/a> of the FBI’s city hall probe, a federal agent returned to the witness stand Thursday and shed new light on the evidence the government has in hand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay spent roughly five hours Thursday describing to the jury the evidence her agency seized in its investigation of Thao and three others, including text messages, photos, videos, phone records, and Apple notes, among other items. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her long-time partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, are facing bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges. All four have pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Barclay told the jury the FBI’s investigation began in February 2023, following a tip from Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission that businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, a long-time ally of the Duongs, had printed campaign mailers against Thao’s opponents. Barclay relayed that Juarez made statements to the shop owner, saying he was “expecting things in return” from the candidate those mailers were intended to support. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098342\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FBI agents exit a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao during a raid in Oakland, California, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme and is expected to serve as the government’s star witness later in the trial.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors say Thao agreed that, if elected, she would help extend California Waste Solutions’ recycling contract with the city of Oakland, appoint favorable city hall staffers to director-level positions and commit the city to contracting with the housing start-up, Evolutionary Homes, that Andy Duong and Juarez cofounded. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Andy and David Duong agreed to fund a negative mailer campaign against Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents and pay $300,000 to Jones for a no-show job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, prosecutors showed the jury text messages that the defendants exchanged in the lead-up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election and in the first few months of Thao’s time in office. Jurors also saw an independent contractor agreement between Evolutionary Homes and Jones, detailing advance payments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao’s attorneys have questioned whether the negative mailers actually helped Thao’s campaign, with defense attorney Jeff Tsai asking Thao’s former campaign staffer, Noah Finneburgh, during his testimony Monday if the campaign was happy about the ads when they dropped.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finneburgh said he was unhappy with them, and that “people recognized it was an issue.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1805\" height=\"889\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103161\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022.jpg 1805w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022-160x79.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022-1536x757.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1805px) 100vw, 1805px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the website Mario Juarez allegedly created to attack Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor, accessed by the Wayback Machine on Nov. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of Wayback Machine)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tsai suggested that the ad of Thao’s opponent, Loren Taylor, which was photoshopped to darken his skin, played into racist tropes against Black men and could have alienated voters Thao would have wanted to retain. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ethics commission’s tip related to those mailers, however, led the FBI to obtain a search warrant to access Juarez’s Apple iCloud, Barclay said Monday, which included a document he wrote enumerating the deal he allegedly struck with the Duongs and Thao.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Barclay identified the defendants and Juarez in photos and videos shown to jurors. The prosecution also walked the jury through numerous WhatsApp and text messages from Andy Duong’s phone, which was confiscated from his home during the 2024 raid. The messages appear to reveal how some of the promises played out once Thao took office that prosecutors allege the co-defendants had made.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Postal police investigate a home tied to David Duong, one of multiple properties searched by law enforcement that included residences to members of a politically connected family who run the citys contracted recycling company, California Waste Solutions, in Oakland, California, on June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one photo, from December 2022, jurors on Thursday saw photos illustrating what appeared to be a whiteboard at California Waste Solutions with words that included, “Oak 300 units” and “Mayor” along with different monetary amounts and arrows pointing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February 2023, a month after Thao’s inauguration, Juarez and Andy Duong set up a meeting at California Waste Solutions between David Duong and Larry Gallegos, a project manager in the city’s economic workforce development department at the time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors allege that Gallegos was one of the candidates who Thao agreed to elevate to a leadership position in Oakland City Hall at Andy Duong’s and Juarez’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one text exchange shown to the jury on Thursday, Juarez tells Andy Duong, “I wanted him because while at the City he make [sic] sure my projects got done and grants were given to me.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez also texted Andy Duong about taking Gallegos out to party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What dates are good for you to 1. Have Larry Gallegos come to have lunch at CWS with DD and Family if you wish to have him,” Juarez asked, appearing to refer to David Duong in the message. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their opening statement, David Duong’s defense argued that the CWS owner didn’t know about the deal his son and Juarez allegedly made with Thao and Jones. Similarly, Thao’s defense has suggested that she had no knowledge of any bribery scheme promising city contracts and staff appointments — even if it was being discussed by her co-defendants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weeks later, on March 10, 2023, the city’s interim city administrator appointed Gallegos the deputy director of Oakland’s housing department, despite concerns from Thao’s former chief of staff, Leigh Hanson. Hanson testified in federal court last week that she raised her concerns with the mayor that Gallegos was not qualified and believed they were on the same page, until she heard he would be appointed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During another exchange in late March 2023, Andy Duong and Juarez appear frustrated with Thao and Jones about going over their heads to communicate with David Duong and alter the terms of their agreement, leading Juarez to send Andy Duong a copy of the “Deal Points” note that the FBI found early in its investigation laying out the alleged quid pro quo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We invested money,” Juarez wrote to Andy Duong on March 26. “Time. Talent.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later that day, Andy Duong replied to Juarez: “Aint nothing free or [sic] front cuz we did all that to help her ass win.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Barclay finishes her testimony, former Assistant City Administrator LaTonda Simmons and former City Administrator Jestin Johnson are expected to take the stand. Thao appointed Johnson in May 2023, and he served throughout her mayorship. He \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091317/oakland-councilmember-proposes-a-409000-severance-for-former-city-administrator\">resigned from the role\u003c/a> in May amid an unrelated text messaging scandal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Oakland’s governance structure, the administrator oversees city departments and carries out most day-to-day government functions. But they are hired and fired by the mayor, who often gives input on major decisions, including hiring department heads and agreeing to significant contracts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his opening statement, Fine said Johnson will testify that Thao directed him to meet with David Duong multiple times and tour Evolutionary Homes’ showroom — allegedly the only homeless housing vendor she asked him to visit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After testimony in the corruption trial involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104960/following-explosive-allegations-testimony-in-ex-oakland-mayors-corruption-trial-continues\">revealed the origins\u003c/a> of the FBI’s city hall probe, a federal agent returned to the witness stand Thursday and shed new light on the evidence the government has in hand. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay spent roughly five hours Thursday describing to the jury the evidence her agency seized in its investigation of Thao and three others, including text messages, photos, videos, phone records, and Apple notes, among other items. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay spent roughly five hours Thursday describing to the jury the evidence her agency seized in its investigation of Thao and three others, including text messages, photos, videos, phone records, and Apple notes, among other items. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao, her long-time partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, are facing bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges. All four have pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Monday, Barclay told the jury the FBI’s investigation began in February 2023, following a tip from Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission that businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, a long-time ally of the Duongs, had printed campaign mailers against Thao’s opponents. Barclay relayed that Juarez made statements to the shop owner, saying he was “expecting things in return” from the candidate those mailers were intended to support. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Monday, Barclay told the jury the FBI’s investigation began in February 2023, following a tip from Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission that businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, a long-time ally of the Duongs, had printed campaign mailers against Thao’s opponents. Barclay relayed that Juarez made statements to the shop owner, saying he was “expecting things in return” from the candidate those mailers were intended to support. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098342\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FBI agents exit a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao during a raid in Oakland, California, on Thursday, June 20, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme and is expected to serve as the government’s star witness later in the trial.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors say Thao agreed that, if elected, she would help extend California Waste Solutions’ recycling contract with the city of Oakland, appoint favorable city hall staffers to director-level positions and commit the city to contracting with the housing start-up, Evolutionary Homes, that Andy Duong and Juarez cofounded. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Andy and David Duong agreed to fund a negative mailer campaign against Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents and pay $300,000 to Jones for a no-show job.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors say Thao agreed that, if elected, she would help extend California Waste Solutions’ recycling contract with the city of Oakland, appoint favorable city hall staffers to director-level positions and commit the city to contracting with the housing start-up, Evolutionary Homes, that Andy Duong and Juarez cofounded. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Andy and David Duong agreed to fund a negative mailer campaign against Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents and pay $300,000 to Jones for a no-show job.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Thursday, prosecutors showed the jury text messages that the defendants exchanged in the lead-up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election and in the first few months of Thao’s time in office. Jurors also saw an independent contractor agreement between Evolutionary Homes and Jones, detailing advance payments.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Thursday, prosecutors showed the jury text messages that the defendants exchanged in the lead-up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election and in the first few months of Thao’s time in office. Jurors also saw an independent contractor agreement between Evolutionary Homes and Jones, detailing advance payments.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao’s attorneys have questioned whether the negative mailers actually helped Thao’s campaign, with defense attorney Jeff Tsai asking Thao’s former campaign staffer, Noah Finneburgh, during his testimony Monday if the campaign was happy about the ads when they dropped.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thao’s attorneys have questioned whether the negative mailers actually helped Thao’s campaign, with defense attorney Jeff Tsai asking Thao’s former campaign staffer, Noah Finneburgh, during his testimony Monday if the campaign was happy about the ads when they dropped.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Finneburgh said he was unhappy with them, and that “people recognized it was an issue.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tsai suggested that the ad of Thao’s opponent, Loren Taylor, which was photoshopped to darken his skin, played into racist tropes against Black men and could have alienated voters Thao would have wanted to retain. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ethics commission’s tip related to those mailers, however, led the FBI to obtain a search warrant to access Juarez’s Apple iCloud, Barclay said Monday, which included a document he wrote enumerating the deal he allegedly struck with the Duongs and Thao.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The ethics commission’s tip related to those mailers, however, led the FBI to obtain a search warrant to access Juarez’s Apple iCloud, Barclay said Monday, which included a document he wrote enumerating the deal he allegedly struck with the Duongs and Thao.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Barclay identified the defendants and Juarez in photos and videos shown to jurors. The prosecution also walked the jury through numerous WhatsApp and text messages from Andy Duong’s phone, which was confiscated from his home during the 2024 raid. The messages appear to reveal how some of the promises played out once Thao took office that prosecutors allege the co-defendants had made.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Barclay identified the defendants and Juarez in photos and videos shown to jurors. The prosecution also walked the jury through numerous WhatsApp and text messages from Andy Duong’s phone, which was confiscated from his home during the 2024 raid. The messages appear to reveal how some of the promises played out once Thao took office that prosecutors allege the co-defendants had made.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Postal police investigate a home tied to David Duong, one of multiple properties searched by law enforcement that included residences to members of a politically connected family who run the citys contracted recycling company, California Waste Solutions, in Oakland, California, on June 20, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In one photo, from December 2022, jurors on Thursday saw photos illustrating what appeared to be a whiteboard at California Waste Solutions with words that included, “Oak 300 units” and “Mayor” along with different monetary amounts and arrows pointing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In February 2023, a month after Thao’s inauguration, Juarez and Andy Duong set up a meeting at California Waste Solutions between David Duong and Larry Gallegos, a project manager in the city’s economic workforce development department at the time. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In February 2023, a month after Thao’s inauguration, Juarez and Andy Duong set up a meeting at California Waste Solutions between David Duong and Larry Gallegos, a project manager in the city’s economic workforce development department at the time. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors allege that Gallegos was one of the candidates who Thao agreed to elevate to a leadership position in Oakland City Hall at Andy Duong’s and Juarez’s request. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors allege that Gallegos was one of the candidates who Thao agreed to elevate to a leadership position in Oakland City Hall at Andy Duong’s and Juarez’s request. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In one text exchange shown to the jury on Thursday, Juarez tells Andy Duong, “I wanted him because while at the City he make [sic] sure my projects got done and grants were given to me.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What dates are good for you to 1. Have Larry Gallegos come to have lunch at CWS with DD and Family if you wish to have him,” Juarez asked, appearing to refer to David Duong in the message. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What dates are good for you to 1. Have Larry Gallegos come to have lunch at CWS with DD and Family if you wish to have him,” Juarez asked, appearing to refer to David Duong in the message. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In their opening statement, David Duong’s defense argued that the CWS owner didn’t know about the deal his son and Juarez allegedly made with Thao and Jones. Similarly, Thao’s defense has suggested that she had no knowledge of any bribery scheme promising city contracts and staff appointments — even if it was being discussed by her co-defendants. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Weeks later, on March 10, 2023, the city’s interim city administrator appointed Gallegos the deputy director of Oakland’s housing department, despite concerns from Thao’s former chief of staff, Leigh Hanson. Hanson testified in federal court last week that she raised her concerns with the mayor that Gallegos was not qualified and believed they were on the same page, until she heard he would be appointed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During another exchange in late March 2023, Andy Duong and Juarez appear frustrated with Thao and Jones about going over their heads to communicate with David Duong and alter the terms of their agreement, leading Juarez to send Andy Duong a copy of the “Deal Points” note that the FBI found early in its investigation laying out the alleged quid pro quo.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During another exchange in late March 2023, Andy Duong and Juarez appear frustrated with Thao and Jones about going over their heads to communicate with David Duong and alter the terms of their agreement, leading Juarez to send Andy Duong a copy of the “Deal Points” note that the FBI found early in its investigation laying out the alleged quid pro quo.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We invested money,” Juarez wrote to Andy Duong on March 26. “Time. Talent.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Barclay finishes her testimony, former Assistant City Administrator LaTonda Simmons and former City Administrator Jestin Johnson are expected to take the stand. Thao appointed Johnson in May 2023, and he served throughout her mayorship. He \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091317/oakland-councilmember-proposes-a-409000-severance-for-former-city-administrator\">resigned from the role\u003c/a> in May amid an unrelated text messaging scandal.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under Oakland’s governance structure, the administrator oversees city departments and carries out most day-to-day government functions. But they are hired and fired by the mayor, who often gives input on major decisions, including hiring department heads and agreeing to significant contracts.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In his opening statement, Fine said Johnson will testify that Thao directed him to meet with David Duong multiple times and tour Evolutionary Homes’ showroom — allegedly the only homeless housing vendor she asked him to visit.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay described evidence the agency collected in its investigation of alleged public corruption in the criminal trial of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and three others.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After testimony in the corruption trial involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104960/following-explosive-allegations-testimony-in-ex-oakland-mayors-corruption-trial-continues\">revealed the origins\u003c/a> of the FBI’s city hall probe, a federal agent returned to the witness stand Thursday and shed new light on the evidence the government has in hand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FBI Special Agent Katherine Barclay spent roughly five hours Thursday describing to the jury the evidence her agency seized in its investigation of Thao and three others, including text messages, photos, videos, phone records, and Apple notes, among other items. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her long-time partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, are facing bribery, conspiracy and fraud charges. All four have pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Barclay told the jury the FBI’s investigation began in February 2023, following a tip from Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission that businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, a long-time ally of the Duongs, had printed campaign mailers against Thao’s opponents. Barclay relayed that Juarez made statements to the shop owner, saying he was “expecting things in return” from the candidate those mailers were intended to support. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098342\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-04-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FBI agents exit a home associated with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao during a raid in Oakland, California, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme and is expected to serve as the government’s star witness later in the trial.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors say Thao agreed that, if elected, she would help extend California Waste Solutions’ recycling contract with the city of Oakland, appoint favorable city hall staffers to director-level positions and commit the city to contracting with the housing start-up, Evolutionary Homes, that Andy Duong and Juarez cofounded. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Andy and David Duong agreed to fund a negative mailer campaign against Thao’s 2022 mayoral opponents and pay $300,000 to Jones for a no-show job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, prosecutors showed the jury text messages that the defendants exchanged in the lead-up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election and in the first few months of Thao’s time in office. Jurors also saw an independent contractor agreement between Evolutionary Homes and Jones, detailing advance payments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao’s attorneys have questioned whether the negative mailers actually helped Thao’s campaign, with defense attorney Jeff Tsai asking Thao’s former campaign staffer, Noah Finneburgh, during his testimony Monday if the campaign was happy about the ads when they dropped.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finneburgh said he was unhappy with them, and that “people recognized it was an issue.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1805\" height=\"889\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103161\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022.jpg 1805w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022-160x79.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/TaylorFraud-website-screenshot_2_accessed-via-WayBackMachine_11-07-2022-1536x757.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1805px) 100vw, 1805px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot from the website Mario Juarez allegedly created to attack Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor, accessed by the Wayback Machine on Nov. 7, 2022. (Courtesy of Wayback Machine)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tsai suggested that the ad of Thao’s opponent, Loren Taylor, which was photoshopped to darken his skin, played into racist tropes against Black men and could have alienated voters Thao would have wanted to retain. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ethics commission’s tip related to those mailers, however, led the FBI to obtain a search warrant to access Juarez’s Apple iCloud, Barclay said Monday, which included a document he wrote enumerating the deal he allegedly struck with the Duongs and Thao.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Barclay identified the defendants and Juarez in photos and videos shown to jurors. The prosecution also walked the jury through numerous WhatsApp and text messages from Andy Duong’s phone, which was confiscated from his home during the 2024 raid. The messages appear to reveal how some of the promises played out once Thao took office that prosecutors allege the co-defendants had made.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12098343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260903-ShengThaoTrial-05-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">U.S. Postal police investigate a home tied to David Duong, one of multiple properties searched by law enforcement that included residences to members of a politically connected family who run the citys contracted recycling company, California Waste Solutions, in Oakland, California, on June 20, 2024. (Ray Chavez/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one photo, from December 2022, jurors on Thursday saw photos illustrating what appeared to be a whiteboard at California Waste Solutions with words that included, “Oak 300 units” and “Mayor” along with different monetary amounts and arrows pointing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In February 2023, a month after Thao’s inauguration, Juarez and Andy Duong set up a meeting at California Waste Solutions between David Duong and Larry Gallegos, a project manager in the city’s economic workforce development department at the time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prosecutors allege that Gallegos was one of the candidates who Thao agreed to elevate to a leadership position in Oakland City Hall at Andy Duong’s and Juarez’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one text exchange shown to the jury on Thursday, Juarez tells Andy Duong, “I wanted him because while at the City he make [sic] sure my projects got done and grants were given to me.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez also texted Andy Duong about taking Gallegos out to party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What dates are good for you to 1. Have Larry Gallegos come to have lunch at CWS with DD and Family if you wish to have him,” Juarez asked, appearing to refer to David Duong in the message. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their opening statement, David Duong’s defense argued that the CWS owner didn’t know about the deal his son and Juarez allegedly made with Thao and Jones. Similarly, Thao’s defense has suggested that she had no knowledge of any bribery scheme promising city contracts and staff appointments — even if it was being discussed by her co-defendants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Weeks later, on March 10, 2023, the city’s interim city administrator appointed Gallegos the deputy director of Oakland’s housing department, despite concerns from Thao’s former chief of staff, Leigh Hanson. Hanson testified in federal court last week that she raised her concerns with the mayor that Gallegos was not qualified and believed they were on the same page, until she heard he would be appointed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During another exchange in late March 2023, Andy Duong and Juarez appear frustrated with Thao and Jones about going over their heads to communicate with David Duong and alter the terms of their agreement, leading Juarez to send Andy Duong a copy of the “Deal Points” note that the FBI found early in its investigation laying out the alleged quid pro quo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261014-ShengThaoOpeningStatements-25-BL-KQED-6aac0858-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We invested money,” Juarez wrote to Andy Duong on March 26. “Time. Talent.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later that day, Andy Duong replied to Juarez: “Aint nothing free or [sic] front cuz we did all that to help her ass win.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Barclay finishes her testimony, former Assistant City Administrator LaTonda Simmons and former City Administrator Jestin Johnson are expected to take the stand. Thao appointed Johnson in May 2023, and he served throughout her mayorship. He \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091317/oakland-councilmember-proposes-a-409000-severance-for-former-city-administrator\">resigned from the role\u003c/a> in May amid an unrelated text messaging scandal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Oakland’s governance structure, the administrator oversees city departments and carries out most day-to-day government functions. But they are hired and fired by the mayor, who often gives input on major decisions, including hiring department heads and agreeing to significant contracts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his opening statement, Fine said Johnson will testify that Thao directed him to meet with David Duong multiple times and tour Evolutionary Homes’ showroom — allegedly the only homeless housing vendor she asked him to visit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-joses-police-watchdog-report-shows-complaints-uses-of-force-increased",
"title": "San José’s Police Watchdog Report Shows Complaints, Uses of Force Increased",
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"headTitle": "San José’s Police Watchdog Report Shows Complaints, Uses of Force Increased | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103071/as-bay-area-cities-break-up-with-flock-pushback-to-surveillance-mounts-in-sf\">San José\u003c/a>’s independent police auditor said its office continues to be “kept in the dark” when it comes to receiving critical information in the immediate aftermath of police shootings, due to a city and police directive barring the auditor from shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a change since the beginning of the year, the auditor’s office has altogether stopped sending staff to the places where investigations are happening after officers have fired their weapons because their “presence at the scene provides no meaningful additional information,” Interim Independent Police Auditor Dwight White wrote in the office’s annual oversight report for 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/135483/639279531804930000\">annual report\u003c/a> was released this week, showing that complaints against officers steadily increased in 2024 and 2025 after dipping from 2021 through 2023, and that the number of times officers used force bumped up slightly over 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday, includes a dozen recommendations from White’s office on how the San José Police Department should improve its work, all of which the department agreed with or partially agreed to implement. But near the top of the report, White reiterated concerns about the exclusion from police shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The IPA is not granted access to the scene, nor does it have access to the briefing or walkthrough. The IPA is kept in the dark and completely out of the process,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105770\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference on May 20, 2024, one day after the city’s third police shooting of 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the whole council, along with Police Chief Paul Joseph, citing concerns about the integrity of police investigation scenes, rejected former auditor Eddie Aubrey’s recommendation to grant the office such access during an annual review last year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983119/san-jose-city-council-appoints-new-independent-police-auditor\">Aubrey\u003c/a> told the council that other major cities in the Bay Area and the state allow for that kind of real-time observation to ensure independent oversight is thorough, and told \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/22/san-jose-city-spurns-watchdogs-plea-for-more-access-to-police-shootings-force-cases/\">\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he considered the recommendation “low-hanging fruit.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview this week, White said the lack of access means San José is “kind of lacking” in contrast to cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Long Beach, among others. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’m not sure why that isn’t the standard” in San José, White said. He said his office simply gets a phone briefing from police officials under current practice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“If we can convince the City Council that it’s important to get access to the scene maybe next year or further down the road, we’ll definitely look into those options,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sean Allen, the president of the San José/Silicon Valley NAACP, and a former county correctional officer, told the council at the meeting they should reconsider. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What we have now is not oversight. When we talk to the community groups, we’re not happy with what we presently have in terms of [White’s] access to things. So we’d appreciate it if you guys would relook at that kind of stuff. The access needs to be changed in terms of how we do oversight,” Allen said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The continued lack of access to those scenes is coupled with what White said are frequent delays in police handing over completed internal investigations of other instances when officers seriously injure someone. In some cases, the completed investigations weren’t handed over at all, until the auditor discovered them and inquired with police. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collectively, the delays and inconsistent information sharing hamper the ability of the auditor’s office to closely review the “circumstances leading to the force, the actions of the officers and subject, or whether the investigation’s factual and policy conclusions are supported by the evidence,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the recommendations from White’s office are a call to implement a written policy requiring SJPD to provide the IPA’s office with every completed investigation stemming from police seriously injuring or shooting someone within 30 days after the department has completed its review. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to the recommendation, Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the department recently switched from “paper copies” to new digital software for its internal affairs work, which has “sped up the processing of the information and the provision of that information to the IPA.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2025 overall, the city’s police officers used force on people 598 times, an increase of about 5% over 2024, and the fourth consecutive annual increase after a low in 2021, the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105771\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Members of the San José City Council listen as San José Police Chief Paul Joseph speaks to the media during a Jan. 22, 2026, press conference about a police shooting downtown. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White’s report showed that officers received 499 complaints overall in 2025, including complaints from community members and those initiated by the department. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of those complaints, 326 of them were from community members concerning an officer’s conduct, continuing an upward trend from 263 in 2024, after a recent low of 224 in 2023. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“This recent uptick could reflect renewed public concern, increased willingness to report, or emerging challenges in police-community interactions that warrant closer attention,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A total of 370 officers on the force in 2025 received at least one complaint, or roughly 36% of active officers, which is an increase from 30% of officers in 2024 who received at least one complaint, and 27% who received a complaint in 2023. In 2022, about 33% of officers received at least one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One officer led the department with seven separate complaints during 2025, the report said. Four other officers had five complaints, and nine others had four complaints. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officers with two to six years of experience had the highest complaint rates, with more than 50% of those officers receiving a complaint, while about 23% of officers with 11 to 15 years of experience received complaints, according to the report. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the office tracks complaints by calendar year, the cases it reviews and closes each year can contain complaints from differing years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In cases the office reviewed and closed in 2025, the IPA investigated 942 separate allegations of police misconduct, with about 11% of those allegations sustained, “confirming some wrongdoing or misconduct occurred.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The large majority of the allegations, 74%, were characterized as “unfounded,” in which the evidence didn’t support the claim, or “exonerated,” meaning the conduct likely happened, “but the police officer’s actions were found to be within policy, highlighting the complexity of policing and the potential for misperception,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The IPA’s report also recommended the department should “explicitly prohibit the use of profanity or disparaging language as a routine control tactic.” In four cases reviewed by the auditor’s office, “officers repeatedly used profanity, especially variations of ‘shut the fuck up’ as a method they described as ‘de-escalation’,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Officers defended this language as a tactic to ‘shock,’ ‘snap’ or reassert control over individuals who were argumentative or talkative. That rationale itself is problematic. Profanity and disparaging language should not be treated as legitimate control techniques, especially when they escalate tension or serve no clear operational purpose,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A police department memo said the current policy prohibits officers “from using coarse, profane or derogatory language with a very narrow exception for “when necessary to establish control during a violent or dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11989256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A San José Police Department squad car in San José on April 18, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joseph, in his comments to the council, said a new policy isn’t needed because officers can be and already are disciplined for foul language in the wrong circumstances. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It is not an approved standard de-escalation technique. There are rare occasions. And look, if an officer’s going to swear at somebody and it’s going to prevent them from using force, then you know what, I’d rather have them do that,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joseph declined an interview request for this story. He told the council many of the policy changes based on the recommendations were already being made and should be complete by February. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We’re always trying to be better. We appreciate the IPA’s partnership in making us better and holding us accountable,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White took over as the interim auditor following Aubrey’s sudden and unexplained exit from the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aubrey, who was hired as the city’s new IPA in May 2024, was placed on administrative leave with no explanation in August of this year. The city \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094999/san-jose-police-watchdog-retires-suddenly\">announced his retirement\u003c/a> the following week, without any statement from Aubrey, who also did not return calls or texts seeking comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aubrey was lauded as an experienced leader at the time of his appointment by the City Council, which followed a period of tumult and staff turnover at the office, following the unexpected retirement of former auditor Shivaun Nurre in June 2023. She stepped down after getting into a verbal argument with a San José police officer at the San José Greek Festival while she was drunk.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103071/as-bay-area-cities-break-up-with-flock-pushback-to-surveillance-mounts-in-sf\">San José\u003c/a>’s independent police auditor said its office continues to be “kept in the dark” when it comes to receiving critical information in the immediate aftermath of police shootings, due to a city and police directive barring the auditor from shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a change since the beginning of the year, the auditor’s office has altogether stopped sending staff to the places where investigations are happening after officers have fired their weapons because their “presence at the scene provides no meaningful additional information,” Interim Independent Police Auditor Dwight White wrote in the office’s annual oversight report for 2025. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a change since the beginning of the year, the auditor’s office has altogether stopped sending staff to the places where investigations are happening after officers have fired their weapons because their “presence at the scene provides no meaningful additional information,” Interim Independent Police Auditor Dwight White wrote in the office’s annual oversight report for 2025. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/135483/639279531804930000\">annual report\u003c/a> was released this week, showing that complaints against officers steadily increased in 2024 and 2025 after dipping from 2021 through 2023, and that the number of times officers used force bumped up slightly over 2024.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/135483/639279531804930000\">annual report\u003c/a> was released this week, showing that complaints against officers steadily increased in 2024 and 2025 after dipping from 2021 through 2023, and that the number of times officers used force bumped up slightly over 2024.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The report, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday, includes a dozen recommendations from White’s office on how the San José Police Department should improve its work, all of which the department agreed with or partially agreed to implement. But near the top of the report, White reiterated concerns about the exclusion from police shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The report, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday, includes a dozen recommendations from White’s office on how the San José Police Department should improve its work, all of which the department agreed with or partially agreed to implement. But near the top of the report, White reiterated concerns about the exclusion from police shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The IPA is not granted access to the scene, nor does it have access to the briefing or walkthrough. The IPA is kept in the dark and completely out of the process,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The IPA is not granted access to the scene, nor does it have access to the briefing or walkthrough. The IPA is kept in the dark and completely out of the process,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105770\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference on May 20, 2024, one day after the city’s third police shooting of 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105770\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference on May 20, 2024, one day after the city’s third police shooting of 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the whole council, along with Police Chief Paul Joseph, citing concerns about the integrity of police investigation scenes, rejected former auditor Eddie Aubrey’s recommendation to grant the office such access during an annual review last year.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the whole council, along with Police Chief Paul Joseph, citing concerns about the integrity of police investigation scenes, rejected former auditor Eddie Aubrey’s recommendation to grant the office such access during an annual review last year.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983119/san-jose-city-council-appoints-new-independent-police-auditor\">Aubrey\u003c/a> told the council that other major cities in the Bay Area and the state allow for that kind of real-time observation to ensure independent oversight is thorough, and told \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/22/san-jose-city-spurns-watchdogs-plea-for-more-access-to-police-shootings-force-cases/\">\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he considered the recommendation “low-hanging fruit.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983119/san-jose-city-council-appoints-new-independent-police-auditor\">Aubrey\u003c/a> told the council that other major cities in the Bay Area and the state allow for that kind of real-time observation to ensure independent oversight is thorough, and told \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/22/san-jose-city-spurns-watchdogs-plea-for-more-access-to-police-shootings-force-cases/\">\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he considered the recommendation “low-hanging fruit.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an interview this week, White said the lack of access means San José is “kind of lacking” in contrast to cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Long Beach, among others. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an interview this week, White said the lack of access means San José is “kind of lacking” in contrast to cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Long Beach, among others. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure why that isn’t the standard” in San José, White said. He said his office simply gets a phone briefing from police officials under current practice. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure why that isn’t the standard” in San José, White said. He said his office simply gets a phone briefing from police officials under current practice. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“If we can convince the City Council that it’s important to get access to the scene maybe next year or further down the road, we’ll definitely look into those options,” he said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“If we can convince the City Council that it’s important to get access to the scene maybe next year or further down the road, we’ll definitely look into those options,” he said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Sean Allen, the president of the San José/Silicon Valley NAACP, and a former county correctional officer, told the council at the meeting they should reconsider. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What we have now is not oversight. When we talk to the community groups, we’re not happy with what we presently have in terms of [White’s] access to things. So we’d appreciate it if you guys would relook at that kind of stuff. The access needs to be changed in terms of how we do oversight,” Allen said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What we have now is not oversight. When we talk to the community groups, we’re not happy with what we presently have in terms of [White’s] access to things. So we’d appreciate it if you guys would relook at that kind of stuff. The access needs to be changed in terms of how we do oversight,” Allen said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The continued lack of access to those scenes is coupled with what White said are frequent delays in police handing over completed internal investigations of other instances when officers seriously injure someone. In some cases, the completed investigations weren’t handed over at all, until the auditor discovered them and inquired with police. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The continued lack of access to those scenes is coupled with what White said are frequent delays in police handing over completed internal investigations of other instances when officers seriously injure someone. In some cases, the completed investigations weren’t handed over at all, until the auditor discovered them and inquired with police. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Collectively, the delays and inconsistent information sharing hamper the ability of the auditor’s office to closely review the “circumstances leading to the force, the actions of the officers and subject, or whether the investigation’s factual and policy conclusions are supported by the evidence,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Collectively, the delays and inconsistent information sharing hamper the ability of the auditor’s office to closely review the “circumstances leading to the force, the actions of the officers and subject, or whether the investigation’s factual and policy conclusions are supported by the evidence,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Among the recommendations from White’s office are a call to implement a written policy requiring SJPD to provide the IPA’s office with every completed investigation stemming from police seriously injuring or shooting someone within 30 days after the department has completed its review. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Among the recommendations from White’s office are a call to implement a written policy requiring SJPD to provide the IPA’s office with every completed investigation stemming from police seriously injuring or shooting someone within 30 days after the department has completed its review. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In response to the recommendation, Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the department recently switched from “paper copies” to new digital software for its internal affairs work, which has “sped up the processing of the information and the provision of that information to the IPA.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In response to the recommendation, Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the department recently switched from “paper copies” to new digital software for its internal affairs work, which has “sped up the processing of the information and the provision of that information to the IPA.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2025 overall, the city’s police officers used force on people 598 times, an increase of about 5% over 2024, and the fourth consecutive annual increase after a low in 2021, the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2025 overall, the city’s police officers used force on people 598 times, an increase of about 5% over 2024, and the fourth consecutive annual increase after a low in 2021, the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105771\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Members of the San José City Council listen as San José Police Chief Paul Joseph speaks to the media during a Jan. 22, 2026, press conference about a police shooting downtown.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>White’s report showed that officers received 499 complaints overall in 2025, including complaints from community members and those initiated by the department. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Of those complaints, 326 of them were from community members concerning an officer’s conduct, continuing an upward trend from 263 in 2024, after a recent low of 224 in 2023. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Of those complaints, 326 of them were from community members concerning an officer’s conduct, continuing an upward trend from 263 in 2024, after a recent low of 224 in 2023. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This recent uptick could reflect renewed public concern, increased willingness to report, or emerging challenges in police-community interactions that warrant closer attention,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A total of 370 officers on the force in 2025 received at least one complaint, or roughly 36% of active officers, which is an increase from 30% of officers in 2024 who received at least one complaint, and 27% who received a complaint in 2023. In 2022, about 33% of officers received at least one. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A total of 370 officers on the force in 2025 received at least one complaint, or roughly 36% of active officers, which is an increase from 30% of officers in 2024 who received at least one complaint, and 27% who received a complaint in 2023. In 2022, about 33% of officers received at least one. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One officer led the department with seven separate complaints during 2025, the report said. Four other officers had five complaints, and nine others had four complaints. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One officer led the department with seven separate complaints during 2025, the report said. Four other officers had five complaints, and nine others had four complaints. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Officers with two to six years of experience had the highest complaint rates, with more than 50% of those officers receiving a complaint, while about 23% of officers with 11 to 15 years of experience received complaints, according to the report. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While the office tracks complaints by calendar year, the cases it reviews and closes each year can contain complaints from differing years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In cases the office reviewed and closed in 2025, the IPA investigated 942 separate allegations of police misconduct, with about 11% of those allegations sustained, “confirming some wrongdoing or misconduct occurred.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In cases the office reviewed and closed in 2025, the IPA investigated 942 separate allegations of police misconduct, with about 11% of those allegations sustained, “confirming some wrongdoing or misconduct occurred.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The large majority of the allegations, 74%, were characterized as “unfounded,” in which the evidence didn’t support the claim, or “exonerated,” meaning the conduct likely happened, “but the police officer’s actions were found to be within policy, highlighting the complexity of policing and the potential for misperception,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The large majority of the allegations, 74%, were characterized as “unfounded,” in which the evidence didn’t support the claim, or “exonerated,” meaning the conduct likely happened, “but the police officer’s actions were found to be within policy, highlighting the complexity of policing and the potential for misperception,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The IPA’s report also recommended the department should “explicitly prohibit the use of profanity or disparaging language as a routine control tactic.” In four cases reviewed by the auditor’s office, “officers repeatedly used profanity, especially variations of ‘shut the fuck up’ as a method they described as ‘de-escalation’,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The IPA’s report also recommended the department should “explicitly prohibit the use of profanity or disparaging language as a routine control tactic.” In four cases reviewed by the auditor’s office, “officers repeatedly used profanity, especially variations of ‘shut the fuck up’ as a method they described as ‘de-escalation’,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Officers defended this language as a tactic to ‘shock,’ ‘snap’ or reassert control over individuals who were argumentative or talkative. That rationale itself is problematic. Profanity and disparaging language should not be treated as legitimate control techniques, especially when they escalate tension or serve no clear operational purpose,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Officers defended this language as a tactic to ‘shock,’ ‘snap’ or reassert control over individuals who were argumentative or talkative. That rationale itself is problematic. Profanity and disparaging language should not be treated as legitimate control techniques, especially when they escalate tension or serve no clear operational purpose,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A police department memo said the current policy prohibits officers “from using coarse, profane or derogatory language with a very narrow exception for “when necessary to establish control during a violent or dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A police department memo said the current policy prohibits officers “from using coarse, profane or derogatory language with a very narrow exception for “when necessary to establish control during a violent or dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11989256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A San José Police Department squad car in San José on April 18, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Joseph, in his comments to the council, said a new policy isn’t needed because officers can be and already are disciplined for foul language in the wrong circumstances. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It is not an approved standard de-escalation technique. There are rare occasions. And look, if an officer’s going to swear at somebody and it’s going to prevent them from using force, then you know what, I’d rather have them do that,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It is not an approved standard de-escalation technique. There are rare occasions. And look, if an officer’s going to swear at somebody and it’s going to prevent them from using force, then you know what, I’d rather have them do that,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Joseph declined an interview request for this story. He told the council many of the policy changes based on the recommendations were already being made and should be complete by February. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re always trying to be better. We appreciate the IPA’s partnership in making us better and holding us accountable,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re always trying to be better. We appreciate the IPA’s partnership in making us better and holding us accountable,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>White took over as the interim auditor following Aubrey’s sudden and unexplained exit from the city. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Aubrey, who was hired as the city’s new IPA in May 2024, was placed on administrative leave with no explanation in August of this year. The city \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094999/san-jose-police-watchdog-retires-suddenly\">announced his retirement\u003c/a> the following week, without any statement from Aubrey, who also did not return calls or texts seeking comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Aubrey was lauded as an experienced leader at the time of his appointment by the City Council, which followed a period of tumult and staff turnover at the office, following the unexpected retirement of former auditor Shivaun Nurre in June 2023. She stepped down after getting into a verbal argument with a San José police officer at the San José Greek Festival while she was drunk.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103071/as-bay-area-cities-break-up-with-flock-pushback-to-surveillance-mounts-in-sf\">San José\u003c/a>’s independent police auditor said its office continues to be “kept in the dark” when it comes to receiving critical information in the immediate aftermath of police shootings, due to a city and police directive barring the auditor from shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a change since the beginning of the year, the auditor’s office has altogether stopped sending staff to the places where investigations are happening after officers have fired their weapons because their “presence at the scene provides no meaningful additional information,” Interim Independent Police Auditor Dwight White wrote in the office’s annual oversight report for 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/135483/639279531804930000\">annual report\u003c/a> was released this week, showing that complaints against officers steadily increased in 2024 and 2025 after dipping from 2021 through 2023, and that the number of times officers used force bumped up slightly over 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report, which was presented to the City Council on Tuesday, includes a dozen recommendations from White’s office on how the San José Police Department should improve its work, all of which the department agreed with or partially agreed to implement. But near the top of the report, White reiterated concerns about the exclusion from police shooting scenes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The IPA is not granted access to the scene, nor does it have access to the briefing or walkthrough. The IPA is kept in the dark and completely out of the process,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105770\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240520-SJPD-SHOOTING-JG-02-48ab42e3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan speaks during a press conference on May 20, 2024, one day after the city’s third police shooting of 2024. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan and the whole council, along with Police Chief Paul Joseph, citing concerns about the integrity of police investigation scenes, rejected former auditor Eddie Aubrey’s recommendation to grant the office such access during an annual review last year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11983119/san-jose-city-council-appoints-new-independent-police-auditor\">Aubrey\u003c/a> told the council that other major cities in the Bay Area and the state allow for that kind of real-time observation to ensure independent oversight is thorough, and told \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/22/san-jose-city-spurns-watchdogs-plea-for-more-access-to-police-shootings-force-cases/\">\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he considered the recommendation “low-hanging fruit.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview this week, White said the lack of access means San José is “kind of lacking” in contrast to cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Long Beach, among others. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’m not sure why that isn’t the standard” in San José, White said. He said his office simply gets a phone briefing from police officials under current practice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“If we can convince the City Council that it’s important to get access to the scene maybe next year or further down the road, we’ll definitely look into those options,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sean Allen, the president of the San José/Silicon Valley NAACP, and a former county correctional officer, told the council at the meeting they should reconsider. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What we have now is not oversight. When we talk to the community groups, we’re not happy with what we presently have in terms of [White’s] access to things. So we’d appreciate it if you guys would relook at that kind of stuff. The access needs to be changed in terms of how we do oversight,” Allen said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The continued lack of access to those scenes is coupled with what White said are frequent delays in police handing over completed internal investigations of other instances when officers seriously injure someone. In some cases, the completed investigations weren’t handed over at all, until the auditor discovered them and inquired with police. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collectively, the delays and inconsistent information sharing hamper the ability of the auditor’s office to closely review the “circumstances leading to the force, the actions of the officers and subject, or whether the investigation’s factual and policy conclusions are supported by the evidence,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the recommendations from White’s office are a call to implement a written policy requiring SJPD to provide the IPA’s office with every completed investigation stemming from police seriously injuring or shooting someone within 30 days after the department has completed its review. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to the recommendation, Police Chief Paul Joseph told the council the department recently switched from “paper copies” to new digital software for its internal affairs work, which has “sped up the processing of the information and the provision of that information to the IPA.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2025 overall, the city’s police officers used force on people 598 times, an increase of about 5% over 2024, and the fourth consecutive annual increase after a low in 2021, the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105771\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260122-SJPDSHOOT-JG-2_qed-61dfe3fa-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Members of the San José City Council listen as San José Police Chief Paul Joseph speaks to the media during a Jan. 22, 2026, press conference about a police shooting downtown. (Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White’s report showed that officers received 499 complaints overall in 2025, including complaints from community members and those initiated by the department. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of those complaints, 326 of them were from community members concerning an officer’s conduct, continuing an upward trend from 263 in 2024, after a recent low of 224 in 2023. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“This recent uptick could reflect renewed public concern, increased willingness to report, or emerging challenges in police-community interactions that warrant closer attention,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A total of 370 officers on the force in 2025 received at least one complaint, or roughly 36% of active officers, which is an increase from 30% of officers in 2024 who received at least one complaint, and 27% who received a complaint in 2023. In 2022, about 33% of officers received at least one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One officer led the department with seven separate complaints during 2025, the report said. Four other officers had five complaints, and nine others had four complaints. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officers with two to six years of experience had the highest complaint rates, with more than 50% of those officers receiving a complaint, while about 23% of officers with 11 to 15 years of experience received complaints, according to the report. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the office tracks complaints by calendar year, the cases it reviews and closes each year can contain complaints from differing years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In cases the office reviewed and closed in 2025, the IPA investigated 942 separate allegations of police misconduct, with about 11% of those allegations sustained, “confirming some wrongdoing or misconduct occurred.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The large majority of the allegations, 74%, were characterized as “unfounded,” in which the evidence didn’t support the claim, or “exonerated,” meaning the conduct likely happened, “but the police officer’s actions were found to be within policy, highlighting the complexity of policing and the potential for misperception,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The IPA’s report also recommended the department should “explicitly prohibit the use of profanity or disparaging language as a routine control tactic.” In four cases reviewed by the auditor’s office, “officers repeatedly used profanity, especially variations of ‘shut the fuck up’ as a method they described as ‘de-escalation’,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Officers defended this language as a tactic to ‘shock,’ ‘snap’ or reassert control over individuals who were argumentative or talkative. That rationale itself is problematic. Profanity and disparaging language should not be treated as legitimate control techniques, especially when they escalate tension or serve no clear operational purpose,” the report said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A police department memo said the current policy prohibits officers “from using coarse, profane or derogatory language with a very narrow exception for “when necessary to establish control during a violent or dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11989256\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240424-SJPD-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A San José Police Department squad car in San José on April 18, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joseph, in his comments to the council, said a new policy isn’t needed because officers can be and already are disciplined for foul language in the wrong circumstances. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It is not an approved standard de-escalation technique. There are rare occasions. And look, if an officer’s going to swear at somebody and it’s going to prevent them from using force, then you know what, I’d rather have them do that,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joseph declined an interview request for this story. He told the council many of the policy changes based on the recommendations were already being made and should be complete by February. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We’re always trying to be better. We appreciate the IPA’s partnership in making us better and holding us accountable,” Joseph said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White took over as the interim auditor following Aubrey’s sudden and unexplained exit from the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aubrey, who was hired as the city’s new IPA in May 2024, was placed on administrative leave with no explanation in August of this year. The city \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094999/san-jose-police-watchdog-retires-suddenly\">announced his retirement\u003c/a> the following week, without any statement from Aubrey, who also did not return calls or texts seeking comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aubrey was lauded as an experienced leader at the time of his appointment by the City Council, which followed a period of tumult and staff turnover at the office, following the unexpected retirement of former auditor Shivaun Nurre in June 2023. She stepped down after getting into a verbal argument with a San José police officer at the San José Greek Festival while she was drunk.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sheng-thao-on-trial",
"title": "The Federal Corruption Trial Against Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao",
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"headTitle": "The Federal Corruption Trial Against Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The federal corruption trial against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao kicked off this month. Thao and her three codefendants — Andre Jones, David Doung, and Andy Doung — are facing conspiracy and bribery charges. Prosecutors allege that the group engaged in a quid pro quo to advance the Doungs’ companies in exchange for money and support for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign. KQED’s Alex Hall joins us to break it all down.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103084/ex-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-is-going-on-trial-for-bribery-heres-what-you-need-to-know\">Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Is Going on Trial for Bribery: Here’s What You Need to Know\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">Alex Hall’s continuing coverage of the Sheng Thao trial\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Episode Transcript\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao is on trial this month, nearly two years after she was indicted on federal corruption charges. Thao and three other defendants, including the head of Oakland’s recycling contractor, could go to prison if they’re found guilty of bribery and corruption charges, prosecutors alleged they engaged in a pay-to-play scheme when Thao ran for mayor in 2022. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:42]\u003c/em> You’ve got people who could testify in this trial who are either currently in Oakland City government or were in Oakland city government very recently. And I think it will just be interesting to see the kinds of things that they reveal when they’re on the stand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:59]\u003c/em> Today, Enterprise and Accountability reporter Alex Hall breaks down the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:20]\u003c/em> So before we dive into this trial in Oakland, I want to start actually a little further back with before Sheng Thao became this embattled former mayor at the center of this federal trial, she has this really compelling story of just how she sort of became this mayor of many firsts. Can you actually just remind us of that version of Shang Tao and why it was such a big deal when she was first elected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:50]\u003c/em> Yeah, so Tao was elected 2022 as mayor, and she was relatively young, 37 years old. She was the first Hmong American woman to be elected mayor of a major US city, so pretty big accomplishment. And she, like you said, had a pretty compelling story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:10]\u003c/em> Through music and dance, Mayor Shang Tao was inaugurated as Oakland’s 51st mayor. The historic nature of Thao taking the oath of office has become a point of pride for many. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:21]\u003c/em> She talked about experiencing domestic violence, about how she had lived in her car with her infant son. She had gone to community college and transferred to UC Berkeley and started working as an intern in Oakland council member, Rebecca Kaplan’s office and eventually became her chief of staff. She ran for city council herself and won in 2018. And so, you know, she had this really interesting backstory and I think that the hope was that that experience would inform her policy priorities as mayor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:57]\u003c/em> We believe our city deserves a government that serves all its people, not just a few, not just the wealthy, and not just well connected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:12]\u003c/em> I remember when she was elected, it was sort of like an example of just like this amazing, like really very Oakland story. But when did things start to really fall apart for Shang Tao after she was elected in 2022? And how did that all sort of lead us to where we are now with this trial?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:34]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, I think Thao definitely faced challenges from the get-go. There was this ransomware attack that the city had to deal with almost right away. City was dealing with public safety issues, issues with the city’s budget. So there were some problems that her administration inherited, but some of her decisions also were unpopular. Pretty soon after coming into office, Tao placed the city’s police chief at the time, LeRonne Armstrong, on administrative leave, and there was significant backlash in response to that. And in January 2024, her critics launched a recall campaign against her. And it wasn’t long after that, roughly six months, that the FBI executed search warrants at the home she shared with her longtime partner, Andre Jones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:34]\u003c/em> Some breaking news coming into us tonight from the Bay Area with the FBI and other federal agencies raiding the Oakland Mayor’s home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:42]\u003c/em> So the FBI conducts these very public raids. Obviously, Thao is facing a ton of questions about what’s going on with this, and she’s also fighting a recall. So she’s holding events where she’s really fighting the recall, but also saying really publicly, I’m innocent, and I want to be crystal clear. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:04]\u003c/em> I have done nothing wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:13]\u003c/em> And at this point, she hadn’t been charged with a crime, and it wasn’t really publicly known what the federal government was even interested in when it conducted those raids. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:22]\u003c/em> Yeah, but it was so shocking. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:24]\u003c/em> Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of questions, you know, even though obviously the FBI is not going to say publicly what they’re looking for. There were little hints here and there based on, you, know, the subpoenas to different entities, including the city of Oakland. We found out later that witnesses were being called to testify before a grand jury. And then in November, Tau did end up losing the recall. And she was indicted roughly two months later in January 2025. You know, it’s been almost two years since Tau was indicted, so we’ve been covering this case for quite some time, but only really through the court records. And the stakes are definitely high.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:06]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the basics of this trial, Alex. Who exactly is on trial aside from Sheng Thao and what exactly are they being accused of? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:16]\u003c/em> There are four defendants, including Thao. Andre Jones, Thao’s long-term partner. David Duong is the CEO of California Waste Solutions, which is Oakland’s curbside recycling provider. And Andy Duong previously worked for California Wastest Solutions and is his son. They’re essentially alleging a pay-to-play scheme. If you read the indictment, you see that the story that the prosecution is telling about what happened in this alleged scheme is that in the lead up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election when Thao was ultimately elected, the four agreed to a bribery scheme. You know, Tao was facing a pretty tight race, and the government says that she promised to, if she won, take steps that would benefit the Duong’s companies in exchange for money and negative campaign mailers targeting her opponents in that mayoral race. Actually, they specifically alleged that she promised to extend a California Waste Solutions contract and to commit the city of Oakland to purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, which was this housing company that aimed to convert shipping containers into housing for the homeless that’s also really at the heart of this case. They also say that she agreed to appoint individuals to pretty high-level positions in Oakland City government who were either preferred by the Duongs or hand-picked by them. So, Thao, Jones, David, and Andy Duong are all facing conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and honest services wire fraud charges. Andy Duong is additionally charged with making false statements to a government agency, essentially lying to the FBI. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:31]\u003c/em> So we’re talking about what sound like pretty serious allegations about corruption within the city of Oakland, dating back to before Sheng Thao was even elected. What kind of evidence has come out so far? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:45]\u003c/em> Yeah, so prosecutors have described all types of evidence. Text messages, signal messages, financial records, toll records, audio and video recordings. There’s also a fifth person involved in this alleged scheme who isn’t actually charged in the indictment, but he’s a pretty big presence in the case, and that’s Mario Juarez. Juarez is an Oakland businessman, and he’s been described as a political operative, really active in Oakland city politics. So Juarez actually went into business with the Duangs on this business venture, Evolutionary Homes, around that time that the prosecutors say this alleged scheme started coming together. He has now pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged scheme, and he is now a key cooperating witness for the government. Juarez is expected to testify that Andy Duong told him that he recorded elected officials without their knowledge for use as potential leverage or potential blackmail later on. And we saw some of this supposed secret photos that were taken, including in opening statements.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:19]\u003c/em> We’re going to pause for a second, but to summarize, prosecutors allege Thao and the co-defendants agreed to a quid pro quo. They claim the CEO of Oakland’s waste management company, along with Mario Juarez, agreed to pay for campaign mailers to help Thao get elected mayor, and that the Duongs promised to pay TOW’s partner, Andre Jones. $300,000 for a no-show job. In exchange, according to the allegations, Thao promised to use her political power to advance the Duong’s business interests, to extend a contract for their waste management company, and buy container homes from another business venture. When we come back, how the defendants respond to the allegation and what to expect from the trial moving forward. We’ll be right back. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:31]\u003c/em> Okay, Alex, so prosecutors are building this corruption case against Shane Tau and these co-defendants and they plan to present all this evidence, including pictures and videos. What do we know about how the defendants, including former Mayor Shane Taut, plan to fight this in court? Like, what have they said in response to these allegations? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, even before the defendants were indicted, Thao was saying publicly that she was innocent. Attorneys for both Thao and David Duong, when they were giving their opening statements, told the jury that basically their clients didn’t even know about the alleged scheme. Andy Duong’s attorney had this whole analogy about stars in the sky kind of being like facts and how the government might be trying to connect those stars as part of a constellation, But the story the government is telling isn’t true, that the dots don’t actually connect the way that they’re saying they do. So it’s like each individual team is kind of taking its own different approach. And defense attorneys have been really raising a lot of questions about Mario Juarez. What they’ve described as this decades-long history of fraud, I think it will be really interesting to see what they ask him about and how he responds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:59]\u003c/em> I mean, I want to talk about the potential outcomes of this trial, Alex. I mean are the people on trial here, including former Mayor Shang Tao, facing prison time? Or what could happen to them at the end of this trail?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:15]\u003c/em> If they are convicted, the defendants could face possible prison time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:21]\u003c/em> That alone is, I mean, really shocking that a former mayor of Oakland could go to prison. How long could this trial last, Alex?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:30]\u003c/em> The trial is expected to go until just before Thanksgiving. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been really trying to move things along quickly, but it could go longer than expected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:45]\u003c/em> There are obviously very specific people at the center of this trial, but what implications could this trial you think have for Oakland beyond Sheng Thao? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:55]\u003c/em> You know, we don’t know what the outcome of this case is gonna be, but it will be really interesting to see how exactly it comes up during the trial, if at all, other allegations that Juarez has made about broader corruption in the city of Oakland that allegedly goes beyond this specific alleged scheme. You know, we don’t know how much of that is gonna come up during the trial, but the prosecution’s witness list includes multiple current and former elected officials and city staffers. It’s interesting that so many people who, you know, are intimately involved in the inner workings of Oakland government are either, you now, expected to be part of this trial or could otherwise be discussed. As part of the testimony in the trial, and I think that’s what makes it really interesting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:54]\u003c/em> Well, Alex Hall, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The federal corruption trial against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao kicked off this month. Thao and her three codefendants — Andre Jones, David Doung, and Andy Doung — are facing conspiracy and bribery charges. Prosecutors allege that the group engaged in a quid pro quo to advance the Doungs’ companies in exchange for money and support for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign. KQED’s Alex Hall joins us to break it all down.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao is on trial this month, nearly two years after she was indicted on federal corruption charges. Thao and three other defendants, including the head of Oakland’s recycling contractor, could go to prison if they’re found guilty of bribery and corruption charges, prosecutors alleged they engaged in a pay-to-play scheme when Thao ran for mayor in 2022. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao is on trial this month, nearly two years after she was indicted on federal corruption charges. Thao and three other defendants, including the head of Oakland’s recycling contractor, could go to prison if they’re found guilty of bribery and corruption charges, prosecutors alleged they engaged in a pay-to-play scheme when Thao ran for mayor in 2022. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:42]\u003c/em> You’ve got people who could testify in this trial who are either currently in Oakland City government or were in Oakland city government very recently. And I think it will just be interesting to see the kinds of things that they reveal when they’re on the stand. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:42]\u003c/em> You’ve got people who could testify in this trial who are either currently in Oakland City government or were in Oakland city government very recently. And I think it will just be interesting to see the kinds of things that they reveal when they’re on the stand. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:59]\u003c/em> Today, Enterprise and Accountability reporter Alex Hall breaks down the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:20]\u003c/em> So before we dive into this trial in Oakland, I want to start actually a little further back with before Sheng Thao became this embattled former mayor at the center of this federal trial, she has this really compelling story of just how she sort of became this mayor of many firsts. Can you actually just remind us of that version of Shang Tao and why it was such a big deal when she was first elected. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:20]\u003c/em> So before we dive into this trial in Oakland, I want to start actually a little further back with before Sheng Thao became this embattled former mayor at the center of this federal trial, she has this really compelling story of just how she sort of became this mayor of many firsts. Can you actually just remind us of that version of Shang Tao and why it was such a big deal when she was first elected. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:50]\u003c/em> Yeah, so Tao was elected 2022 as mayor, and she was relatively young, 37 years old. She was the first Hmong American woman to be elected mayor of a major US city, so pretty big accomplishment. And she, like you said, had a pretty compelling story. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:50]\u003c/em> Yeah, so Tao was elected 2022 as mayor, and she was relatively young, 37 years old. She was the first Hmong American woman to be elected mayor of a major US city, so pretty big accomplishment. And she, like you said, had a pretty compelling story. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:10]\u003c/em> Through music and dance, Mayor Shang Tao was inaugurated as Oakland’s 51st mayor. The historic nature of Thao taking the oath of office has become a point of pride for many. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:21]\u003c/em> She talked about experiencing domestic violence, about how she had lived in her car with her infant son. She had gone to community college and transferred to UC Berkeley and started working as an intern in Oakland council member, Rebecca Kaplan’s office and eventually became her chief of staff. She ran for city council herself and won in 2018. And so, you know, she had this really interesting backstory and I think that the hope was that that experience would inform her policy priorities as mayor. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:21]\u003c/em> She talked about experiencing domestic violence, about how she had lived in her car with her infant son. She had gone to community college and transferred to UC Berkeley and started working as an intern in Oakland council member, Rebecca Kaplan’s office and eventually became her chief of staff. She ran for city council herself and won in 2018. And so, you know, she had this really interesting backstory and I think that the hope was that that experience would inform her policy priorities as mayor. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:57]\u003c/em> We believe our city deserves a government that serves all its people, not just a few, not just the wealthy, and not just well connected. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:57]\u003c/em> We believe our city deserves a government that serves all its people, not just a few, not just the wealthy, and not just well connected. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:12]\u003c/em> I remember when she was elected, it was sort of like an example of just like this amazing, like really very Oakland story. But when did things start to really fall apart for Shang Tao after she was elected in 2022? And how did that all sort of lead us to where we are now with this trial?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:34]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, I think Thao definitely faced challenges from the get-go. There was this ransomware attack that the city had to deal with almost right away. City was dealing with public safety issues, issues with the city’s budget. So there were some problems that her administration inherited, but some of her decisions also were unpopular. Pretty soon after coming into office, Tao placed the city’s police chief at the time, LeRonne Armstrong, on administrative leave, and there was significant backlash in response to that. And in January 2024, her critics launched a recall campaign against her. And it wasn’t long after that, roughly six months, that the FBI executed search warrants at the home she shared with her longtime partner, Andre Jones. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:34]\u003c/em> Some breaking news coming into us tonight from the Bay Area with the FBI and other federal agencies raiding the Oakland Mayor’s home.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:34]\u003c/em> Some breaking news coming into us tonight from the Bay Area with the FBI and other federal agencies raiding the Oakland Mayor’s home.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:42]\u003c/em> So the FBI conducts these very public raids. Obviously, Thao is facing a ton of questions about what’s going on with this, and she’s also fighting a recall. So she’s holding events where she’s really fighting the recall, but also saying really publicly, I’m innocent, and I want to be crystal clear. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:42]\u003c/em> So the FBI conducts these very public raids. Obviously, Thao is facing a ton of questions about what’s going on with this, and she’s also fighting a recall. So she’s holding events where she’s really fighting the recall, but also saying really publicly, I’m innocent, and I want to be crystal clear. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:04]\u003c/em> I have done nothing wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:04]\u003c/em> I have done nothing wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:13]\u003c/em> And at this point, she hadn’t been charged with a crime, and it wasn’t really publicly known what the federal government was even interested in when it conducted those raids. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:13]\u003c/em> And at this point, she hadn’t been charged with a crime, and it wasn’t really publicly known what the federal government was even interested in when it conducted those raids. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:22]\u003c/em> Yeah, but it was so shocking. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:24]\u003c/em> Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of questions, you know, even though obviously the FBI is not going to say publicly what they’re looking for. There were little hints here and there based on, you, know, the subpoenas to different entities, including the city of Oakland. We found out later that witnesses were being called to testify before a grand jury. And then in November, Tau did end up losing the recall. And she was indicted roughly two months later in January 2025. You know, it’s been almost two years since Tau was indicted, so we’ve been covering this case for quite some time, but only really through the court records. And the stakes are definitely high.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:24]\u003c/em> Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of questions, you know, even though obviously the FBI is not going to say publicly what they’re looking for. There were little hints here and there based on, you, know, the subpoenas to different entities, including the city of Oakland. We found out later that witnesses were being called to testify before a grand jury. And then in November, Tau did end up losing the recall. And she was indicted roughly two months later in January 2025. You know, it’s been almost two years since Tau was indicted, so we’ve been covering this case for quite some time, but only really through the court records. And the stakes are definitely high.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:06]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the basics of this trial, Alex. Who exactly is on trial aside from Sheng Thao and what exactly are they being accused of? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:06]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the basics of this trial, Alex. Who exactly is on trial aside from Sheng Thao and what exactly are they being accused of? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:16]\u003c/em> There are four defendants, including Thao. Andre Jones, Thao’s long-term partner. David Duong is the CEO of California Waste Solutions, which is Oakland’s curbside recycling provider. And Andy Duong previously worked for California Wastest Solutions and is his son. They’re essentially alleging a pay-to-play scheme. If you read the indictment, you see that the story that the prosecution is telling about what happened in this alleged scheme is that in the lead up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election when Thao was ultimately elected, the four agreed to a bribery scheme. You know, Tao was facing a pretty tight race, and the government says that she promised to, if she won, take steps that would benefit the Duong’s companies in exchange for money and negative campaign mailers targeting her opponents in that mayoral race. Actually, they specifically alleged that she promised to extend a California Waste Solutions contract and to commit the city of Oakland to purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, which was this housing company that aimed to convert shipping containers into housing for the homeless that’s also really at the heart of this case. They also say that she agreed to appoint individuals to pretty high-level positions in Oakland City government who were either preferred by the Duongs or hand-picked by them. So, Thao, Jones, David, and Andy Duong are all facing conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and honest services wire fraud charges. Andy Duong is additionally charged with making false statements to a government agency, essentially lying to the FBI. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:16]\u003c/em> There are four defendants, including Thao. Andre Jones, Thao’s long-term partner. David Duong is the CEO of California Waste Solutions, which is Oakland’s curbside recycling provider. And Andy Duong previously worked for California Wastest Solutions and is his son. They’re essentially alleging a pay-to-play scheme. If you read the indictment, you see that the story that the prosecution is telling about what happened in this alleged scheme is that in the lead up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election when Thao was ultimately elected, the four agreed to a bribery scheme. You know, Tao was facing a pretty tight race, and the government says that she promised to, if she won, take steps that would benefit the Duong’s companies in exchange for money and negative campaign mailers targeting her opponents in that mayoral race. Actually, they specifically alleged that she promised to extend a California Waste Solutions contract and to commit the city of Oakland to purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, which was this housing company that aimed to convert shipping containers into housing for the homeless that’s also really at the heart of this case. They also say that she agreed to appoint individuals to pretty high-level positions in Oakland City government who were either preferred by the Duongs or hand-picked by them. So, Thao, Jones, David, and Andy Duong are all facing conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and honest services wire fraud charges. Andy Duong is additionally charged with making false statements to a government agency, essentially lying to the FBI. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:31]\u003c/em> So we’re talking about what sound like pretty serious allegations about corruption within the city of Oakland, dating back to before Sheng Thao was even elected. What kind of evidence has come out so far? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:45]\u003c/em> Yeah, so prosecutors have described all types of evidence. Text messages, signal messages, financial records, toll records, audio and video recordings. There’s also a fifth person involved in this alleged scheme who isn’t actually charged in the indictment, but he’s a pretty big presence in the case, and that’s Mario Juarez. Juarez is an Oakland businessman, and he’s been described as a political operative, really active in Oakland city politics. So Juarez actually went into business with the Duangs on this business venture, Evolutionary Homes, around that time that the prosecutors say this alleged scheme started coming together. He has now pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged scheme, and he is now a key cooperating witness for the government. Juarez is expected to testify that Andy Duong told him that he recorded elected officials without their knowledge for use as potential leverage or potential blackmail later on. And we saw some of this supposed secret photos that were taken, including in opening statements.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:45]\u003c/em> Yeah, so prosecutors have described all types of evidence. Text messages, signal messages, financial records, toll records, audio and video recordings. There’s also a fifth person involved in this alleged scheme who isn’t actually charged in the indictment, but he’s a pretty big presence in the case, and that’s Mario Juarez. Juarez is an Oakland businessman, and he’s been described as a political operative, really active in Oakland city politics. So Juarez actually went into business with the Duangs on this business venture, Evolutionary Homes, around that time that the prosecutors say this alleged scheme started coming together. He has now pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged scheme, and he is now a key cooperating witness for the government. Juarez is expected to testify that Andy Duong told him that he recorded elected officials without their knowledge for use as potential leverage or potential blackmail later on. And we saw some of this supposed secret photos that were taken, including in opening statements.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:19]\u003c/em> We’re going to pause for a second, but to summarize, prosecutors allege Thao and the co-defendants agreed to a quid pro quo. They claim the CEO of Oakland’s waste management company, along with Mario Juarez, agreed to pay for campaign mailers to help Thao get elected mayor, and that the Duongs promised to pay TOW’s partner, Andre Jones. $300,000 for a no-show job. In exchange, according to the allegations, Thao promised to use her political power to advance the Duong’s business interests, to extend a contract for their waste management company, and buy container homes from another business venture. When we come back, how the defendants respond to the allegation and what to expect from the trial moving forward. We’ll be right back. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:19]\u003c/em> We’re going to pause for a second, but to summarize, prosecutors allege Thao and the co-defendants agreed to a quid pro quo. They claim the CEO of Oakland’s waste management company, along with Mario Juarez, agreed to pay for campaign mailers to help Thao get elected mayor, and that the Duongs promised to pay TOW’s partner, Andre Jones. $300,000 for a no-show job. In exchange, according to the allegations, Thao promised to use her political power to advance the Duong’s business interests, to extend a contract for their waste management company, and buy container homes from another business venture. When we come back, how the defendants respond to the allegation and what to expect from the trial moving forward. We’ll be right back. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:31]\u003c/em> Okay, Alex, so prosecutors are building this corruption case against Shane Tau and these co-defendants and they plan to present all this evidence, including pictures and videos. What do we know about how the defendants, including former Mayor Shane Taut, plan to fight this in court? Like, what have they said in response to these allegations? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:31]\u003c/em> Okay, Alex, so prosecutors are building this corruption case against Shane Tau and these co-defendants and they plan to present all this evidence, including pictures and videos. What do we know about how the defendants, including former Mayor Shane Taut, plan to fight this in court? Like, what have they said in response to these allegations? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, even before the defendants were indicted, Thao was saying publicly that she was innocent. Attorneys for both Thao and David Duong, when they were giving their opening statements, told the jury that basically their clients didn’t even know about the alleged scheme. Andy Duong’s attorney had this whole analogy about stars in the sky kind of being like facts and how the government might be trying to connect those stars as part of a constellation, But the story the government is telling isn’t true, that the dots don’t actually connect the way that they’re saying they do. So it’s like each individual team is kind of taking its own different approach. And defense attorneys have been really raising a lot of questions about Mario Juarez. What they’ve described as this decades-long history of fraud, I think it will be really interesting to see what they ask him about and how he responds. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, even before the defendants were indicted, Thao was saying publicly that she was innocent. Attorneys for both Thao and David Duong, when they were giving their opening statements, told the jury that basically their clients didn’t even know about the alleged scheme. Andy Duong’s attorney had this whole analogy about stars in the sky kind of being like facts and how the government might be trying to connect those stars as part of a constellation, But the story the government is telling isn’t true, that the dots don’t actually connect the way that they’re saying they do. So it’s like each individual team is kind of taking its own different approach. And defense attorneys have been really raising a lot of questions about Mario Juarez. What they’ve described as this decades-long history of fraud, I think it will be really interesting to see what they ask him about and how he responds. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:59]\u003c/em> I mean, I want to talk about the potential outcomes of this trial, Alex. I mean are the people on trial here, including former Mayor Shang Tao, facing prison time? Or what could happen to them at the end of this trail?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:59]\u003c/em> I mean, I want to talk about the potential outcomes of this trial, Alex. I mean are the people on trial here, including former Mayor Shang Tao, facing prison time? Or what could happen to them at the end of this trail?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:15]\u003c/em> If they are convicted, the defendants could face possible prison time. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:15]\u003c/em> If they are convicted, the defendants could face possible prison time. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:21]\u003c/em> That alone is, I mean, really shocking that a former mayor of Oakland could go to prison. How long could this trial last, Alex?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:21]\u003c/em> That alone is, I mean, really shocking that a former mayor of Oakland could go to prison. How long could this trial last, Alex?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:30]\u003c/em> The trial is expected to go until just before Thanksgiving. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been really trying to move things along quickly, but it could go longer than expected. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:30]\u003c/em> The trial is expected to go until just before Thanksgiving. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been really trying to move things along quickly, but it could go longer than expected. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:45]\u003c/em> There are obviously very specific people at the center of this trial, but what implications could this trial you think have for Oakland beyond Sheng Thao? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:45]\u003c/em> There are obviously very specific people at the center of this trial, but what implications could this trial you think have for Oakland beyond Sheng Thao? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:55]\u003c/em> You know, we don’t know what the outcome of this case is gonna be, but it will be really interesting to see how exactly it comes up during the trial, if at all, other allegations that Juarez has made about broader corruption in the city of Oakland that allegedly goes beyond this specific alleged scheme. You know, we don’t know how much of that is gonna come up during the trial, but the prosecution’s witness list includes multiple current and former elected officials and city staffers. It’s interesting that so many people who, you know, are intimately involved in the inner workings of Oakland government are either, you now, expected to be part of this trial or could otherwise be discussed. As part of the testimony in the trial, and I think that’s what makes it really interesting. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:55]\u003c/em> You know, we don’t know what the outcome of this case is gonna be, but it will be really interesting to see how exactly it comes up during the trial, if at all, other allegations that Juarez has made about broader corruption in the city of Oakland that allegedly goes beyond this specific alleged scheme. You know, we don’t know how much of that is gonna come up during the trial, but the prosecution’s witness list includes multiple current and former elected officials and city staffers. It’s interesting that so many people who, you know, are intimately involved in the inner workings of Oakland government are either, you now, expected to be part of this trial or could otherwise be discussed. As part of the testimony in the trial, and I think that’s what makes it really interesting. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:54]\u003c/em> Well, Alex Hall, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:54]\u003c/em> Well, Alex Hall, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Last week, opening statements began in the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The federal corruption trial against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao kicked off this month. Thao and her three codefendants — Andre Jones, David Doung, and Andy Doung — are facing conspiracy and bribery charges. Prosecutors allege that the group engaged in a quid pro quo to advance the Doungs’ companies in exchange for money and support for Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign. KQED’s Alex Hall joins us to break it all down.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103084/ex-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-is-going-on-trial-for-bribery-heres-what-you-need-to-know\">Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Is Going on Trial for Bribery: Here’s What You Need to Know\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ahall\">Alex Hall’s continuing coverage of the Sheng Thao trial\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Episode Transcript\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao is on trial this month, nearly two years after she was indicted on federal corruption charges. Thao and three other defendants, including the head of Oakland’s recycling contractor, could go to prison if they’re found guilty of bribery and corruption charges, prosecutors alleged they engaged in a pay-to-play scheme when Thao ran for mayor in 2022. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:42]\u003c/em> You’ve got people who could testify in this trial who are either currently in Oakland City government or were in Oakland city government very recently. And I think it will just be interesting to see the kinds of things that they reveal when they’re on the stand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:59]\u003c/em> Today, Enterprise and Accountability reporter Alex Hall breaks down the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:20]\u003c/em> So before we dive into this trial in Oakland, I want to start actually a little further back with before Sheng Thao became this embattled former mayor at the center of this federal trial, she has this really compelling story of just how she sort of became this mayor of many firsts. Can you actually just remind us of that version of Shang Tao and why it was such a big deal when she was first elected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:50]\u003c/em> Yeah, so Tao was elected 2022 as mayor, and she was relatively young, 37 years old. She was the first Hmong American woman to be elected mayor of a major US city, so pretty big accomplishment. And she, like you said, had a pretty compelling story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:10]\u003c/em> Through music and dance, Mayor Shang Tao was inaugurated as Oakland’s 51st mayor. The historic nature of Thao taking the oath of office has become a point of pride for many. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:21]\u003c/em> She talked about experiencing domestic violence, about how she had lived in her car with her infant son. She had gone to community college and transferred to UC Berkeley and started working as an intern in Oakland council member, Rebecca Kaplan’s office and eventually became her chief of staff. She ran for city council herself and won in 2018. And so, you know, she had this really interesting backstory and I think that the hope was that that experience would inform her policy priorities as mayor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:57]\u003c/em> We believe our city deserves a government that serves all its people, not just a few, not just the wealthy, and not just well connected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:12]\u003c/em> I remember when she was elected, it was sort of like an example of just like this amazing, like really very Oakland story. But when did things start to really fall apart for Shang Tao after she was elected in 2022? And how did that all sort of lead us to where we are now with this trial?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:34]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, I think Thao definitely faced challenges from the get-go. There was this ransomware attack that the city had to deal with almost right away. City was dealing with public safety issues, issues with the city’s budget. So there were some problems that her administration inherited, but some of her decisions also were unpopular. Pretty soon after coming into office, Tao placed the city’s police chief at the time, LeRonne Armstrong, on administrative leave, and there was significant backlash in response to that. And in January 2024, her critics launched a recall campaign against her. And it wasn’t long after that, roughly six months, that the FBI executed search warrants at the home she shared with her longtime partner, Andre Jones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>News Reel:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:34]\u003c/em> Some breaking news coming into us tonight from the Bay Area with the FBI and other federal agencies raiding the Oakland Mayor’s home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:42]\u003c/em> So the FBI conducts these very public raids. Obviously, Thao is facing a ton of questions about what’s going on with this, and she’s also fighting a recall. So she’s holding events where she’s really fighting the recall, but also saying really publicly, I’m innocent, and I want to be crystal clear. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sheng Thao:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:04]\u003c/em> I have done nothing wrong. I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:13]\u003c/em> And at this point, she hadn’t been charged with a crime, and it wasn’t really publicly known what the federal government was even interested in when it conducted those raids. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:22]\u003c/em> Yeah, but it was so shocking. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:24]\u003c/em> Yeah, yeah, there were a lot of questions, you know, even though obviously the FBI is not going to say publicly what they’re looking for. There were little hints here and there based on, you, know, the subpoenas to different entities, including the city of Oakland. We found out later that witnesses were being called to testify before a grand jury. And then in November, Tau did end up losing the recall. And she was indicted roughly two months later in January 2025. You know, it’s been almost two years since Tau was indicted, so we’ve been covering this case for quite some time, but only really through the court records. And the stakes are definitely high.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:06]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the basics of this trial, Alex. Who exactly is on trial aside from Sheng Thao and what exactly are they being accused of? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:16]\u003c/em> There are four defendants, including Thao. Andre Jones, Thao’s long-term partner. David Duong is the CEO of California Waste Solutions, which is Oakland’s curbside recycling provider. And Andy Duong previously worked for California Wastest Solutions and is his son. They’re essentially alleging a pay-to-play scheme. If you read the indictment, you see that the story that the prosecution is telling about what happened in this alleged scheme is that in the lead up to the 2022 Oakland mayoral election when Thao was ultimately elected, the four agreed to a bribery scheme. You know, Tao was facing a pretty tight race, and the government says that she promised to, if she won, take steps that would benefit the Duong’s companies in exchange for money and negative campaign mailers targeting her opponents in that mayoral race. Actually, they specifically alleged that she promised to extend a California Waste Solutions contract and to commit the city of Oakland to purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, which was this housing company that aimed to convert shipping containers into housing for the homeless that’s also really at the heart of this case. They also say that she agreed to appoint individuals to pretty high-level positions in Oakland City government who were either preferred by the Duongs or hand-picked by them. So, Thao, Jones, David, and Andy Duong are all facing conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and honest services wire fraud charges. Andy Duong is additionally charged with making false statements to a government agency, essentially lying to the FBI. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:31]\u003c/em> So we’re talking about what sound like pretty serious allegations about corruption within the city of Oakland, dating back to before Sheng Thao was even elected. What kind of evidence has come out so far? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:45]\u003c/em> Yeah, so prosecutors have described all types of evidence. Text messages, signal messages, financial records, toll records, audio and video recordings. There’s also a fifth person involved in this alleged scheme who isn’t actually charged in the indictment, but he’s a pretty big presence in the case, and that’s Mario Juarez. Juarez is an Oakland businessman, and he’s been described as a political operative, really active in Oakland city politics. So Juarez actually went into business with the Duangs on this business venture, Evolutionary Homes, around that time that the prosecutors say this alleged scheme started coming together. He has now pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged scheme, and he is now a key cooperating witness for the government. Juarez is expected to testify that Andy Duong told him that he recorded elected officials without their knowledge for use as potential leverage or potential blackmail later on. And we saw some of this supposed secret photos that were taken, including in opening statements.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:19]\u003c/em> We’re going to pause for a second, but to summarize, prosecutors allege Thao and the co-defendants agreed to a quid pro quo. They claim the CEO of Oakland’s waste management company, along with Mario Juarez, agreed to pay for campaign mailers to help Thao get elected mayor, and that the Duongs promised to pay TOW’s partner, Andre Jones. $300,000 for a no-show job. In exchange, according to the allegations, Thao promised to use her political power to advance the Duong’s business interests, to extend a contract for their waste management company, and buy container homes from another business venture. When we come back, how the defendants respond to the allegation and what to expect from the trial moving forward. We’ll be right back. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:31]\u003c/em> Okay, Alex, so prosecutors are building this corruption case against Shane Tau and these co-defendants and they plan to present all this evidence, including pictures and videos. What do we know about how the defendants, including former Mayor Shane Taut, plan to fight this in court? Like, what have they said in response to these allegations? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, I mean, even before the defendants were indicted, Thao was saying publicly that she was innocent. Attorneys for both Thao and David Duong, when they were giving their opening statements, told the jury that basically their clients didn’t even know about the alleged scheme. Andy Duong’s attorney had this whole analogy about stars in the sky kind of being like facts and how the government might be trying to connect those stars as part of a constellation, But the story the government is telling isn’t true, that the dots don’t actually connect the way that they’re saying they do. So it’s like each individual team is kind of taking its own different approach. And defense attorneys have been really raising a lot of questions about Mario Juarez. What they’ve described as this decades-long history of fraud, I think it will be really interesting to see what they ask him about and how he responds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:59]\u003c/em> I mean, I want to talk about the potential outcomes of this trial, Alex. I mean are the people on trial here, including former Mayor Shang Tao, facing prison time? Or what could happen to them at the end of this trail?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:15]\u003c/em> If they are convicted, the defendants could face possible prison time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:21]\u003c/em> That alone is, I mean, really shocking that a former mayor of Oakland could go to prison. How long could this trial last, Alex?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:30]\u003c/em> The trial is expected to go until just before Thanksgiving. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has been really trying to move things along quickly, but it could go longer than expected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:45]\u003c/em> There are obviously very specific people at the center of this trial, but what implications could this trial you think have for Oakland beyond Sheng Thao? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Alex Hall:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:55]\u003c/em> You know, we don’t know what the outcome of this case is gonna be, but it will be really interesting to see how exactly it comes up during the trial, if at all, other allegations that Juarez has made about broader corruption in the city of Oakland that allegedly goes beyond this specific alleged scheme. You know, we don’t know how much of that is gonna come up during the trial, but the prosecution’s witness list includes multiple current and former elected officials and city staffers. It’s interesting that so many people who, you know, are intimately involved in the inner workings of Oakland government are either, you now, expected to be part of this trial or could otherwise be discussed. As part of the testimony in the trial, and I think that’s what makes it really interesting. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:54]\u003c/em> Well, Alex Hall, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:57]\u003c/em> Yeah, thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "San Francisco Judge Denies Bail to Engineer Accused of Bugging OpenAI HQ",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI\u003c/a> engineer who was accused last week of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/technology/openai-worker-arrested-bugging.html\">planting a secret recording device\u003c/a> at the company’s San Francisco offices was ordered detained without bail pending trial Monday. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said there is a “significant” risk he would flee, according to CNBC.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s order came at a San Francisco court hearing where he questioned an offer by the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles to back the full bond for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse reportedly said he found that offer “problematic,” and asked what confidence he should have that the Saudi government would protect the interests of the U.S. government.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors argued that Alfozan was “mere days away from leaving the United States for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested.” Prosecutors also cited his Bay Area earnings, at least two Saudi bank accounts, and “what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government” with no U.S. extradition treaty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We respectfully disagree with the decision and will continue to fight for his release,” Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, wrote to KQED on Tuesday. “Mr. Alfozan is a lawful permanent resident of the United States with years of significant contributions and ties to his community, as well as science and technology. I believe firmly that perception of who he is will change once full facts come out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees gather at the OpenAI DevDay 2026 conference, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If he really was an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn’t he just abscond right away?” Pernik said, according to the Times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said in their filing Sunday that Alfozan had been in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who tried to recruit him to a new Saudi artificial intelligence initiative. In one message, prosecutors said, the Saudi royal family member wrote to Alfozan that “Saudi needs you more” than the US. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan’s response, according to prosecutors: “100.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Alfozan said he would not leave OpenAI until his stock vested. His new-hire equity grant was worth $2.2 million, according to the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to a 2019 case in the same court, in which a Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia left the U.S. the day after the company confronted him — a departure the U.S government says was coordinated with the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles. He has never returned to face charges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The government’s filing cited the fact that Alfozan’s wife and their 3-month-old baby flew to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest on a business-class ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official. His wife now lives in Saudi Arabia, per the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“If he really was an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn’t he just abscond right away?” Pernik said, according to the Times. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said in their filing Sunday that Alfozan had been in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who tried to recruit him to a new Saudi artificial intelligence initiative. In one message, prosecutors said, the Saudi royal family member wrote to Alfozan that “Saudi needs you more” than the US. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan’s response, according to prosecutors: “100.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But Alfozan said he would not leave OpenAI until his stock vested. His new-hire equity grant was worth $2.2 million, according to the filing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to a 2019 case in the same court, in which a Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia left the U.S. the day after the company confronted him — a departure the U.S government says was coordinated with the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles. He has never returned to face charges.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The government’s filing cited the fact that Alfozan’s wife and their 3-month-old baby flew to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest on a business-class ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official. His wife now lives in Saudi Arabia, per the filing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Abdulrahman Alfozan, accused of hiding a recording device in a San Francisco conference room, will stay in jail until trial after a U.S. judge found the Saudi national posed a significant flight risk. \n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/open-ai\">OpenAI\u003c/a> engineer who was accused last week of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/technology/openai-worker-arrested-bugging.html\">planting a secret recording device\u003c/a> at the company’s San Francisco offices was ordered detained without bail pending trial Monday. Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse said there is a “significant” risk he would flee, according to CNBC.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s order came at a San Francisco court hearing where he questioned an offer by the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles to back the full bond for Abdulrahman Alfozan, a Saudi national. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse reportedly said he found that offer “problematic,” and asked what confidence he should have that the Saudi government would protect the interests of the U.S. government.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a court filing Sunday, prosecutors argued that Alfozan was “mere days away from leaving the United States for Saudi Arabia when he was arrested.” Prosecutors also cited his Bay Area earnings, at least two Saudi bank accounts, and “what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government” with no U.S. extradition treaty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We respectfully disagree with the decision and will continue to fight for his release,” Alfozan’s lawyer, William Pernik, wrote to KQED on Tuesday. “Mr. Alfozan is a lawful permanent resident of the United States with years of significant contributions and ties to his community, as well as science and technology. I believe firmly that perception of who he is will change once full facts come out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/OpenAISFGetty-a0787728-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Attendees gather at the OpenAI DevDay 2026 conference, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If he really was an agent of a foreign government, why wouldn’t he just abscond right away?” Pernik said, according to the Times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors said in their filing Sunday that Alfozan had been in frequent contact with a member of the Saudi royal family who tried to recruit him to a new Saudi artificial intelligence initiative. In one message, prosecutors said, the Saudi royal family member wrote to Alfozan that “Saudi needs you more” than the US. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan’s response, according to prosecutors: “100.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But Alfozan said he would not leave OpenAI until his stock vested. His new-hire equity grant was worth $2.2 million, according to the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a footnote, prosecutors pointed to a 2019 case in the same court, in which a Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia left the U.S. the day after the company confronted him — a departure the U.S government says was coordinated with the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles. He has never returned to face charges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The government’s filing cited the fact that Alfozan’s wife and their 3-month-old baby flew to Doha, Qatar, the day after his arrest on a business-class ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official. His wife now lives in Saudi Arabia, per the filing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan has been in jail since his arrest on a charge of using or endeavoring to use an electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept oral communications. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison if convicted. OpenAI fired him after his arrest but has said it has no indication Alfozan improperly accessed or took model weights, source code or customer data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tse’s decision to deny Alfozan bail was “no surprise” to Rory Little, a professor at UC Law San Francisco, “given the one-way trip tickets and he’s not a citizen.” Little also told KQED he would be surprised if Alfozan’s lawyers seek an immediate appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan came to the U.S. in 2009, earned degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley, became a permanent resident in 2020 and joined OpenAI in July 2025, according to prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an Arabic \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Dq_g-d9XI\">podcast interview\u003c/a> last month, according to the Times, Alfozan said he and other Saudi tech professionals in Silicon Valley had formed a group that advised Saudi organizations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_9799_17143067-1792446196.pdf&type=application/pdf\">filing\u003c/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California unsealed last week, prosecutors detailed how OpenAI’s security team had found a thumb-size recording device on Sept. 30, wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room. Only executives and their assistants could reserve the room, which was used for leadership meetings and briefings with government officials, the criminal complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI employees then placed a camera in the conference room, prosecutors said, and it recorded Alfozan checking behind the TV on Oct. 5. That day, security staff found a second device in a bag that Alfozan had left in a printer room, the complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-scaled-e1770337042768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11985952\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Dwyer/Associated Press)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last month, a ChatGPT account linked to Alfozan’s wife was used to ask how to build a continuous audio recorder, add Wi-Fi connectivity, encrypt its memory card and hide its activity. Alfozan asked an AI tool to list meeting rooms in OpenAI’s offices and asked about locations for “leadership and exec,” prosecutors said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case is a reminder of how much information chatbot companies like OpenAI retain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Your chatbot conversations in general are less private than you might assume,” Riana Pfefferkorn at Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI wrote KQED, adding that in a case where the company is also the alleged victim, it may be likelier to volunteer information rather than demand legal process for any information disclosure. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nearly every company logs your IP address when you create an account and/or login,” said Jen King, a privacy and data policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who has \u003ca href=\"https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36646/38784\">researched\u003c/a> AI companies’ privacy policies. “If you are not deleting your chats, and not using a temporary chat window, the chats associated with your account in most cases are kept indefinitely,” she added in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors wrote that whether Alfozan wanted to record meetings “to enrich himself by enhancing his own business prospects, or to provide aid [to] a foreign government, or both, his conduct is criminal.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OpenAI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Saudi Consulate General did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Alfozan is next due in court Nov. 6, for a status conference on the preliminary hearing — the same day Alfozan was scheduled for his U.S. citizenship interview, \u003ca href=\"https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_60188_17143067-1792449015.pdf&type=application/pdf\">according to his lawyers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 20 to add a new comment from William Pernik.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "following-explosive-allegations-testimony-in-ex-oakland-mayors-corruption-trial-continues",
"title": "Oakland Corruption Trial: FBI Agent Shares Misstep That Tipped Off Investigators",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Corruption Trial: FBI Agent Shares Misstep That Tipped Off Investigators | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A tip from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Public Ethics Commission launched the federal investigation into the alleged pay-to-play corruption scheme at the center of former Mayor Sheng Thao’s criminal trial, an FBI agent told the jury in federal court on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The testimony came amid protests outside the courthouse from anti-public corruption activists and after a former Thao staffer shed light on efforts her staff made in the lead-up to the 2022 mayoral election to distance themselves from negative campaign mailers depicting her opponents. Thao’s former chief of staff Leigh Hanson also doubled down on her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">testimony last week\u003c/a> that Thao called Andy Duong a “playboy” who was going to “ruin her career” as the second week of the trial got underway. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, are facing conspiracy and bribery charges for their alleged involvement in a quid pro quo to elevate the Duongs’ companies in exchange for $300,000 paid to Jones and support for Thao’s 2022 mayoral bid. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Katherine Barclay testified Monday that the citizen commission that monitors Oakland city government approached the FBI in February 2023 with a report of possible political corruption from the person hired to print mailers targeting Thao’s mayoral opponents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scott Means, former Director of Oakland’s Health and Human Services Department, speaks at a rally outside of the federal courthouse in Oakland where former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and others are on trial on Oct. 19, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay alleged that the FBI’s investigation began in connection with a separate check fraud case by Alameda County District Attorney’s Office against Oakland businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, who was accused of commissioning the mailers but failing to pay for them. The District Attorney’s Office later dropped the case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged bribery scheme involving Thao and is expected to serve as a key cooperating witness for the government later in the trial. Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Barclay, Juarez had hired Samari Johnson’s company to print a number of campaign mailers attacking Thao’s opponents just before Election Day but had paid more than $50,000 for the mailers with invalid checks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson later filed a police report against Juarez, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office opened a criminal case against him in January 2024, but dropped the charges after Juarez alleged that then-District Attorney Pamela Price was retaliating against him for refusing to donate to her own campaign. Price was recalled alongside Thao in November 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay testified that Johnson said Juarez made statements to him “about expecting things in return for the mailers from the candidate he was supporting.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That information led the FBI to obtain a search warrant for Juarez’s Apple iCloud account, where they found a document on the Notes application called “Sheng Thao Deal Points.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The note, which Juarez later sent to Andy Duong in a WhatsApp message, lays out much of the alleged scheme, including the Duongs’ and Juarez’s promise of the negative mailer campaign and $300,000 in exchange for purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, appointing certain individuals to city administration positions and extending California Waste Solutions’ contract with the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay also said that after an altercation between Juarez and the Duongs at California Waste Solutions’ headquarters in May 2024, the Oakland Police Department brought allegations that Juarez made “against” the Duongs and the police department to the FBI. An attorney representing Juarez at the time told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that he was “severely beaten” in the incident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay said the FBI first approached Juarez for an interview after that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Former Thao chief concludes testimony\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before Barclay took the stand late into the day on Monday, Andy Duong’s attorney, Winston Chan, questioned Hanson about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">statements she made last week\u003c/a> regarding his client’s conduct on a trade delegation to Vietnam in the summer of 2023 that Thao and other East Bay officials also attended. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trade delegation has become a flashpoint in the criminal case, after court records raised questions about who sponsored the high price tag for attendees’ travel, including business class flights, and after \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69557393/235/united-states-v-thao/\">allegations surfaced in July\u003c/a> that another elected official on the trip engaged in “suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Hanson said that after a journalist had approached the mayor’s office with questions about the rumors, Thao became especially angry with Andy Duong, saying of him: “I hate that fucking playboy, he’s always been trouble, he’s going to ruin my career.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Winston Chan (left), attorney for Andy Duong, gives his opening statements in the federal corruption trial of Duong and co-defendants former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Andre Jones and David Duong, at the U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Insinuating Andy Duong’s involvement and alleged child sex trafficking were revelations previously unknown to the public — and went against the court’s pre-established decision that the government would not elicit testimony revealing the alleged involvement of minors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Chan asked Hanson if she was sure her comments weren’t in reference to David Duong. He pointed to a transcript of an interview Hanson gave to the FBI in 2024, in which Hanson reportedly told investigators Thao was in fact angry with David. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hanson did not back down when Chan pressed her: “She did not mention David Duong, she mentioned Andy,” Hanson told the court. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hanson did acknowledge that the reporter did not accuse Andy Duong by name. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Hanson’s testimony, leaders of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013194/recalls-oakland-mayor-alameda-county-da-take-commanding-leads\">2024 campaigns to recall\u003c/a> Thao and Price held a press conference outside the courthouse, demanding an “end to City Hall corruption” in Oakland. Both elected leaders were recalled with \u003ca href=\"https://alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/252/\">more than 60% of voters\u003c/a> supporting their removal from office. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The same political infrastructure that installed and protected Thao continues to control Oakland City Hall,” the recall leaders wrote in a press release. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Taylor mailers hurt or help?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Noah Finneburgh, a former member of Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign team, also testified Monday, shedding light on the campaign’s response to the controversial mailer campaign Juarez orchestrated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mailer includes an altered photo of Thao’s top competitor, Loren Taylor. The image of Taylor, who is Black, appears to have been photoshopped so his mouth tilts down into a frown, the arch of his eyebrows is accentuated, his skin is darker, and there is a red hue cast over the image that makes his pupils appear to have red sparks in them. Taylor has alleged the ad intended to make him look angry, following a racist stereotype against Black men.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12034443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayoral Candidate Loren Taylor at KQED headquarters in San Francisco on April 3, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finneburgh said Thao’s staff wanted to minimize the ads, not draw attention to them, since they believed they would hurt the campaign by alienating voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They just didn’t seem credible to me. They seemed like something someone would see and think, ‘just another attack ad,’” Finneburgh said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao’s top campaign staff went back and forth about how to respond and ultimately posted on Twitter denouncing the ads as “incredibly offensive,” saying her campaign “did not and would never send something like this out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay will continue to testify Thursday. She’s expected to speak about a number of documents the FBI obtained from various cell phones, tablets and computers that were collected in the raids at the California Waste Solutions office and inside the homes of Thao and Jones, Andy Duong and David Duong in June 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove a description of signs protestors carried depicting a current councilmember who has not been named in connection to the trial.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scott Means, former Director of Oakland’s Health and Human Services Department, speaks at a rally outside of the federal courthouse in Oakland where former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and others are on trial on Oct. 19, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay alleged that the FBI’s investigation began in connection with a separate check fraud case by Alameda County District Attorney’s Office against Oakland businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, who was accused of commissioning the mailers but failing to pay for them. The District Attorney’s Office later dropped the case. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay alleged that the FBI’s investigation began in connection with a separate check fraud case by Alameda County District Attorney’s Office against Oakland businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, who was accused of commissioning the mailers but failing to pay for them. The District Attorney’s Office later dropped the case. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged bribery scheme involving Thao and is expected to serve as a key cooperating witness for the government later in the trial. Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to Barclay, Juarez had hired Samari Johnson’s company to print a number of campaign mailers attacking Thao’s opponents just before Election Day but had paid more than $50,000 for the mailers with invalid checks. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Johnson later filed a police report against Juarez, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office opened a criminal case against him in January 2024, but dropped the charges after Juarez alleged that then-District Attorney Pamela Price was retaliating against him for refusing to donate to her own campaign. Price was recalled alongside Thao in November 2024.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Johnson later filed a police report against Juarez, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office opened a criminal case against him in January 2024, but dropped the charges after Juarez alleged that then-District Attorney Pamela Price was retaliating against him for refusing to donate to her own campaign. Price was recalled alongside Thao in November 2024.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay testified that Johnson said Juarez made statements to him “about expecting things in return for the mailers from the candidate he was supporting.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That information led the FBI to obtain a search warrant for Juarez’s Apple iCloud account, where they found a document on the Notes application called “Sheng Thao Deal Points.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The note, which Juarez later sent to Andy Duong in a WhatsApp message, lays out much of the alleged scheme, including the Duongs’ and Juarez’s promise of the negative mailer campaign and $300,000 in exchange for purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, appointing certain individuals to city administration positions and extending California Waste Solutions’ contract with the city. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The note, which Juarez later sent to Andy Duong in a WhatsApp message, lays out much of the alleged scheme, including the Duongs’ and Juarez’s promise of the negative mailer campaign and $300,000 in exchange for purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, appointing certain individuals to city administration positions and extending California Waste Solutions’ contract with the city. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay also said that after an altercation between Juarez and the Duongs at California Waste Solutions’ headquarters in May 2024, the Oakland Police Department brought allegations that Juarez made “against” the Duongs and the police department to the FBI. An attorney representing Juarez at the time told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that he was “severely beaten” in the incident.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay also said that after an altercation between Juarez and the Duongs at California Waste Solutions’ headquarters in May 2024, the Oakland Police Department brought allegations that Juarez made “against” the Duongs and the police department to the FBI. An attorney representing Juarez at the time told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that he was “severely beaten” in the incident.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Before Barclay took the stand late into the day on Monday, Andy Duong’s attorney, Winston Chan, questioned Hanson about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">statements she made last week\u003c/a> regarding his client’s conduct on a trade delegation to Vietnam in the summer of 2023 that Thao and other East Bay officials also attended. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Before Barclay took the stand late into the day on Monday, Andy Duong’s attorney, Winston Chan, questioned Hanson about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">statements she made last week\u003c/a> regarding his client’s conduct on a trade delegation to Vietnam in the summer of 2023 that Thao and other East Bay officials also attended. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The trade delegation has become a flashpoint in the criminal case, after court records raised questions about who sponsored the high price tag for attendees’ travel, including business class flights, and after \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69557393/235/united-states-v-thao/\">allegations surfaced in July\u003c/a> that another elected official on the trip engaged in “suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The trade delegation has become a flashpoint in the criminal case, after court records raised questions about who sponsored the high price tag for attendees’ travel, including business class flights, and after \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69557393/235/united-states-v-thao/\">allegations surfaced in July\u003c/a> that another elected official on the trip engaged in “suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Hanson said that after a journalist had approached the mayor’s office with questions about the rumors, Thao became especially angry with Andy Duong, saying of him: “I hate that fucking playboy, he’s always been trouble, he’s going to ruin my career.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Hanson said that after a journalist had approached the mayor’s office with questions about the rumors, Thao became especially angry with Andy Duong, saying of him: “I hate that fucking playboy, he’s always been trouble, he’s going to ruin my career.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Winston Chan (left), attorney for Andy Duong, gives his opening statements in the federal corruption trial of Duong and co-defendants former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Andre Jones and David Duong, at the U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Insinuating Andy Duong’s involvement and alleged child sex trafficking were revelations previously unknown to the public — and went against the court’s pre-established decision that the government would not elicit testimony revealing the alleged involvement of minors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Insinuating Andy Duong’s involvement and alleged child sex trafficking were revelations previously unknown to the public — and went against the court’s pre-established decision that the government would not elicit testimony revealing the alleged involvement of minors.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Monday, Chan asked Hanson if she was sure her comments weren’t in reference to David Duong. He pointed to a transcript of an interview Hanson gave to the FBI in 2024, in which Hanson reportedly told investigators Thao was in fact angry with David. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Monday, Chan asked Hanson if she was sure her comments weren’t in reference to David Duong. He pointed to a transcript of an interview Hanson gave to the FBI in 2024, in which Hanson reportedly told investigators Thao was in fact angry with David. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hanson did not back down when Chan pressed her: “She did not mention David Duong, she mentioned Andy,” Hanson told the court. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Hanson’s testimony, leaders of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013194/recalls-oakland-mayor-alameda-county-da-take-commanding-leads\">2024 campaigns to recall\u003c/a> Thao and Price held a press conference outside the courthouse, demanding an “end to City Hall corruption” in Oakland. Both elected leaders were recalled with \u003ca href=\"https://alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/252/\">more than 60% of voters\u003c/a> supporting their removal from office. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The same political infrastructure that installed and protected Thao continues to control Oakland City Hall,” the recall leaders wrote in a press release. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Noah Finneburgh, a former member of Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign team, also testified Monday, shedding light on the campaign’s response to the controversial mailer campaign Juarez orchestrated. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Noah Finneburgh, a former member of Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign team, also testified Monday, shedding light on the campaign’s response to the controversial mailer campaign Juarez orchestrated. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The mailer includes an altered photo of Thao’s top competitor, Loren Taylor. The image of Taylor, who is Black, appears to have been photoshopped so his mouth tilts down into a frown, the arch of his eyebrows is accentuated, his skin is darker, and there is a red hue cast over the image that makes his pupils appear to have red sparks in them. Taylor has alleged the ad intended to make him look angry, following a racist stereotype against Black men.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The mailer includes an altered photo of Thao’s top competitor, Loren Taylor. The image of Taylor, who is Black, appears to have been photoshopped so his mouth tilts down into a frown, the arch of his eyebrows is accentuated, his skin is darker, and there is a red hue cast over the image that makes his pupils appear to have red sparks in them. Taylor has alleged the ad intended to make him look angry, following a racist stereotype against Black men.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Finneburgh said Thao’s staff wanted to minimize the ads, not draw attention to them, since they believed they would hurt the campaign by alienating voters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They just didn’t seem credible to me. They seemed like something someone would see and think, ‘just another attack ad,’” Finneburgh said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thao’s top campaign staff went back and forth about how to respond and ultimately posted on Twitter denouncing the ads as “incredibly offensive,” saying her campaign “did not and would never send something like this out.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thao’s top campaign staff went back and forth about how to respond and ultimately posted on Twitter denouncing the ads as “incredibly offensive,” saying her campaign “did not and would never send something like this out.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay will continue to testify Thursday. She’s expected to speak about a number of documents the FBI obtained from various cell phones, tablets and computers that were collected in the raids at the California Waste Solutions office and inside the homes of Thao and Jones, Andy Duong and David Duong in June 2024.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay will continue to testify Thursday. She’s expected to speak about a number of documents the FBI obtained from various cell phones, tablets and computers that were collected in the raids at the California Waste Solutions office and inside the homes of Thao and Jones, Andy Duong and David Duong in June 2024.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove a description of signs protestors carried depicting a current councilmember who has not been named in connection to the trial.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "According to an FBI investigator, an unpaid bill for negative campaign mailers and a tip from a citizen commission helped launch the federal investigation into former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and her three codefendants over allegations of bribery, corruption and fraud. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A tip from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Public Ethics Commission launched the federal investigation into the alleged pay-to-play corruption scheme at the center of former Mayor Sheng Thao’s criminal trial, an FBI agent told the jury in federal court on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The testimony came amid protests outside the courthouse from anti-public corruption activists and after a former Thao staffer shed light on efforts her staff made in the lead-up to the 2022 mayoral election to distance themselves from negative campaign mailers depicting her opponents. Thao’s former chief of staff Leigh Hanson also doubled down on her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">testimony last week\u003c/a> that Thao called Andy Duong a “playboy” who was going to “ruin her career” as the second week of the trial got underway. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao, her longtime romantic partner Andre Jones, recycling executive David Duong and his son, Andy Duong, are facing conspiracy and bribery charges for their alleged involvement in a quid pro quo to elevate the Duongs’ companies in exchange for $300,000 paid to Jones and support for Thao’s 2022 mayoral bid. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Katherine Barclay testified Monday that the citizen commission that monitors Oakland city government approached the FBI in February 2023 with a report of possible political corruption from the person hired to print mailers targeting Thao’s mayoral opponents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261019-THAO-TRIAL-PROTEST-MD-06-KQED-8a62a24d-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scott Means, former Director of Oakland’s Health and Human Services Department, speaks at a rally outside of the federal courthouse in Oakland where former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and others are on trial on Oct. 19, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay alleged that the FBI’s investigation began in connection with a separate check fraud case by Alameda County District Attorney’s Office against Oakland businessman and political operative Mario Juarez, who was accused of commissioning the mailers but failing to pay for them. The District Attorney’s Office later dropped the case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juarez has pleaded guilty to participating in the alleged bribery scheme involving Thao and is expected to serve as a key cooperating witness for the government later in the trial. Each of the defendants has pleaded not guilty. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Barclay, Juarez had hired Samari Johnson’s company to print a number of campaign mailers attacking Thao’s opponents just before Election Day but had paid more than $50,000 for the mailers with invalid checks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson later filed a police report against Juarez, and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office opened a criminal case against him in January 2024, but dropped the charges after Juarez alleged that then-District Attorney Pamela Price was retaliating against him for refusing to donate to her own campaign. Price was recalled alongside Thao in November 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay testified that Johnson said Juarez made statements to him “about expecting things in return for the mailers from the candidate he was supporting.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That information led the FBI to obtain a search warrant for Juarez’s Apple iCloud account, where they found a document on the Notes application called “Sheng Thao Deal Points.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The note, which Juarez later sent to Andy Duong in a WhatsApp message, lays out much of the alleged scheme, including the Duongs’ and Juarez’s promise of the negative mailer campaign and $300,000 in exchange for purchasing housing units from Evolutionary Homes, appointing certain individuals to city administration positions and extending California Waste Solutions’ contract with the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay also said that after an altercation between Juarez and the Duongs at California Waste Solutions’ headquarters in May 2024, the Oakland Police Department brought allegations that Juarez made “against” the Duongs and the police department to the FBI. An attorney representing Juarez at the time told the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-fbi-mario-juarez-19545382.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that he was “severely beaten” in the incident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay said the FBI first approached Juarez for an interview after that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Former Thao chief concludes testimony\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before Barclay took the stand late into the day on Monday, Andy Duong’s attorney, Winston Chan, questioned Hanson about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104531/former-thao-staffer-says-office-was-asked-about-alleged-child-sex-trafficking-on-vietnam-trip\">statements she made last week\u003c/a> regarding his client’s conduct on a trade delegation to Vietnam in the summer of 2023 that Thao and other East Bay officials also attended. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trade delegation has become a flashpoint in the criminal case, after court records raised questions about who sponsored the high price tag for attendees’ travel, including business class flights, and after \u003ca href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69557393/235/united-states-v-thao/\">allegations surfaced in July\u003c/a> that another elected official on the trip engaged in “suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Hanson said that after a journalist had approached the mayor’s office with questions about the rumors, Thao became especially angry with Andy Duong, saying of him: “I hate that fucking playboy, he’s always been trouble, he’s going to ruin my career.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ShengThaoOpeningStatements_Sketch4_VB-KQED-e58e7c6d-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Winston Chan (left), attorney for Andy Duong, gives his opening statements in the federal corruption trial of Duong and co-defendants former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Andre Jones and David Duong, at the U.S. Courthouse in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2026. (Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Insinuating Andy Duong’s involvement and alleged child sex trafficking were revelations previously unknown to the public — and went against the court’s pre-established decision that the government would not elicit testimony revealing the alleged involvement of minors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Chan asked Hanson if she was sure her comments weren’t in reference to David Duong. He pointed to a transcript of an interview Hanson gave to the FBI in 2024, in which Hanson reportedly told investigators Thao was in fact angry with David. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hanson did not back down when Chan pressed her: “She did not mention David Duong, she mentioned Andy,” Hanson told the court. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hanson did acknowledge that the reporter did not accuse Andy Duong by name. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Hanson’s testimony, leaders of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013194/recalls-oakland-mayor-alameda-county-da-take-commanding-leads\">2024 campaigns to recall\u003c/a> Thao and Price held a press conference outside the courthouse, demanding an “end to City Hall corruption” in Oakland. Both elected leaders were recalled with \u003ca href=\"https://alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/252/\">more than 60% of voters\u003c/a> supporting their removal from office. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The same political infrastructure that installed and protected Thao continues to control Oakland City Hall,” the recall leaders wrote in a press release. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Taylor mailers hurt or help?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Noah Finneburgh, a former member of Thao’s 2022 mayoral campaign team, also testified Monday, shedding light on the campaign’s response to the controversial mailer campaign Juarez orchestrated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mailer includes an altered photo of Thao’s top competitor, Loren Taylor. The image of Taylor, who is Black, appears to have been photoshopped so his mouth tilts down into a frown, the arch of his eyebrows is accentuated, his skin is darker, and there is a red hue cast over the image that makes his pupils appear to have red sparks in them. Taylor has alleged the ad intended to make him look angry, following a racist stereotype against Black men.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12034443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250403-LOREN-TAYLOR-ON-PB-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland Mayoral Candidate Loren Taylor at KQED headquarters in San Francisco on April 3, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finneburgh said Thao’s staff wanted to minimize the ads, not draw attention to them, since they believed they would hurt the campaign by alienating voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They just didn’t seem credible to me. They seemed like something someone would see and think, ‘just another attack ad,’” Finneburgh said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thao’s top campaign staff went back and forth about how to respond and ultimately posted on Twitter denouncing the ads as “incredibly offensive,” saying her campaign “did not and would never send something like this out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barclay will continue to testify Thursday. She’s expected to speak about a number of documents the FBI obtained from various cell phones, tablets and computers that were collected in the raids at the California Waste Solutions office and inside the homes of Thao and Jones, Andy Duong and David Duong in June 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove a description of signs protestors carried depicting a current councilmember who has not been named in connection to the trial.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "as-central-valley-immigration-arrests-continue-advocates-say-ice-is-blocking-access-to-legal-counsel",
"title": "As Central Valley Immigration Arrests Continue, Advocates Say ICE Is Blocking Access to Legal Counsel",
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"headTitle": "As Central Valley Immigration Arrests Continue, Advocates Say ICE Is Blocking Access to Legal Counsel | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Since federal immigration agents descended on California’s Central Valley over the last two weeks, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103799/bay-area-officials-immigration-advocates-brace-for-ice-surge-after-central-valley-arrests\">arresting scores of people\u003c/a> at gas stations, supermarkets and near agricultural fields, immigration attorneys say those arrested have been persistently denied access to legal counsel.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lawyers say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also failed to update the whereabouts of all those arrested in its \u003ca href=\"https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search\">“detainee locator” database\u003c/a>, meaning that dozens of individuals are essentially disappearing into ICE’s vast detention system.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since the surge in arrests began on Oct. 5, pro bono immigration attorneys working with rapid response networks have spent hours each day at ICE’s Fresno — and later Bakersfield — short-term processing facilities, asking to be admitted to identify who was detained and advise them of their rights, according to María Sofía Corona Gómez, directing attorney at the UFW Foundation in Fresno. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On some days, lawyers said they gained entrance at 4 or 5 p.m. to discover dozens of people inside but were only given time to meet with two or three. On other days, they were not allowed inside ICE’s holding area at all. Then, within a day or so, those arrested were moved to other detention facilities — in California or as far away as Texas, she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12054920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Farmworkers pick grapes at a field in Fresno on Sept. 3, 2025. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In some instances, Corona Gómez said, she’s been given a name by a family member of a person who was arrested, but has been unable to locate them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>They’re back there, and I’m not getting access,” she said. “And after hours [of waiting], I’m then being told, ‘Oh, now they’re not here. Now they’re at this detention center.’ But then we show up at the detention center, and it’s ‘No, they’re not in my system.’ Well, this is day five. This is day nine. Where are they?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said detainees whose family members have been able to contact them say that detention staff repeatedly urge them to sign papers accepting “voluntary departure,” rather than fight deportation through the immigration courts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Who’s ready to give up their rights when they haven’t been able to speak to counsel?” she asked. “But we know through family that some of them are trying to speak to us. They know we’re trying to find them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response to a request for comment on the arrest operation and concerns that detainees are being denied access to attorneys, an ICE spokesperson who would not provide their name issued the following statement: “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations. Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country, including in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Though ICE would not say, observers’ accounts suggest that as many as 200 people may have been arrested over the past two weeks. Corona Gómez said witness accounts described ICE using three or four unmarked SUVs to stop vehicles going to and from agricultural fields, especially along the state route 180 corridor west of Fresno. She said dozens of arrests continued last week, shifting Wednesday to Tulare and Kern counties, based on reports called in to hotlines for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.rapidresponsekern.com\">Rapid Response Network of Kern\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/vwn/\">Valley Watch Networ\u003c/a>k. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many of those arrested are part of what she called “the backbone of our farmworker economy” — people who have lived in the U.S., often without authorization, for many years or decades, working and raising families but with no pathway to become legal immigrants. Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/national-agricultural-workers-survey/research/data-tables\">60% of California’s agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants\u003c/a>, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, said his consortium of Central Valley growers had seen bystander videos showing ICE agents entering agricultural fields, which he said violates the law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nisei Farmers League calls on ICE to respect these legal requirements and the rights of farmers, farmworkers and communities,” he said. “These disruptions are causing fear and hardship. … Hardworking individuals who contribute to our communities are being treated as criminals, while their families and employers face growing uncertainty.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said that even though the number of immigrant legal service providers in the San Joaquin Valley is small, they would continue to try to track down arrested individuals to provide them counsel.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We need to keep documenting this. We need [people] to keep calling the rapid response hotlines,” she said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We can’t give up. It’s definitely an uphill battle, but community members have rights, and we can’t give up on those rights.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since the surge in arrests began on Oct. 5, pro bono immigration attorneys working with rapid response networks have spent hours each day at ICE’s Fresno — and later Bakersfield — short-term processing facilities, asking to be admitted to identify who was detained and advise them of their rights, according to María Sofía Corona Gómez, directing attorney at the UFW Foundation in Fresno. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On some days, lawyers said they gained entrance at 4 or 5 p.m. to discover dozens of people inside but were only given time to meet with two or three. On other days, they were not allowed inside ICE’s holding area at all. Then, within a day or so, those arrested were moved to other detention facilities — in California or as far away as Texas, she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In some instances, Corona Gómez said, she’s been given a name by a family member of a person who was arrested, but has been unable to locate them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>They’re back there, and I’m not getting access,” she said. “And after hours [of waiting], I’m then being told, ‘Oh, now they’re not here. Now they’re at this detention center.’ But then we show up at the detention center, and it’s ‘No, they’re not in my system.’ Well, this is day five. This is day nine. Where are they?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said detainees whose family members have been able to contact them say that detention staff repeatedly urge them to sign papers accepting “voluntary departure,” rather than fight deportation through the immigration courts. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Who’s ready to give up their rights when they haven’t been able to speak to counsel?” she asked. “But we know through family that some of them are trying to speak to us. They know we’re trying to find them.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In response to a request for comment on the arrest operation and concerns that detainees are being denied access to attorneys, an ICE spokesperson who would not provide their name issued the following statement: “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations. Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country, including in California.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Though ICE would not say, observers’ accounts suggest that as many as 200 people may have been arrested over the past two weeks. Corona Gómez said witness accounts described ICE using three or four unmarked SUVs to stop vehicles going to and from agricultural fields, especially along the state route 180 corridor west of Fresno. She said dozens of arrests continued last week, shifting Wednesday to Tulare and Kern counties, based on reports called in to hotlines for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.rapidresponsekern.com\">Rapid Response Network of Kern\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/vwn/\">Valley Watch Networ\u003c/a>k. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Many of those arrested are part of what she called “the backbone of our farmworker economy” — people who have lived in the U.S., often without authorization, for many years or decades, working and raising families but with no pathway to become legal immigrants. Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/national-agricultural-workers-survey/research/data-tables\">60% of California’s agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants\u003c/a>, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, said his consortium of Central Valley growers had seen bystander videos showing ICE agents entering agricultural fields, which he said violates the law.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Nisei Farmers League calls on ICE to respect these legal requirements and the rights of farmers, farmworkers and communities,” he said. “These disruptions are causing fear and hardship. … Hardworking individuals who contribute to our communities are being treated as criminals, while their families and employers face growing uncertainty.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said that even though the number of immigrant legal service providers in the San Joaquin Valley is small, they would continue to try to track down arrested individuals to provide them counsel.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We need to keep documenting this. We need [people] to keep calling the rapid response hotlines,” she said. \u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We can’t give up. It’s definitely an uphill battle, but community members have rights, and we can’t give up on those rights.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Since federal immigration agents descended on California’s Central Valley over the last two weeks, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103799/bay-area-officials-immigration-advocates-brace-for-ice-surge-after-central-valley-arrests\">arresting scores of people\u003c/a> at gas stations, supermarkets and near agricultural fields, immigration attorneys say those arrested have been persistently denied access to legal counsel.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lawyers say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also failed to update the whereabouts of all those arrested in its \u003ca href=\"https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search\">“detainee locator” database\u003c/a>, meaning that dozens of individuals are essentially disappearing into ICE’s vast detention system.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since the surge in arrests began on Oct. 5, pro bono immigration attorneys working with rapid response networks have spent hours each day at ICE’s Fresno — and later Bakersfield — short-term processing facilities, asking to be admitted to identify who was detained and advise them of their rights, according to María Sofía Corona Gómez, directing attorney at the UFW Foundation in Fresno. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On some days, lawyers said they gained entrance at 4 or 5 p.m. to discover dozens of people inside but were only given time to meet with two or three. On other days, they were not allowed inside ICE’s holding area at all. Then, within a day or so, those arrested were moved to other detention facilities — in California or as far away as Texas, she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12054920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250903_FARMLABORCRISIS_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Farmworkers pick grapes at a field in Fresno on Sept. 3, 2025. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In some instances, Corona Gómez said, she’s been given a name by a family member of a person who was arrested, but has been unable to locate them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>They’re back there, and I’m not getting access,” she said. “And after hours [of waiting], I’m then being told, ‘Oh, now they’re not here. Now they’re at this detention center.’ But then we show up at the detention center, and it’s ‘No, they’re not in my system.’ Well, this is day five. This is day nine. Where are they?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said detainees whose family members have been able to contact them say that detention staff repeatedly urge them to sign papers accepting “voluntary departure,” rather than fight deportation through the immigration courts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Who’s ready to give up their rights when they haven’t been able to speak to counsel?” she asked. “But we know through family that some of them are trying to speak to us. They know we’re trying to find them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response to a request for comment on the arrest operation and concerns that detainees are being denied access to attorneys, an ICE spokesperson who would not provide their name issued the following statement: “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations. Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country, including in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Though ICE would not say, observers’ accounts suggest that as many as 200 people may have been arrested over the past two weeks. Corona Gómez said witness accounts described ICE using three or four unmarked SUVs to stop vehicles going to and from agricultural fields, especially along the state route 180 corridor west of Fresno. She said dozens of arrests continued last week, shifting Wednesday to Tulare and Kern counties, based on reports called in to hotlines for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.rapidresponsekern.com\">Rapid Response Network of Kern\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://faithinthevalley.org/vwn/\">Valley Watch Networ\u003c/a>k. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many of those arrested are part of what she called “the backbone of our farmworker economy” — people who have lived in the U.S., often without authorization, for many years or decades, working and raising families but with no pathway to become legal immigrants. Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/national-agricultural-workers-survey/research/data-tables\">60% of California’s agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants\u003c/a>, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, said his consortium of Central Valley growers had seen bystander videos showing ICE agents entering agricultural fields, which he said violates the law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Nisei Farmers League calls on ICE to respect these legal requirements and the rights of farmers, farmworkers and communities,” he said. “These disruptions are causing fear and hardship. … Hardworking individuals who contribute to our communities are being treated as criminals, while their families and employers face growing uncertainty.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corona Gómez said that even though the number of immigrant legal service providers in the San Joaquin Valley is small, they would continue to try to track down arrested individuals to provide them counsel.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We need to keep documenting this. 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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hear more of the story on the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">‘We Are Jane Doe,\u003c/a>’ from KQED’s Snap Studios.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Aliksandria Prout was at home the evening of Aug. 2, 2024, when her phone rang. It was her former cellmate at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a>. Catrina Cameron was nearly incoherent over the prison phone line. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She told me she couldn’t see outta one eye,” Prout said. Cameron told Prout that correctional officers had sprayed her and dozens of other women with tear gas and pepper spray. “Our other cellmate had gotten beat up by correctional staff.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout could barely grasp the enormity of the incident. As the public would later learn, correctional officers had removed 159 women from a CCWF housing unit, confined them for more than four hours in a dining hall without food, water or medication, and then unleashed streams of pepper spray and chemical blast grenades on them when tensions escalated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Later, as the prisoners sat outside on the hot, dusty yard with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, officers again used tear gas and pepper grenades on them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1213\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea-1536x932.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows officers throwing chemical blast grenades at incarcerated women in the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024. (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>A retired prison administrator who reviewed footage of the incident told KQED: “It looks like they’re lining ’em up for the firing squad.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Women suffered injuries including stroke, blindness and seizures. “I didn’t know what they were doing to us or why, but I needed help, and I need somebody out there to know,” Cameron later recalled. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the phone with her friend, Prout felt sick. The 33-year-old nursing student and mother of three had been out of prison for nearly two years, but she hadn’t been able to leave it behind. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In just a couple of months, Prout was set to testify against the now-infamous former correctional officer, Gregory Rodriguez, who’d been charged with sexually assaulting more than a dozen women at the facility in Chowchilla, about 35 miles from Fresno. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And now, her close friend and former cellmate had been attacked by officers in the chow hall. She couldn’t help but think her efforts to expose Rodriguez were connected to what had just happened to Cameron and more than 150 women in her old unit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104581\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout sits in her home office, surrounded by legal paperwork, on Aug. 19, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout’s concerns were well-founded, according to a two-year KQED investigation into “Operation Breakdown,” as the incident was called in internal documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Interviews with more than a dozen women, a KQED analysis of six years’ worth of sexual assault complaints, trial transcripts, court filings, leaked internal affairs interviews and hundreds of disciplinary documents revealed a pattern of retaliation against incarcerated women who reported assault, failure to investigate those assaults and the dysfunctional accountability system that allowed staff sexual exploitation of women to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation reached a similar conclusion, finding an “unbroken pattern” of sexual abuse and retaliation in California’s women’s prisons dating back more than two decades. CCWF is one of just two women’s penitentiaries in the state and is one of the largest women’s prisons in the world, with a population of more than 2,000 women, nonbinary and trans people held inside.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104586\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104586\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rape crisis center signs hang in a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104629\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104629\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Resources hang on the wall at the housing unit. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the wake of the DOJ’s report, and as KQED neared publication of this investigation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">the warden at CCWF, Anissa De La Cruz, was demoted and transferred\u003c/a>, and multiple officers were put under investigation for sexual abuse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said the agency cannot comment on personnel decisions or the ongoing investigation. It said the agency is “fully committed to protecting victims of sexual assault.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the department conducted its own investigation into the events of Aug. 2, investigating 95 employees and disciplining 34 for their conduct, including firing three for excessive force and dishonesty. Initially, the department moved to discipline 41 staff members, but that number dropped as correctional officers filed appeals, some of which are still pending. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr />\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wZ89a/5/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR said the case was the largest corrective action stemming from a single incident in its history. Yet, key questions about the operation’s connection to a rising tide of sexual assault complaints remain unanswered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of six years of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act\">Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)\u003c/a> data obtained from CDCR showed that the rate of sexual misconduct complaints against staff at CCWF increased by about 1,800% from 2022 to 2023. CDCR did not answer questions about this data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout’s experience illuminates a pervasive culture of sexual abuse at CCWF, helps explain why women suddenly started coming forward in 2023, and reveals what the officers charged with keeping people safe in custody did in response.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ali’s story\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May 2022, Prout had been at CCWF for just a few days when correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez stopped her as she walked to a medical appointment. He asked her to pull down her N95 mask so he could verify her identity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘You have beautiful lips and beautiful eyes,’” Prout told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Three days later, an officer gave Prout a paper pass, known as a ducat, allowing her to move through the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They told me I had an attorney visit,” she said. An officer escorted her to the Board of Parole Hearings room, where such visits are usually held.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104579\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout at her home. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>But there was no attorney visit. Instead, she saw Rodriguez. This is the first time she has spoken to the media about what happened in that room. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez came close and tried to kiss her. He lifted her shirt and then turned her around on a chair beneath a window. Prout remembers staring at the officer’s boot, propped against the left side of the green upholstered chair. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What really upset me was he didn’t use protection,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When it was over, Prout said, Rodriguez warned her that if she told anyone, she could face disciplinary action, which could mean more time in prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1140\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104526\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-160x91.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-1536x876.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A pass issued for a fraudulent attorney visit on May 20, 2022, is among the evidence Aliksandria Prout saved following her sexual assault. (Courtesy of Aliksandria Prout)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED heard similar stories from other women at the prison. Eight women said they feared disciplinary write-ups, repeated cell searches and other retaliation if they reported sexual assault by staff. In a statement, CDCR said it is committed to protecting victims of sexual assault and that “sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation against incarcerated people is unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the time, Prout stayed silent, but she made sure to keep track of the multiple times Rodriguez called her back to that room. When she was paroled after just a few months in prison, Prout began contacting attorneys. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She found out that CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs was already investigating Rodriguez. They ultimately identified 22 potential victims, including Prout, and worked with the Madera County District Attorney’s Office to arrest the former officer in May of 2023. The case, in which Prout testified as a \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">Jane Doe\u003c/a>, attracted national attention. Rodriguez was convicted on 64 counts of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual battery. He was sentenced to 224 years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a prison spokesperson wrote that Rodriguez’s sentence “reaffirms CDCR’s own internal investigation” and that the department “condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and public trust.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104522\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot of an internal affairs investigation report obtained by KQED through a public records request from an investigation led by Special Agent Dustin Baker. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The department also said that then-Warden Michael Pallares was transferred to Pleasant Valley State Prison, where he was made associate warden.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>However, documents recently obtained by KQED reveal troubling new details about that investigation. The internal affairs report showed there was a six-month window in which investigators and CDCR leadership were notified of Rodriguez’s misconduct and failed to act. During that period, he assaulted at least six women, including Prout, numerous times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before Prout even arrived at CCWF, a woman had already told investigators that Rodriguez summoned her to the Board of Parole Hearings room for fake attorney visits and sexually assaulted her on three occasions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, Rodriguez remained at his job until Aug. 17, 2022, when he was finally reassigned to the mailroom. He retired shortly after that. CDCR did not answer questions about why it took so long to stop Rodriguez’s abuse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout holds documents related to her case at her home. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had been flagged before. All the way back in 2014, someone had reported potential relations between Rodriguez and a young woman identified in the trial transcripts as Nicole Doe. An investigation was done at the time, but the allegations against Rodriguez were dismissed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicole Doe was sent to solitary confinement for more than six months and then transferred to another prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was treated like I was the problem,” Nicole Doe said at trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2019, a female co-worker reported Rodriguez for sexual harassment. Rodriguez tried to kiss her and get her to go into the staff restroom at work, this woman told investigators. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’ll be quick, I’ll be quick,” she recalled Rodriguez saying, according to internal documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104588\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sign hangs above a doorway to a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez was reprimanded and told not to do it again, according to trial testimony. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The internal affairs report appeared to show that no other officers were disciplined in connection with Rodriguez’s years of criminal abuse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout said other officers must have known. They were often responsible for issuing ducats like the ones she received. The police of the prison, Investigative Services Unit officers, had an office right across the hall from the room where Rodriguez repeatedly called women in order to assault them. Prout, concerned she might be pregnant, had also gone to the prison clinic after that first assault.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They told me that if I wanted a pregnancy or STD test,” Prout testified at trial, “I had to admit to engaging in risky behavior, and that if I did that, it would add more time onto my sentence.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ripple effects\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s 2023 arrest also drew the attention of state lawmakers, who convened a \u003ca href=\"https://womenscaucus.legislature.ca.gov/node/434\">special hearing on sexual abuse\u003c/a> inside California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">allegations of sexual abuse by officers have persisted for years\u003c/a>, the Rodriguez case, along with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958308/dublin-womens-prison-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-scandal\">wide-ranging scandal of abuse at the federal prison\u003c/a> in Dublin, California, brought renewed urgency to the issue.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was a real pivotal moment,” said Amika Mota, executive director of the prison advocacy nonprofit Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, who spoke at that hearing. “I feel like it’s kind of when Pandora’s Box opened.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The Legislature allocated funds to create a sexual-abuse response and prevention working group. As part of that, CCWF began allowing incarcerated people to gather inside the prison gym for town halls organized by Sister Warriors and other advocacy groups.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Advocates stood watch at the doors of the gym to ensure correctional officers did not enter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ In the 30 years that I had been there, never had the prison allowed such a large group of us to gather with guests and without staff present,” said Elizabeth Lozano, one of the incarcerated women who was there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For the first time, Lozano spoke about the terror and violation she felt when being groped by a correctional officer. “There’s things that happen where it’s out of your control,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In October of 2023, CDCR agreed to pay Prout $1.2 million to settle a civil suit she’d filed. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against CDCR since Rodriguez’s arrest, alleging sexual abuse by him and dozens of officers. The cases became so numerous they were consolidated into a single coordinated proceeding that is still moving through the Sacramento Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As civil claims and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) complaints began to rise, five women, including Antoinette Yancey, who served on the prison’s inmate advisory council, said in interviews with KQED or in legal filings that they were warned that the complaints needed to stop. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104583\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104583\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rape crisis center and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) informational signs hang in a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104618\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104618\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Incarcerated women walk through a yard on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During a smaller search about a month before Operation Breakdown, Yancey said that Sgt. Isidro Arroyo confronted her, saying, “The PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s [prison grievances] all of that stuff needs to stop.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If the complaints do not stop, then I’m going to lock you guys down, take all your privileges, and this is gonna continue until the complaints stop,” Yancey recalled Arroyo saying.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she told him this was neither legal nor fair and refused to discourage women from filing sexual-abuse complaints. She also said she brought up this incident with Arroyo during a regular inmate advisory council meeting with leadership of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR declined to make Arroyo available for an interview and did not respond to questions about this incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘These bitches need to know’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the days leading up to Operation Breakdown, then-Warden Anissa De La Cruz was not at the prison, so Chief Deputy Warden Cynthia Rojas was in charge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Aug. 1, 2024, acting Capt. Carlos Mendoza and Associate Warden Stephanie Torres came to Rojas about problems with prisoners smoking and being “disruptive” in a housing area called D Yard, according to internal affairs interviews that were leaked on YouTube and later taken down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need to gain control of that fucking unit,” Rojas said, according to one of those leaked tapes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104631\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Incarcerated women walk through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. The R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rojas and her staff planned a massive search-and-seizure operation to look for contraband and enforce prison property limits for the entire unit. Under CDCR regulations, each incarcerated person’s state-issued and approved personal belongings must fit within 6 cubic feet of space — about the size of a mini-fridge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torres’ name was redacted in the investigation report, but KQED was able to identify her by comparing her statements to leaked internal affairs interviews and details about her role in the prison. She said the chief deputy warden gave her and Mendoza about a four-and-a-half-hour window to plan a search that would normally take days. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torres and Mendoza later told internal affairs investigators that they “questioned the reasoning and urgency” for the search, according to the report. The two senior staff members said that Rojas told them, “these bitches need to know who’s in control,” and that De La Cruz had directed her to “do what I know how to do.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza sent an email to De La Cruz, Rojas, Torres and other prison leaders late that Thursday afternoon, laying out the basics, including breaking the prisoners down to 6 cubic feet, using K-9 and searching the building.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Operation Breakdown was set for the next day.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘Fun, fun, fun, baby’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Aug. 2, Torres described a “skeleton crew of managerial staff” on site. Prison officials had to bring in officers who were still in training, according to the report. Two trainees said it was their first day working inside a prison. And despite initiating and planning Operation Breakdown, Rojas was also not at work that day. But when the acting captain of D Yard called her around midday, she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Boss, we just went code three,” Mendoza said, according to Rojas’ leaked interview with internal affairs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What the fuck? What do you mean we went code three?” Rojas said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A cafeteria at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The 159 incarcerated women on D Yard had been taken out of their cells and crowded into the dining hall first thing that morning. As the morning wore on, the scope of the search became apparent, according to a dozen women who were there that day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They watched through the windows of the chow hall as their pillows, shoes, clothing, TVs and even some mattresses were taken or thrown away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“People been here for 20 years,” said Wisdom Muhammad, who is out of prison now. “You throwing away they sentimental things that they have. You feel me? Like stuff that’s unreplaceable, and all that stuff is just hot trash.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Around 12:20 p.m., one of the people being held in the dining hall had a seizure. An alarm sounded, and officers filed into the dining hall in a skirmish line carrying MK-46 pepper sprayers and chemical grenades, surveillance footage and internal records showed. Things quickly escalated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After more than four hours in the sweltering Central Valley heat without food, water or medication, the people being held in the dining hall were frustrated, according to at least a dozen women who were there. They shouted at the officers. They banged on the tables and windows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she pointed to Arroyo and then to herself, trying to signal that she wanted to speak with him. He did not acknowledge her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza handed Arroyo a chemical blast grenade and instructed him to “put ’em down with the gas,” according to internal disciplinary documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza was recorded on body camera directing officers to “go gas” and placing chemical grenades in the hands of subordinates, according to disciplinary documents. He later told them he “took the initiative to be the response supervisor” at the dining hall.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The scrimmage line unleashed chemical blast grenades and pepper spray on the crowd of incarcerated people, sending them scrambling toward the back of the room, surveillance video reviewed by KQED showed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to a leaked internal affairs interview, correctional officer Jordan R. Chavira told another officer that he had entered the dining hall and “started dumping it, dude,” referring to chemical agents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIU0P9TO2-w&t=37s\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and eventually were walked outside to the yard, surveillance footage showed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey assumed the officers were going to start letting them go back into their housing unit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead, as the incarcerated people sat under the baking sun in 90-degree weather, the officers formed a half circle around them, according to surveillance footage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One woman, hands zip-tied behind her back, got up and took four steps to sit by another woman. Just then, the officers started throwing grenades filled with tear gas or pepper spray at the entire group. At least 15 blast grenades were deployed, according to KQED’s analysis of the disciplinary documents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the assault died down, multiple women were carried off the field on stretchers. According to leaked internal affairs tapes, Chavira was captured on his body-worn camera approaching another officer and saying, “Fun, fun, fun, baby.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1268\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104609\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-1536x974.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows an incarcerated woman secured to a stretcher outside the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024. (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Chavira told investigators he made those remarks in “the heat of the moment” and that he was being sarcastic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza and Chavira were charged with inexcusable neglect of duty, dishonesty, willful disobedience and excessive force; both were fired. Arroyo received a 10% salary reduction for seven pay periods and has returned to work at CCWF.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED was unable to reach Mendoza. Multiple attempts to reach Chavira were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“To me, if you can openly spray people as if they’re rats or roaches, like they’re not human, you completely disregard their humanity,” said Lozano, who was there on Aug. 2. “You’re sadistic. You’re an abuser.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Two investigations, different questions\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thirteen women, including Catrina Cameron and Antionette Yancey, filed a suit against the state for their injuries during the Aug. 2 incident, alleging the incident was tied to reports of sexual assault. CDCR admitted no fault, but paid the group $1.9 million to settle the case. A separate class action lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR’s internal investigation focused on the conduct of individual employees during the operation: who gave orders, who followed them and whether the force they used complied with department policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But newly disclosed documents obtained by KQED reveal that the operation was plagued by staffing shortages, lack of planning and oversight failures. Vital questions about why this operation was rushed out were never answered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104612\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers escort an incarcerated woman wearing a spit hood through a yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026 (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“I still don’t understand that,” Torres told internal affairs. “I wish to understand it, and in some ways, I don’t wish to understand it. It doesn’t make sense.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR Administrator Angela Kent is retired now, but at the time she served as the associate director of Female Offender Programs and Services. In her 27 years in law enforcement, she had never seen anything like the use of force on Aug. 2, she told KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I absolutely felt that every officer, supervisor and manager involved should be fired,” Kent said. At the time, she urged the department to release the body-worn camera footage along with a statement, “immediately, in line with the industry standard.” As of publication, CDCR still has not released the body-worn camera footage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chief Deputy Warden Rojas, who’d approved the operation but wasn’t there to oversee it, was not disciplined, according to documents obtained by KQED. In a leaked interview, she was questioned about the statement that Torres and Mendoza told investigators about. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Did you make the statement, ‘These bitches need to be reminded who’s in charge,’ or words to that effect?” the investigator said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Not that I recall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rojas was later promoted and is now acting warden at the second-largest men’s prison in the state, the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, which currently holds about 4,000 people in custody, according to CDCR’s website. CDCR declined to make Rojas available for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the documents obtained by KQED and the leaked internal affairs tapes, CDCR did not determine why the operation was launched or whether it was connected to the growing number of sexual-abuse complaints.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There is no doubt in my mind that if you start to empower women that are incarcerated and you start to give credibility to their voice that there’s gonna be tremendous resistance,” Kent said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A month after the Aug. 2 incident, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a broad civil rights investigation into sexual abuse and retaliation at California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Federal investigators examined the incident within the context of rising reports of sexual misconduct, allegations that staff punished women for speaking up and what the department described as longstanding failures to protect them. \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1457771/dl\">The department released its findings last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Women were not being protected,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Young told KQED. “It was the cycle that’s continuing to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response, CDCR said it takes every allegation seriously and remains committed to accountability and safety. The agency pointed to federal Prison Rape Elimination Act audits that found both women’s prisons met all 45 standards evaluated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Those audits measure whether a facility has policies and practices designed to comply with PREA; they do not determine whether abuse occurred in every reported case.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104594\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A mural covers the side of a fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaint data obtained from CDCR showed that in 2025, the year following the Aug. 2 incident, the rate of complaints being filed against staff at CCWF fell by about 75%. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. There are likely many reasons for this sudden decline, but multiple people at the prison said they no longer felt safe to file complaints.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One incarcerated woman, who was a victim of Rodriguez’s and spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity because she is afraid for her safety, said if she had to do it over again, she would not report Rodriguez. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaints found another trend: As complaints rose in 2023 and 2024, the department appeared unable to keep up. As of the most recent data, more than 2,000 complaints across California’s state prisons had not been adjudicated. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For many of the women who remain incarcerated at CCWF, Operation Breakdown has left lasting scars. Cameron said she has not set foot in the dining hall since Aug. 2 and that she still has not regained sight in one of her eyes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she still sees officers who were involved in the operation regularly. “They work in this building. They’re still antagonistic towards us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When asked whether the operation had succeeded in frightening women into silence, Cameron said it may have deterred many, but not everyone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, the more of us who start to speak, the more will follow,” she said. “What happens in the dark always comes to light.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Anna Sussman contributed reporting to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Sanchez Rue, associate professor of practice for UC Berkeley Journalism School, was the data editor for this series. AI tools were used to assist with the data analysis for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state, with NPR as its national partner.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hear more of the story on the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">‘We Are Jane Doe,\u003c/a>’ from KQED’s Snap Studios.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hear more of the story on the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">‘We Are Jane Doe,\u003c/a>’ from KQED’s Snap Studios.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Aliksandria Prout was at home the evening of Aug. 2, 2024, when her phone rang. It was her former cellmate at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a>. Catrina Cameron was nearly incoherent over the prison phone line. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Aliksandria Prout was at home the evening of Aug. 2, 2024, when her phone rang. It was her former cellmate at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a>. Catrina Cameron was nearly incoherent over the prison phone line. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“She told me she couldn’t see outta one eye,” Prout said. Cameron told Prout that correctional officers had sprayed her and dozens of other women with tear gas and pepper spray. “Our other cellmate had gotten beat up by correctional staff.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“She told me she couldn’t see outta one eye,” Prout said. Cameron told Prout that correctional officers had sprayed her and dozens of other women with tear gas and pepper spray. “Our other cellmate had gotten beat up by correctional staff.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prout could barely grasp the enormity of the incident. As the public would later learn, correctional officers had removed 159 women from a CCWF housing unit, confined them for more than four hours in a dining hall without food, water or medication, and then unleashed streams of pepper spray and chemical blast grenades on them when tensions escalated. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prout could barely grasp the enormity of the incident. As the public would later learn, correctional officers had removed 159 women from a CCWF housing unit, confined them for more than four hours in a dining hall without food, water or medication, and then unleashed streams of pepper spray and chemical blast grenades on them when tensions escalated. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Women suffered injuries including stroke, blindness and seizures. “I didn’t know what they were doing to us or why, but I needed help, and I need somebody out there to know,” Cameron later recalled. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the phone with her friend, Prout felt sick. The 33-year-old nursing student and mother of three had been out of prison for nearly two years, but she hadn’t been able to leave it behind. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In just a couple of months, Prout was set to testify against the now-infamous former correctional officer, Gregory Rodriguez, who’d been charged with sexually assaulting more than a dozen women at the facility in Chowchilla, about 35 miles from Fresno. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And now, her close friend and former cellmate had been attacked by officers in the chow hall. She couldn’t help but think her efforts to expose Rodriguez were connected to what had just happened to Cameron and more than 150 women in her old unit.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104581\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout sits in her home office, surrounded by legal paperwork, on Aug. 19, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104581\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout sits in her home office, surrounded by legal paperwork, on Aug. 19, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prout’s concerns were well-founded, according to a two-year KQED investigation into “Operation Breakdown,” as the incident was called in internal documents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Interviews with more than a dozen women, a KQED analysis of six years’ worth of sexual assault complaints, trial transcripts, court filings, leaked internal affairs interviews and hundreds of disciplinary documents revealed a pattern of retaliation against incarcerated women who reported assault, failure to investigate those assaults and the dysfunctional accountability system that allowed staff sexual exploitation of women to flourish.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation reached a similar conclusion, finding an “unbroken pattern” of sexual abuse and retaliation in California’s women’s prisons dating back more than two decades. CCWF is one of just two women’s penitentiaries in the state and is one of the largest women’s prisons in the world, with a population of more than 2,000 women, nonbinary and trans people held inside.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the wake of the DOJ’s report, and as KQED neared publication of this investigation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">the warden at CCWF, Anissa De La Cruz, was demoted and transferred\u003c/a>, and multiple officers were put under investigation for sexual abuse. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said the agency cannot comment on personnel decisions or the ongoing investigation. It said the agency is “fully committed to protecting victims of sexual assault.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the department conducted its own investigation into the events of Aug. 2, investigating 95 employees and disciplining 34 for their conduct, including firing three for excessive force and dishonesty. Initially, the department moved to discipline 41 staff members, but that number dropped as correctional officers filed appeals, some of which are still pending. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CDCR said the case was the largest corrective action stemming from a single incident in its history. Yet, key questions about the operation’s connection to a rising tide of sexual assault complaints remain unanswered. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of six years of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act\">Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)\u003c/a> data obtained from CDCR showed that the rate of sexual misconduct complaints against staff at CCWF increased by about 1,800% from 2022 to 2023. CDCR did not answer questions about this data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of six years of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act\">Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)\u003c/a> data obtained from CDCR showed that the rate of sexual misconduct complaints against staff at CCWF increased by about 1,800% from 2022 to 2023. CDCR did not answer questions about this data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prout’s experience illuminates a pervasive culture of sexual abuse at CCWF, helps explain why women suddenly started coming forward in 2023, and reveals what the officers charged with keeping people safe in custody did in response.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In May 2022, Prout had been at CCWF for just a few days when correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez stopped her as she walked to a medical appointment. He asked her to pull down her N95 mask so he could verify her identity.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In May 2022, Prout had been at CCWF for just a few days when correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez stopped her as she walked to a medical appointment. He asked her to pull down her N95 mask so he could verify her identity.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘You have beautiful lips and beautiful eyes,’” Prout told KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Three days later, an officer gave Prout a paper pass, known as a ducat, allowing her to move through the prison. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They told me I had an attorney visit,” she said. An officer escorted her to the Board of Parole Hearings room, where such visits are usually held.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104579\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout at her home.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But there was no attorney visit. Instead, she saw Rodriguez. This is the first time she has spoken to the media about what happened in that room. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez came close and tried to kiss her. He lifted her shirt and then turned her around on a chair beneath a window. Prout remembers staring at the officer’s boot, propped against the left side of the green upholstered chair. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When it was over, Prout said, Rodriguez warned her that if she told anyone, she could face disciplinary action, which could mean more time in prison. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104526\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-160x91.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-1536x876.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A pass issued for a fraudulent attorney visit on May 20, 2022, is among the evidence Aliksandria Prout saved following her sexual assault.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Aliksandria Prout)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104526\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A pass issued for a fraudulent attorney visit on May 20, 2022, is among the evidence Aliksandria Prout saved following her sexual assault.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Aliksandria Prout)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED heard similar stories from other women at the prison. Eight women said they feared disciplinary write-ups, repeated cell searches and other retaliation if they reported sexual assault by staff. In a statement, CDCR said it is committed to protecting victims of sexual assault and that “sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation against incarcerated people is unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED heard similar stories from other women at the prison. Eight women said they feared disciplinary write-ups, repeated cell searches and other retaliation if they reported sexual assault by staff. In a statement, CDCR said it is committed to protecting victims of sexual assault and that “sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation against incarcerated people is unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the time, Prout stayed silent, but she made sure to keep track of the multiple times Rodriguez called her back to that room. When she was paroled after just a few months in prison, Prout began contacting attorneys. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the time, Prout stayed silent, but she made sure to keep track of the multiple times Rodriguez called her back to that room. When she was paroled after just a few months in prison, Prout began contacting attorneys. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She found out that CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs was already investigating Rodriguez. They ultimately identified 22 potential victims, including Prout, and worked with the Madera County District Attorney’s Office to arrest the former officer in May of 2023. The case, in which Prout testified as a \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">Jane Doe\u003c/a>, attracted national attention. Rodriguez was convicted on 64 counts of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual battery. He was sentenced to 224 years in prison.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>She found out that CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs was already investigating Rodriguez. They ultimately identified 22 potential victims, including Prout, and worked with the Madera County District Attorney’s Office to arrest the former officer in May of 2023. The case, in which Prout testified as a \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">Jane Doe\u003c/a>, attracted national attention. Rodriguez was convicted on 64 counts of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual battery. He was sentenced to 224 years in prison.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a prison spokesperson wrote that Rodriguez’s sentence “reaffirms CDCR’s own internal investigation” and that the department “condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and public trust.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a prison spokesperson wrote that Rodriguez’s sentence “reaffirms CDCR’s own internal investigation” and that the department “condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and public trust.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104522\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot of an internal affairs investigation report obtained by KQED through a public records request from an investigation led by Special Agent Dustin Baker.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104522\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot of an internal affairs investigation report obtained by KQED through a public records request from an investigation led by Special Agent Dustin Baker.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The department also said that then-Warden Michael Pallares was transferred to Pleasant Valley State Prison, where he was made associate warden.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The department also said that then-Warden Michael Pallares was transferred to Pleasant Valley State Prison, where he was made associate warden.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>However, documents recently obtained by KQED reveal troubling new details about that investigation. The internal affairs report showed there was a six-month window in which investigators and CDCR leadership were notified of Rodriguez’s misconduct and failed to act. During that period, he assaulted at least six women, including Prout, numerous times. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>However, documents recently obtained by KQED reveal troubling new details about that investigation. The internal affairs report showed there was a six-month window in which investigators and CDCR leadership were notified of Rodriguez’s misconduct and failed to act. During that period, he assaulted at least six women, including Prout, numerous times. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Before Prout even arrived at CCWF, a woman had already told investigators that Rodriguez summoned her to the Board of Parole Hearings room for fake attorney visits and sexually assaulted her on three occasions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Before Prout even arrived at CCWF, a woman had already told investigators that Rodriguez summoned her to the Board of Parole Hearings room for fake attorney visits and sexually assaulted her on three occasions. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, Rodriguez remained at his job until Aug. 17, 2022, when he was finally reassigned to the mailroom. He retired shortly after that. CDCR did not answer questions about why it took so long to stop Rodriguez’s abuse.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Still, Rodriguez remained at his job until Aug. 17, 2022, when he was finally reassigned to the mailroom. He retired shortly after that. CDCR did not answer questions about why it took so long to stop Rodriguez’s abuse.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout holds documents related to her case at her home.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104582\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout holds documents related to her case at her home.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had been flagged before. All the way back in 2014, someone had reported potential relations between Rodriguez and a young woman identified in the trial transcripts as Nicole Doe. An investigation was done at the time, but the allegations against Rodriguez were dismissed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had been flagged before. All the way back in 2014, someone had reported potential relations between Rodriguez and a young woman identified in the trial transcripts as Nicole Doe. An investigation was done at the time, but the allegations against Rodriguez were dismissed. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nicole Doe was sent to solitary confinement for more than six months and then transferred to another prison.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nicole Doe was sent to solitary confinement for more than six months and then transferred to another prison.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I was treated like I was the problem,” Nicole Doe said at trial. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I was treated like I was the problem,” Nicole Doe said at trial. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2019, a female co-worker reported Rodriguez for sexual harassment. Rodriguez tried to kiss her and get her to go into the staff restroom at work, this woman told investigators. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>In 2019, a female co-worker reported Rodriguez for sexual harassment. Rodriguez tried to kiss her and get her to go into the staff restroom at work, this woman told investigators. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’ll be quick, I’ll be quick,” she recalled Rodriguez saying, according to internal documents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’ll be quick, I’ll be quick,” she recalled Rodriguez saying, according to internal documents.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104588\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sign hangs above a doorway to a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104588\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sign hangs above a doorway to a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez was reprimanded and told not to do it again, according to trial testimony. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rodriguez was reprimanded and told not to do it again, according to trial testimony. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The internal affairs report appeared to show that no other officers were disciplined in connection with Rodriguez’s years of criminal abuse.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The internal affairs report appeared to show that no other officers were disciplined in connection with Rodriguez’s years of criminal abuse.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prout said other officers must have known. They were often responsible for issuing ducats like the ones she received. The police of the prison, Investigative Services Unit officers, had an office right across the hall from the room where Rodriguez repeatedly called women in order to assault them. Prout, concerned she might be pregnant, had also gone to the prison clinic after that first assault.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Prout said other officers must have known. They were often responsible for issuing ducats like the ones she received. The police of the prison, Investigative Services Unit officers, had an office right across the hall from the room where Rodriguez repeatedly called women in order to assault them. Prout, concerned she might be pregnant, had also gone to the prison clinic after that first assault.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They told me that if I wanted a pregnancy or STD test,” Prout testified at trial, “I had to admit to engaging in risky behavior, and that if I did that, it would add more time onto my sentence.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“They told me that if I wanted a pregnancy or STD test,” Prout testified at trial, “I had to admit to engaging in risky behavior, and that if I did that, it would add more time onto my sentence.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "Ripple effects",
"level": 2
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ripple effects\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ripple effects\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s 2023 arrest also drew the attention of state lawmakers, who convened a \u003ca href=\"https://womenscaucus.legislature.ca.gov/node/434\">special hearing on sexual abuse\u003c/a> inside California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s 2023 arrest also drew the attention of state lawmakers, who convened a \u003ca href=\"https://womenscaucus.legislature.ca.gov/node/434\">special hearing on sexual abuse\u003c/a> inside California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">allegations of sexual abuse by officers have persisted for years\u003c/a>, the Rodriguez case, along with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958308/dublin-womens-prison-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-scandal\">wide-ranging scandal of abuse at the federal prison\u003c/a> in Dublin, California, brought renewed urgency to the issue.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">allegations of sexual abuse by officers have persisted for years\u003c/a>, the Rodriguez case, along with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958308/dublin-womens-prison-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-scandal\">wide-ranging scandal of abuse at the federal prison\u003c/a> in Dublin, California, brought renewed urgency to the issue.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was a real pivotal moment,” said Amika Mota, executive director of the prison advocacy nonprofit Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, who spoke at that hearing. “I feel like it’s kind of when Pandora’s Box opened.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It was a real pivotal moment,” said Amika Mota, executive director of the prison advocacy nonprofit Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, who spoke at that hearing. “I feel like it’s kind of when Pandora’s Box opened.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Legislature allocated funds to create a sexual-abuse response and prevention working group. As part of that, CCWF began allowing incarcerated people to gather inside the prison gym for town halls organized by Sister Warriors and other advocacy groups.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ In the 30 years that I had been there, never had the prison allowed such a large group of us to gather with guests and without staff present,” said Elizabeth Lozano, one of the incarcerated women who was there. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For the first time, Lozano spoke about the terror and violation she felt when being groped by a correctional officer. “There’s things that happen where it’s out of your control,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In October of 2023, CDCR agreed to pay Prout $1.2 million to settle a civil suit she’d filed. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against CDCR since Rodriguez’s arrest, alleging sexual abuse by him and dozens of officers. The cases became so numerous they were consolidated into a single coordinated proceeding that is still moving through the Sacramento Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In October of 2023, CDCR agreed to pay Prout $1.2 million to settle a civil suit she’d filed. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against CDCR since Rodriguez’s arrest, alleging sexual abuse by him and dozens of officers. The cases became so numerous they were consolidated into a single coordinated proceeding that is still moving through the Sacramento Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As civil claims and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) complaints began to rise, five women, including Antoinette Yancey, who served on the prison’s inmate advisory council, said in interviews with KQED or in legal filings that they were warned that the complaints needed to stop. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104583\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rape crisis center and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) informational signs hang in a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During a smaller search about a month before Operation Breakdown, Yancey said that Sgt. Isidro Arroyo confronted her, saying, “The PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s [prison grievances] all of that stuff needs to stop.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“If the complaints do not stop, then I’m going to lock you guys down, take all your privileges, and this is gonna continue until the complaints stop,” Yancey recalled Arroyo saying.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Yancey said she told him this was neither legal nor fair and refused to discourage women from filing sexual-abuse complaints. She also said she brought up this incident with Arroyo during a regular inmate advisory council meeting with leadership of the prison.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CDCR declined to make Arroyo available for an interview and did not respond to questions about this incident. \u003c/p>\n",
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"text": "‘These bitches need to know’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the days leading up to Operation Breakdown, then-Warden Anissa De La Cruz was not at the prison, so Chief Deputy Warden Cynthia Rojas was in charge.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Aug. 1, 2024, acting Capt. Carlos Mendoza and Associate Warden Stephanie Torres came to Rojas about problems with prisoners smoking and being “disruptive” in a housing area called D Yard, according to internal affairs interviews that were leaked on YouTube and later taken down. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Aug. 1, 2024, acting Capt. Carlos Mendoza and Associate Warden Stephanie Torres came to Rojas about problems with prisoners smoking and being “disruptive” in a housing area called D Yard, according to internal affairs interviews that were leaked on YouTube and later taken down. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We need to gain control of that fucking unit,” Rojas said, according to one of those leaked tapes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104631\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Incarcerated women walk through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. The R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rojas and her staff planned a massive search-and-seizure operation to look for contraband and enforce prison property limits for the entire unit. Under CDCR regulations, each incarcerated person’s state-issued and approved personal belongings must fit within 6 cubic feet of space — about the size of a mini-fridge.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rojas and her staff planned a massive search-and-seizure operation to look for contraband and enforce prison property limits for the entire unit. Under CDCR regulations, each incarcerated person’s state-issued and approved personal belongings must fit within 6 cubic feet of space — about the size of a mini-fridge.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Torres’ name was redacted in the investigation report, but KQED was able to identify her by comparing her statements to leaked internal affairs interviews and details about her role in the prison. She said the chief deputy warden gave her and Mendoza about a four-and-a-half-hour window to plan a search that would normally take days. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Torres’ name was redacted in the investigation report, but KQED was able to identify her by comparing her statements to leaked internal affairs interviews and details about her role in the prison. She said the chief deputy warden gave her and Mendoza about a four-and-a-half-hour window to plan a search that would normally take days. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Torres and Mendoza later told internal affairs investigators that they “questioned the reasoning and urgency” for the search, according to the report. The two senior staff members said that Rojas told them, “these bitches need to know who’s in control,” and that De La Cruz had directed her to “do what I know how to do.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Torres and Mendoza later told internal affairs investigators that they “questioned the reasoning and urgency” for the search, according to the report. The two senior staff members said that Rojas told them, “these bitches need to know who’s in control,” and that De La Cruz had directed her to “do what I know how to do.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mendoza sent an email to De La Cruz, Rojas, Torres and other prison leaders late that Thursday afternoon, laying out the basics, including breaking the prisoners down to 6 cubic feet, using K-9 and searching the building.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Operation Breakdown was set for the next day.\u003c/p>\n",
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"text": "‘Fun, fun, fun, baby’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Aug. 2, Torres described a “skeleton crew of managerial staff” on site. Prison officials had to bring in officers who were still in training, according to the report. Two trainees said it was their first day working inside a prison. And despite initiating and planning Operation Breakdown, Rojas was also not at work that day. But when the acting captain of D Yard called her around midday, she said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Boss, we just went code three,” Mendoza said, according to Rojas’ leaked interview with internal affairs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What the fuck? What do you mean we went code three?” Rojas said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A cafeteria at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The 159 incarcerated women on D Yard had been taken out of their cells and crowded into the dining hall first thing that morning. As the morning wore on, the scope of the search became apparent, according to a dozen women who were there that day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The 159 incarcerated women on D Yard had been taken out of their cells and crowded into the dining hall first thing that morning. As the morning wore on, the scope of the search became apparent, according to a dozen women who were there that day. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They watched through the windows of the chow hall as their pillows, shoes, clothing, TVs and even some mattresses were taken or thrown away.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“People been here for 20 years,” said Wisdom Muhammad, who is out of prison now. “You throwing away they sentimental things that they have. You feel me? Like stuff that’s unreplaceable, and all that stuff is just hot trash.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“People been here for 20 years,” said Wisdom Muhammad, who is out of prison now. “You throwing away they sentimental things that they have. You feel me? Like stuff that’s unreplaceable, and all that stuff is just hot trash.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Around 12:20 p.m., one of the people being held in the dining hall had a seizure. An alarm sounded, and officers filed into the dining hall in a skirmish line carrying MK-46 pepper sprayers and chemical grenades, surveillance footage and internal records showed. Things quickly escalated.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Around 12:20 p.m., one of the people being held in the dining hall had a seizure. An alarm sounded, and officers filed into the dining hall in a skirmish line carrying MK-46 pepper sprayers and chemical grenades, surveillance footage and internal records showed. Things quickly escalated.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After more than four hours in the sweltering Central Valley heat without food, water or medication, the people being held in the dining hall were frustrated, according to at least a dozen women who were there. They shouted at the officers. They banged on the tables and windows.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Yancey said she pointed to Arroyo and then to herself, trying to signal that she wanted to speak with him. He did not acknowledge her.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mendoza handed Arroyo a chemical blast grenade and instructed him to “put ’em down with the gas,” according to internal disciplinary documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mendoza was recorded on body camera directing officers to “go gas” and placing chemical grenades in the hands of subordinates, according to disciplinary documents. He later told them he “took the initiative to be the response supervisor” at the dining hall.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The scrimmage line unleashed chemical blast grenades and pepper spray on the crowd of incarcerated people, sending them scrambling toward the back of the room, surveillance video reviewed by KQED showed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to a leaked internal affairs interview, correctional officer Jordan R. Chavira told another officer that he had entered the dining hall and “started dumping it, dude,” referring to chemical agents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and eventually were walked outside to the yard, surveillance footage showed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Yancey assumed the officers were going to start letting them go back into their housing unit. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Instead, as the incarcerated people sat under the baking sun in 90-degree weather, the officers formed a half circle around them, according to surveillance footage.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One woman, hands zip-tied behind her back, got up and took four steps to sit by another woman. Just then, the officers started throwing grenades filled with tear gas or pepper spray at the entire group. At least 15 blast grenades were deployed, according to KQED’s analysis of the disciplinary documents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the assault died down, multiple women were carried off the field on stretchers. According to leaked internal affairs tapes, Chavira was captured on his body-worn camera approaching another officer and saying, “Fun, fun, fun, baby.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104609\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-1536x974.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows an incarcerated woman secured to a stretcher outside the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104609\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows an incarcerated woman secured to a stretcher outside the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Chavira told investigators he made those remarks in “the heat of the moment” and that he was being sarcastic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mendoza and Chavira were charged with inexcusable neglect of duty, dishonesty, willful disobedience and excessive force; both were fired. Arroyo received a 10% salary reduction for seven pay periods and has returned to work at CCWF.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED was unable to reach Mendoza. Multiple attempts to reach Chavira were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“To me, if you can openly spray people as if they’re rats or roaches, like they’re not human, you completely disregard their humanity,” said Lozano, who was there on Aug. 2. “You’re sadistic. You’re an abuser.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thirteen women, including Catrina Cameron and Antionette Yancey, filed a suit against the state for their injuries during the Aug. 2 incident, alleging the incident was tied to reports of sexual assault. CDCR admitted no fault, but paid the group $1.9 million to settle the case. A separate class action lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thirteen women, including Catrina Cameron and Antionette Yancey, filed a suit against the state for their injuries during the Aug. 2 incident, alleging the incident was tied to reports of sexual assault. CDCR admitted no fault, but paid the group $1.9 million to settle the case. A separate class action lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CDCR’s internal investigation focused on the conduct of individual employees during the operation: who gave orders, who followed them and whether the force they used complied with department policy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>CDCR’s internal investigation focused on the conduct of individual employees during the operation: who gave orders, who followed them and whether the force they used complied with department policy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But newly disclosed documents obtained by KQED reveal that the operation was plagued by staffing shortages, lack of planning and oversight failures. Vital questions about why this operation was rushed out were never answered. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But newly disclosed documents obtained by KQED reveal that the operation was plagued by staffing shortages, lack of planning and oversight failures. Vital questions about why this operation was rushed out were never answered. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104612\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers escort an incarcerated woman wearing a spit hood through a yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104612\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers escort an incarcerated woman wearing a spit hood through a yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I still don’t understand that,” Torres told internal affairs. “I wish to understand it, and in some ways, I don’t wish to understand it. It doesn’t make sense.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I still don’t understand that,” Torres told internal affairs. “I wish to understand it, and in some ways, I don’t wish to understand it. It doesn’t make sense.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CDCR Administrator Angela Kent is retired now, but at the time she served as the associate director of Female Offender Programs and Services. In her 27 years in law enforcement, she had never seen anything like the use of force on Aug. 2, she told KQED. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>CDCR Administrator Angela Kent is retired now, but at the time she served as the associate director of Female Offender Programs and Services. In her 27 years in law enforcement, she had never seen anything like the use of force on Aug. 2, she told KQED. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I absolutely felt that every officer, supervisor and manager involved should be fired,” Kent said. At the time, she urged the department to release the body-worn camera footage along with a statement, “immediately, in line with the industry standard.” As of publication, CDCR still has not released the body-worn camera footage.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I absolutely felt that every officer, supervisor and manager involved should be fired,” Kent said. At the time, she urged the department to release the body-worn camera footage along with a statement, “immediately, in line with the industry standard.” As of publication, CDCR still has not released the body-worn camera footage.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Chief Deputy Warden Rojas, who’d approved the operation but wasn’t there to oversee it, was not disciplined, according to documents obtained by KQED. In a leaked interview, she was questioned about the statement that Torres and Mendoza told investigators about. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Chief Deputy Warden Rojas, who’d approved the operation but wasn’t there to oversee it, was not disciplined, according to documents obtained by KQED. In a leaked interview, she was questioned about the statement that Torres and Mendoza told investigators about. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Did you make the statement, ‘These bitches need to be reminded who’s in charge,’ or words to that effect?” the investigator said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Did you make the statement, ‘These bitches need to be reminded who’s in charge,’ or words to that effect?” the investigator said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Not that I recall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Not that I recall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rojas was later promoted and is now acting warden at the second-largest men’s prison in the state, the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, which currently holds about 4,000 people in custody, according to CDCR’s website. CDCR declined to make Rojas available for an interview.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rojas was later promoted and is now acting warden at the second-largest men’s prison in the state, the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, which currently holds about 4,000 people in custody, according to CDCR’s website. CDCR declined to make Rojas available for an interview.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the documents obtained by KQED and the leaked internal affairs tapes, CDCR did not determine why the operation was launched or whether it was connected to the growing number of sexual-abuse complaints.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the documents obtained by KQED and the leaked internal affairs tapes, CDCR did not determine why the operation was launched or whether it was connected to the growing number of sexual-abuse complaints.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There is no doubt in my mind that if you start to empower women that are incarcerated and you start to give credibility to their voice that there’s gonna be tremendous resistance,” Kent said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There is no doubt in my mind that if you start to empower women that are incarcerated and you start to give credibility to their voice that there’s gonna be tremendous resistance,” Kent said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A month after the Aug. 2 incident, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a broad civil rights investigation into sexual abuse and retaliation at California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A month after the Aug. 2 incident, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a broad civil rights investigation into sexual abuse and retaliation at California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Federal investigators examined the incident within the context of rising reports of sexual misconduct, allegations that staff punished women for speaking up and what the department described as longstanding failures to protect them. \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1457771/dl\">The department released its findings last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Federal investigators examined the incident within the context of rising reports of sexual misconduct, allegations that staff punished women for speaking up and what the department described as longstanding failures to protect them. \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1457771/dl\">The department released its findings last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Women were not being protected,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Young told KQED. “It was the cycle that’s continuing to happen.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Women were not being protected,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Young told KQED. “It was the cycle that’s continuing to happen.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In response, CDCR said it takes every allegation seriously and remains committed to accountability and safety. The agency pointed to federal Prison Rape Elimination Act audits that found both women’s prisons met all 45 standards evaluated.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Those audits measure whether a facility has policies and practices designed to comply with PREA; they do not determine whether abuse occurred in every reported case.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104594\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A mural covers the side of a fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaint data obtained from CDCR showed that in 2025, the year following the Aug. 2 incident, the rate of complaints being filed against staff at CCWF fell by about 75%. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. There are likely many reasons for this sudden decline, but multiple people at the prison said they no longer felt safe to file complaints.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaint data obtained from CDCR showed that in 2025, the year following the Aug. 2 incident, the rate of complaints being filed against staff at CCWF fell by about 75%. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. There are likely many reasons for this sudden decline, but multiple people at the prison said they no longer felt safe to file complaints.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One incarcerated woman, who was a victim of Rodriguez’s and spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity because she is afraid for her safety, said if she had to do it over again, she would not report Rodriguez. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One incarcerated woman, who was a victim of Rodriguez’s and spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity because she is afraid for her safety, said if she had to do it over again, she would not report Rodriguez. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaints found another trend: As complaints rose in 2023 and 2024, the department appeared unable to keep up. As of the most recent data, more than 2,000 complaints across California’s state prisons had not been adjudicated. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaints found another trend: As complaints rose in 2023 and 2024, the department appeared unable to keep up. As of the most recent data, more than 2,000 complaints across California’s state prisons had not been adjudicated. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For many of the women who remain incarcerated at CCWF, Operation Breakdown has left lasting scars. Cameron said she has not set foot in the dining hall since Aug. 2 and that she still has not regained sight in one of her eyes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For many of the women who remain incarcerated at CCWF, Operation Breakdown has left lasting scars. Cameron said she has not set foot in the dining hall since Aug. 2 and that she still has not regained sight in one of her eyes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Yancey said she still sees officers who were involved in the operation regularly. “They work in this building. They’re still antagonistic towards us.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When asked whether the operation had succeeded in frightening women into silence, Cameron said it may have deterred many, but not everyone.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>When asked whether the operation had succeeded in frightening women into silence, Cameron said it may have deterred many, but not everyone.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, the more of us who start to speak, the more will follow,” she said. “What happens in the dark always comes to light.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, the more of us who start to speak, the more will follow,” she said. “What happens in the dark always comes to light.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Anna Sussman contributed reporting to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Sanchez Rue, associate professor of practice for UC Berkeley Journalism School, was the data editor for this series. AI tools were used to assist with the data analysis for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Sanchez Rue, associate professor of practice for UC Berkeley Journalism School, was the data editor for this series. AI tools were used to assist with the data analysis for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state, with NPR as its national partner.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state, with NPR as its national partner.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "More than a dozen current and formerly incarcerated women spoke to KQED about a pattern of sexual abuse and retaliation that persists at the largest women’s prison in California.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hear more of the story on the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">‘We Are Jane Doe,\u003c/a>’ from KQED’s Snap Studios.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Aliksandria Prout was at home the evening of Aug. 2, 2024, when her phone rang. It was her former cellmate at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/central-california-womens-facility\">Central California Women’s Facility\u003c/a>. Catrina Cameron was nearly incoherent over the prison phone line. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She told me she couldn’t see outta one eye,” Prout said. Cameron told Prout that correctional officers had sprayed her and dozens of other women with tear gas and pepper spray. “Our other cellmate had gotten beat up by correctional staff.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout could barely grasp the enormity of the incident. As the public would later learn, correctional officers had removed 159 women from a CCWF housing unit, confined them for more than four hours in a dining hall without food, water or medication, and then unleashed streams of pepper spray and chemical blast grenades on them when tensions escalated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Later, as the prisoners sat outside on the hot, dusty yard with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, officers again used tear gas and pepper grenades on them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1213\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_DiningHall-deb186ea-1536x932.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows officers throwing chemical blast grenades at incarcerated women in the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024. (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>A retired prison administrator who reviewed footage of the incident told KQED: “It looks like they’re lining ’em up for the firing squad.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Women suffered injuries including stroke, blindness and seizures. “I didn’t know what they were doing to us or why, but I needed help, and I need somebody out there to know,” Cameron later recalled. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the phone with her friend, Prout felt sick. The 33-year-old nursing student and mother of three had been out of prison for nearly two years, but she hadn’t been able to leave it behind. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In just a couple of months, Prout was set to testify against the now-infamous former correctional officer, Gregory Rodriguez, who’d been charged with sexually assaulting more than a dozen women at the facility in Chowchilla, about 35 miles from Fresno. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And now, her close friend and former cellmate had been attacked by officers in the chow hall. She couldn’t help but think her efforts to expose Rodriguez were connected to what had just happened to Cameron and more than 150 women in her old unit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104581\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-04-BL-5587a320-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout sits in her home office, surrounded by legal paperwork, on Aug. 19, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout’s concerns were well-founded, according to a two-year KQED investigation into “Operation Breakdown,” as the incident was called in internal documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Interviews with more than a dozen women, a KQED analysis of six years’ worth of sexual assault complaints, trial transcripts, court filings, leaked internal affairs interviews and hundreds of disciplinary documents revealed a pattern of retaliation against incarcerated women who reported assault, failure to investigate those assaults and the dysfunctional accountability system that allowed staff sexual exploitation of women to flourish.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation reached a similar conclusion, finding an “unbroken pattern” of sexual abuse and retaliation in California’s women’s prisons dating back more than two decades. CCWF is one of just two women’s penitentiaries in the state and is one of the largest women’s prisons in the world, with a population of more than 2,000 women, nonbinary and trans people held inside.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104586\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104586\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-51-BL-2bb5aa03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rape crisis center signs hang in a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104629\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104629\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-120-BL-5d00dae8-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Resources hang on the wall at the housing unit. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the wake of the DOJ’s report, and as KQED neared publication of this investigation, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12100922/warden-of-californias-largest-womens-prison-reassigned-amid-scrutiny-over-sexual-abuse\">the warden at CCWF, Anissa De La Cruz, was demoted and transferred\u003c/a>, and multiple officers were put under investigation for sexual abuse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said the agency cannot comment on personnel decisions or the ongoing investigation. It said the agency is “fully committed to protecting victims of sexual assault.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR Press Secretary Terri Hardy said in an email that the department conducted its own investigation into the events of Aug. 2, investigating 95 employees and disciplining 34 for their conduct, including firing three for excessive force and dishonesty. Initially, the department moved to discipline 41 staff members, but that number dropped as correctional officers filed appeals, some of which are still pending. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr />\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wZ89a/5/\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR said the case was the largest corrective action stemming from a single incident in its history. Yet, key questions about the operation’s connection to a rising tide of sexual assault complaints remain unanswered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A KQED analysis of six years of \u003ca href=\"https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act\">Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)\u003c/a> data obtained from CDCR showed that the rate of sexual misconduct complaints against staff at CCWF increased by about 1,800% from 2022 to 2023. CDCR did not answer questions about this data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout’s experience illuminates a pervasive culture of sexual abuse at CCWF, helps explain why women suddenly started coming forward in 2023, and reveals what the officers charged with keeping people safe in custody did in response.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ali’s story\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May 2022, Prout had been at CCWF for just a few days when correctional officer Gregory Rodriguez stopped her as she walked to a medical appointment. He asked her to pull down her N95 mask so he could verify her identity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘You have beautiful lips and beautiful eyes,’” Prout told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Three days later, an officer gave Prout a paper pass, known as a ducat, allowing her to move through the prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They told me I had an attorney visit,” she said. An officer escorted her to the Board of Parole Hearings room, where such visits are usually held.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104579\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-01-BL-3762f796-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout at her home. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>But there was no attorney visit. Instead, she saw Rodriguez. This is the first time she has spoken to the media about what happened in that room. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez came close and tried to kiss her. He lifted her shirt and then turned her around on a chair beneath a window. Prout remembers staring at the officer’s boot, propped against the left side of the green upholstered chair. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What really upset me was he didn’t use protection,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When it was over, Prout said, Rodriguez warned her that if she told anyone, she could face disciplinary action, which could mean more time in prison. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1140\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104526\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-160x91.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Ducat-05202022-ee786799-1536x876.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A pass issued for a fraudulent attorney visit on May 20, 2022, is among the evidence Aliksandria Prout saved following her sexual assault. (Courtesy of Aliksandria Prout)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED heard similar stories from other women at the prison. Eight women said they feared disciplinary write-ups, repeated cell searches and other retaliation if they reported sexual assault by staff. In a statement, CDCR said it is committed to protecting victims of sexual assault and that “sexual abuse, harassment and retaliation against incarcerated people is unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the time, Prout stayed silent, but she made sure to keep track of the multiple times Rodriguez called her back to that room. When she was paroled after just a few months in prison, Prout began contacting attorneys. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She found out that CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs was already investigating Rodriguez. They ultimately identified 22 potential victims, including Prout, and worked with the Madera County District Attorney’s Office to arrest the former officer in May of 2023. The case, in which Prout testified as a \u003ca href=\"https://snapjudgment.org/we-are-jane-doe/\">Jane Doe\u003c/a>, attracted national attention. Rodriguez was convicted on 64 counts of sexual abuse, including rape and sexual battery. He was sentenced to 224 years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a prison spokesperson wrote that Rodriguez’s sentence “reaffirms CDCR’s own internal investigation” and that the department “condemns any staff member — especially a peace officer who is entrusted to enforce the law — who violates their oath and public trust.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104522\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/CCWFFootage_05202022-70fb2fc8-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screenshot of an internal affairs investigation report obtained by KQED through a public records request from an investigation led by Special Agent Dustin Baker. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The department also said that then-Warden Michael Pallares was transferred to Pleasant Valley State Prison, where he was made associate warden.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>However, documents recently obtained by KQED reveal troubling new details about that investigation. The internal affairs report showed there was a six-month window in which investigators and CDCR leadership were notified of Rodriguez’s misconduct and failed to act. During that period, he assaulted at least six women, including Prout, numerous times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before Prout even arrived at CCWF, a woman had already told investigators that Rodriguez summoned her to the Board of Parole Hearings room for fake attorney visits and sexually assaulted her on three occasions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, Rodriguez remained at his job until Aug. 17, 2022, when he was finally reassigned to the mailroom. He retired shortly after that. CDCR did not answer questions about why it took so long to stop Rodriguez’s abuse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260819-CCWFPortraits-05-BL-646d2faf-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aliksandria Prout holds documents related to her case at her home. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez had been flagged before. All the way back in 2014, someone had reported potential relations between Rodriguez and a young woman identified in the trial transcripts as Nicole Doe. An investigation was done at the time, but the allegations against Rodriguez were dismissed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicole Doe was sent to solitary confinement for more than six months and then transferred to another prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was treated like I was the problem,” Nicole Doe said at trial. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2019, a female co-worker reported Rodriguez for sexual harassment. Rodriguez tried to kiss her and get her to go into the staff restroom at work, this woman told investigators. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’ll be quick, I’ll be quick,” she recalled Rodriguez saying, according to internal documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104588\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-62-BL-aad30f85-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sign hangs above a doorway to a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez was reprimanded and told not to do it again, according to trial testimony. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The internal affairs report appeared to show that no other officers were disciplined in connection with Rodriguez’s years of criminal abuse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prout said other officers must have known. They were often responsible for issuing ducats like the ones she received. The police of the prison, Investigative Services Unit officers, had an office right across the hall from the room where Rodriguez repeatedly called women in order to assault them. Prout, concerned she might be pregnant, had also gone to the prison clinic after that first assault.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They told me that if I wanted a pregnancy or STD test,” Prout testified at trial, “I had to admit to engaging in risky behavior, and that if I did that, it would add more time onto my sentence.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ripple effects\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s 2023 arrest also drew the attention of state lawmakers, who convened a \u003ca href=\"https://womenscaucus.legislature.ca.gov/node/434\">special hearing on sexual abuse\u003c/a> inside California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11786495/metoo-behind-bars-new-records-shed-light-on-sexual-abuse-inside-state-womens-prisons\">allegations of sexual abuse by officers have persisted for years\u003c/a>, the Rodriguez case, along with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11958308/dublin-womens-prison-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-scandal\">wide-ranging scandal of abuse at the federal prison\u003c/a> in Dublin, California, brought renewed urgency to the issue.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was a real pivotal moment,” said Amika Mota, executive director of the prison advocacy nonprofit Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, who spoke at that hearing. “I feel like it’s kind of when Pandora’s Box opened.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-108-BL-253d6f4d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The Legislature allocated funds to create a sexual-abuse response and prevention working group. As part of that, CCWF began allowing incarcerated people to gather inside the prison gym for town halls organized by Sister Warriors and other advocacy groups.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Advocates stood watch at the doors of the gym to ensure correctional officers did not enter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ In the 30 years that I had been there, never had the prison allowed such a large group of us to gather with guests and without staff present,” said Elizabeth Lozano, one of the incarcerated women who was there. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For the first time, Lozano spoke about the terror and violation she felt when being groped by a correctional officer. “There’s things that happen where it’s out of your control,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In October of 2023, CDCR agreed to pay Prout $1.2 million to settle a civil suit she’d filed. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against CDCR since Rodriguez’s arrest, alleging sexual abuse by him and dozens of officers. The cases became so numerous they were consolidated into a single coordinated proceeding that is still moving through the Sacramento Superior Court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As civil claims and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) complaints began to rise, five women, including Antoinette Yancey, who served on the prison’s inmate advisory council, said in interviews with KQED or in legal filings that they were warned that the complaints needed to stop. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104583\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104583\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-112-BL-e5d10b8a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rape crisis center and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) informational signs hang in a housing unit at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12104618\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104618\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-123-BL-7f4a99ab-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Incarcerated women walk through a yard on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During a smaller search about a month before Operation Breakdown, Yancey said that Sgt. Isidro Arroyo confronted her, saying, “The PREA, the staff assaults, the complaints and all the 602s [prison grievances] all of that stuff needs to stop.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If the complaints do not stop, then I’m going to lock you guys down, take all your privileges, and this is gonna continue until the complaints stop,” Yancey recalled Arroyo saying.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she told him this was neither legal nor fair and refused to discourage women from filing sexual-abuse complaints. She also said she brought up this incident with Arroyo during a regular inmate advisory council meeting with leadership of the prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR declined to make Arroyo available for an interview and did not respond to questions about this incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘These bitches need to know’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the days leading up to Operation Breakdown, then-Warden Anissa De La Cruz was not at the prison, so Chief Deputy Warden Cynthia Rojas was in charge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Aug. 1, 2024, acting Capt. Carlos Mendoza and Associate Warden Stephanie Torres came to Rojas about problems with prisoners smoking and being “disruptive” in a housing area called D Yard, according to internal affairs interviews that were leaked on YouTube and later taken down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need to gain control of that fucking unit,” Rojas said, according to one of those leaked tapes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104631\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-132-BL-1167e155-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Incarcerated women walk through a Receiving and Release (R&R) yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. The R&R yard is used to process incarcerated people entering and leaving the facility. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Rojas and her staff planned a massive search-and-seizure operation to look for contraband and enforce prison property limits for the entire unit. Under CDCR regulations, each incarcerated person’s state-issued and approved personal belongings must fit within 6 cubic feet of space — about the size of a mini-fridge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torres’ name was redacted in the investigation report, but KQED was able to identify her by comparing her statements to leaked internal affairs interviews and details about her role in the prison. She said the chief deputy warden gave her and Mendoza about a four-and-a-half-hour window to plan a search that would normally take days. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Torres and Mendoza later told internal affairs investigators that they “questioned the reasoning and urgency” for the search, according to the report. The two senior staff members said that Rojas told them, “these bitches need to know who’s in control,” and that De La Cruz had directed her to “do what I know how to do.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza sent an email to De La Cruz, Rojas, Torres and other prison leaders late that Thursday afternoon, laying out the basics, including breaking the prisoners down to 6 cubic feet, using K-9 and searching the building.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Operation Breakdown was set for the next day.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘Fun, fun, fun, baby’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Aug. 2, Torres described a “skeleton crew of managerial staff” on site. Prison officials had to bring in officers who were still in training, according to the report. Two trainees said it was their first day working inside a prison. And despite initiating and planning Operation Breakdown, Rojas was also not at work that day. But when the acting captain of D Yard called her around midday, she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Boss, we just went code three,” Mendoza said, according to Rojas’ leaked interview with internal affairs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What the fuck? What do you mean we went code three?” Rojas said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-78-BL-d639420e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A cafeteria at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>The 159 incarcerated women on D Yard had been taken out of their cells and crowded into the dining hall first thing that morning. As the morning wore on, the scope of the search became apparent, according to a dozen women who were there that day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They watched through the windows of the chow hall as their pillows, shoes, clothing, TVs and even some mattresses were taken or thrown away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“People been here for 20 years,” said Wisdom Muhammad, who is out of prison now. “You throwing away they sentimental things that they have. You feel me? Like stuff that’s unreplaceable, and all that stuff is just hot trash.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Around 12:20 p.m., one of the people being held in the dining hall had a seizure. An alarm sounded, and officers filed into the dining hall in a skirmish line carrying MK-46 pepper sprayers and chemical grenades, surveillance footage and internal records showed. Things quickly escalated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After more than four hours in the sweltering Central Valley heat without food, water or medication, the people being held in the dining hall were frustrated, according to at least a dozen women who were there. They shouted at the officers. They banged on the tables and windows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she pointed to Arroyo and then to herself, trying to signal that she wanted to speak with him. He did not acknowledge her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza handed Arroyo a chemical blast grenade and instructed him to “put ’em down with the gas,” according to internal disciplinary documents obtained by KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza was recorded on body camera directing officers to “go gas” and placing chemical grenades in the hands of subordinates, according to disciplinary documents. He later told them he “took the initiative to be the response supervisor” at the dining hall.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The scrimmage line unleashed chemical blast grenades and pepper spray on the crowd of incarcerated people, sending them scrambling toward the back of the room, surveillance video reviewed by KQED showed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to a leaked internal affairs interview, correctional officer Jordan R. Chavira told another officer that he had entered the dining hall and “started dumping it, dude,” referring to chemical agents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pIU0P9TO2-w'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pIU0P9TO2-w'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One by one, the women’s hands were zip-tied behind their backs and eventually were walked outside to the yard, surveillance footage showed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey assumed the officers were going to start letting them go back into their housing unit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead, as the incarcerated people sat under the baking sun in 90-degree weather, the officers formed a half circle around them, according to surveillance footage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One woman, hands zip-tied behind her back, got up and took four steps to sit by another woman. Just then, the officers started throwing grenades filled with tear gas or pepper spray at the entire group. At least 15 blast grenades were deployed, according to KQED’s analysis of the disciplinary documents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the assault died down, multiple women were carried off the field on stretchers. According to leaked internal affairs tapes, Chavira was captured on his body-worn camera approaching another officer and saying, “Fun, fun, fun, baby.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1268\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104609\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/Screenshot_OutsideDiningHall-244ce2c7-1536x974.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Surveillance footage obtained by KQED through a public records request shows an incarcerated woman secured to a stretcher outside the dining hall at the Central California Women’s Facility on Aug. 2, 2024. (Courtesy of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>Chavira told investigators he made those remarks in “the heat of the moment” and that he was being sarcastic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mendoza and Chavira were charged with inexcusable neglect of duty, dishonesty, willful disobedience and excessive force; both were fired. Arroyo received a 10% salary reduction for seven pay periods and has returned to work at CCWF.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED was unable to reach Mendoza. Multiple attempts to reach Chavira were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“To me, if you can openly spray people as if they’re rats or roaches, like they’re not human, you completely disregard their humanity,” said Lozano, who was there on Aug. 2. “You’re sadistic. You’re an abuser.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Two investigations, different questions\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thirteen women, including Catrina Cameron and Antionette Yancey, filed a suit against the state for their injuries during the Aug. 2 incident, alleging the incident was tied to reports of sexual assault. CDCR admitted no fault, but paid the group $1.9 million to settle the case. A separate class action lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR’s internal investigation focused on the conduct of individual employees during the operation: who gave orders, who followed them and whether the force they used complied with department policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But newly disclosed documents obtained by KQED reveal that the operation was plagued by staffing shortages, lack of planning and oversight failures. Vital questions about why this operation was rushed out were never answered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104612\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-130-BL-89511a0e-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Officers escort an incarcerated woman wearing a spit hood through a yard at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026 (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“I still don’t understand that,” Torres told internal affairs. “I wish to understand it, and in some ways, I don’t wish to understand it. It doesn’t make sense.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CDCR Administrator Angela Kent is retired now, but at the time she served as the associate director of Female Offender Programs and Services. In her 27 years in law enforcement, she had never seen anything like the use of force on Aug. 2, she told KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I absolutely felt that every officer, supervisor and manager involved should be fired,” Kent said. At the time, she urged the department to release the body-worn camera footage along with a statement, “immediately, in line with the industry standard.” As of publication, CDCR still has not released the body-worn camera footage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chief Deputy Warden Rojas, who’d approved the operation but wasn’t there to oversee it, was not disciplined, according to documents obtained by KQED. In a leaked interview, she was questioned about the statement that Torres and Mendoza told investigators about. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Did you make the statement, ‘These bitches need to be reminded who’s in charge,’ or words to that effect?” the investigator said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Not that I recall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rojas was later promoted and is now acting warden at the second-largest men’s prison in the state, the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, which currently holds about 4,000 people in custody, according to CDCR’s website. CDCR declined to make Rojas available for an interview.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the documents obtained by KQED and the leaked internal affairs tapes, CDCR did not determine why the operation was launched or whether it was connected to the growing number of sexual-abuse complaints.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There is no doubt in my mind that if you start to empower women that are incarcerated and you start to give credibility to their voice that there’s gonna be tremendous resistance,” Kent said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A month after the Aug. 2 incident, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a broad civil rights investigation into sexual abuse and retaliation at California’s women’s prisons. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Federal investigators examined the incident within the context of rising reports of sexual misconduct, allegations that staff punished women for speaking up and what the department described as longstanding failures to protect them. \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1457771/dl\">The department released its findings last month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Women were not being protected,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Young told KQED. “It was the cycle that’s continuing to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In response, CDCR said it takes every allegation seriously and remains committed to accountability and safety. The agency pointed to federal Prison Rape Elimination Act audits that found both women’s prisons met all 45 standards evaluated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Those audits measure whether a facility has policies and practices designed to comply with PREA; they do not determine whether abuse occurred in every reported case.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104594\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/260630-CCWFTour-113-BL-feaf958a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A mural covers the side of a fitness facility at the Central California Women’s Facility on June 30, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaint data obtained from CDCR showed that in 2025, the year following the Aug. 2 incident, the rate of complaints being filed against staff at CCWF fell by about 75%. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. There are likely many reasons for this sudden decline, but multiple people at the prison said they no longer felt safe to file complaints.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One incarcerated woman, who was a victim of Rodriguez’s and spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity because she is afraid for her safety, said if she had to do it over again, she would not report Rodriguez. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED’s analysis of PREA complaints found another trend: As complaints rose in 2023 and 2024, the department appeared unable to keep up. As of the most recent data, more than 2,000 complaints across California’s state prisons had not been adjudicated. CDCR did not answer questions about this data. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For many of the women who remain incarcerated at CCWF, Operation Breakdown has left lasting scars. Cameron said she has not set foot in the dining hall since Aug. 2 and that she still has not regained sight in one of her eyes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Yancey said she still sees officers who were involved in the operation regularly. “They work in this building. They’re still antagonistic towards us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When asked whether the operation had succeeded in frightening women into silence, Cameron said it may have deterred many, but not everyone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, the more of us who start to speak, the more will follow,” she said. “What happens in the dark always comes to light.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Anna Sussman contributed reporting to this story. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jeremy Sanchez Rue, associate professor of practice for UC Berkeley Journalism School, was the data editor for this series. AI tools were used to assist with the data analysis for this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californianewsroom\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state, with NPR as its national partner.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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. ",
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"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. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"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",
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"mindshift": {
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"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>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"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.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"perspectives": {
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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