Details of a criminal grand jury indictment that could send Los
Valientes lawyer Michael Pekin to jail for up to three years if
convicted show that jurors found reason to believe the lawyer wrote
and filed a false court document, and that planning department
employee Ken Speciale signed a statement he knew contained false
information.
Hollister – Details of a criminal grand jury indictment that could send Los Valientes lawyer Michael Pekin to jail for up to three years if convicted show that jurors found reason to believe the lawyer wrote and filed a false court document, and that planning department employee Ken Speciale signed a statement he knew contained false information.
At least 12 of the 19 criminal grand jury members last week voted to issue the indictment containing five felony charges and one misdemeanor charge that, along with jail time, could deprive Pekin of his license to practice law for good if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The felonies include pursuing a frivolous lawsuit, conspiracy to obstruct justice, two counts of preparing false documentary evidence and attempting to elicit perjury, according to the indictment. The charges stem from Pekin’s lawsuit against the county and former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti alleging corruption and involving the anonymous group Los Valientes, along with his attempted restraining order against Planning Department Director Rob Mendiola.
The felony charges of conspiracy to pursue a frivolous lawsuit and conspiracy to obstruct justice accuse Pekin and his assistant Amanda Hernandez, of drafting a declaration for Speciale that they knew contained false statements. The declaration, which Speciale hadn’t signed when they presented and filed it with the court last winter, implicated Mendiola in the corruption charges against Scagliotti.
Hernandez said Speciale, who was notified that he is the target of a grand jury investigation last week, was being harassed at work and the declaration was presented in order to protect him under the state’s whistle blower law.
Pekin said Hernandez informed the judge the declaration was unsigned and that the document could have errors and had not been corrected. A judge denied their request to order a restraining order against Mendiola, but Pekin said nothing was done furtively or deceptively.
“It’s so specious that it’s not going to survive the light of day,” Pekin said.
The charges also allege Speciale signed a re-drafted declaration knowing that portions of it contained false statements, which he then presented to the grand jury, according to the indictment. Speciale conceded the original declaration presented to the court had some mistakes. However, when he decided to sign it he revised it so it was accurate, he said.
Speciale said he didn’t sign it at first because he was told by other county employees not to deal with Pekin because he was a “loose cannon,” and that he wanted to stay as far away from the proceedings as possible. But his grand jury experience changed his mind, he said.
“In some sentences I said Mendiola and they included Scagliotti along with Mendiola and that’s not necessarily what took place. I scratched out a couple of words, but it had nothing to do with the actual content. The basic context stayed the same,” Speciale said. “I just didn’t want to be involved at first – what’s happening now I didn’t want to happen. But when I got subpoenaed into the grand jury and saw what was going on I changed my mind.”
Speciale, planning department employee James Stevens and Speciale’s girlfriend, waste management department employee Patti Lawry, filed a criminal complaint with the sheriff’s department against District Attorney John Sarsfield’s office Monday. They claim Sarsfield and Special Deputy District Attorney John Picone, who oversaw the proceedings, violated their rights as whistle blowers by unfairly persecuting them for their testimony and their corruption accusations against Mendiola. The sheriff’s department is forwarding the complaint to the Attorney General’s Office, according to the sheriff.
Sarsfield, who initiated the grand jury investigation into Pekin in December, said he cannot comment on the grand jury proceedings until the transcripts are made public, which should be soon, he said.
The indictment also alleges that Pekin tried to persuade Speciale to testify to a number of false statements, which Speciale flat denies.
“Pekin never tried to sway my testimony in any way,” Speciale said. “Nobody did.”
Pekin, who is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges March 15, also said he never coerced Speciale into saying or doing anything – let alone anything illegal.
“More importantly, Ken says (I didn’t),” Pekin said. “Ken says we never tried to get him to say anything false. How can I do any better than that?”
Pekin believes Sarsfield and Picone convinced the grand jury to indict him because Sarsfield doesn’t believe Pekin’s suit has merit. Pekin said he asked to testify in front of the grand jury to present the evidence he’s collected, but Picone denied his request. Instead, grand jury members heard testimony from eight subpoenaed witnesses, including:
n Darren Bogie, assistant county counsel
n Rebecca McGovern, San Juan Bautista resident and slow growth activist
n Janet Brians, local farmer and slow growth activist
n Ken Speciale, planning department employee
n Jim Stevens, planning department employee
n Mandy Rose, integrated waste department director
n Nancy Miller, outside attorney representing the county and Scagliotti in the corruption lawsuit
n Rob Mendiola, planning department director
