Nine months after the March election, District Attorney John
Sarsfield charged supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz with four
felony counts arising from his 2003 campaign for supervisor, which
could land him in jail for up to four years and ban him from
political office for life.
Hollister – Nine months after the March election, District Attorney John Sarsfield charged supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz with four felony counts arising from his 2003 campaign for supervisor, which could land him in jail for up to four years and ban him from political office for life.
But Sarsfield also offered De La Cruz a deal that includes no jail time if he pleads guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor charge of filing false election papers and resigns from all political offices – including his Board seat.
De La Cruz, who is still scheduled to be sworn in to the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 4, believes the charges are false and are part of a larger conspiracy by members of the current board to conceal long-standing county corruption and keep him from taking office. He said he “absolutely” refuses to be part of any agreement to escape prosecution.
“It’s not even a question. It’s time that the public stand up and get rid of this corruption,” De La Cruz said. “They’re telling the public if we can get rid of a supervisor we can get rid of you. We did nothing wrong.”
Sarsfield flatly denied any conspiracy with the Board. He has been waiting for months on a report from the Secretary of State about the March election to charge De La Cruz. But he said he got fed up and decided to go forward on his own. Sarsfield doesn’t believe the report will reveal new information about De La Cruz.
“It appears what they’re looking at has nothing to do with Mr. De La Cruz at all, so there’s no point in waiting any longer,” he said. “We believe there’s sufficient evidence that he committed the crimes he’s charged with.”
All four counts stem from the charge that De La Cruz signed a petition circulated by someone else that allowed him to receive a discount on the filing fee for his nomination paperwork, Sarsfield said. By law, the candidate must circulate and sign the petition themselves, he said.
The charges are the latest development in a conflict that began when De La Cruz beat Supervisor Bob Cruz by only 10 votes in the March 2 race. Shortly after the race, the Board of Supervisors launched an investigation into claims that De La Cruz and his campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez broke election laws by illegally handling ballots and coercing a voter, among others.
In addition, Cruz’s wife filed a lawsuit against De La Cruz challenging the election results, but dropped the suit when she realized there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the 10 votes and change the outcome of the race. Cruz did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Sarsfield called for a Grand Jury probe of the allegations in May, but canceled it when the two men’s attorney filed a court motion saying Sarsfield had a conflict of interest. The motion alleged Sarsfield was having an affair with his office manager, who is related to Mickie Luna. Luna is a leader of LULAC, which spurred many of the original fraud allegations. Sarsfield has denied having an affair.
The matter had been quiet for months until Sarsfield filed the new charges against De La Cruz in San Benito County Superior Court Wednesday.
De La Cruz will have to appear in court on Jan. 13 for an arraignment and is required to be booked and released into the county jail sometime before that date. If De La Cruz does not get booked, a warrant will be issued for his arrest, Sarsfield wrote in a letter to the supervisor-elect Wednesday.
But in the letter, Sarsfield informed De La Cruz that because of his “minimal criminal history” he would resolve the case if De La Cruz pleads guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor charge of filing false election nomination papers, and resigns from his elected positions on the Gavilan College Board, the San Benito County Water Resource Board and the Board of Supervisors. Sarsfield was referring to De La Cruz’s arrest in 1998 for misdemeanor spousal abuse. The charges were dismissed after he successfully completed a domestic violence program, according to Sarsfield.
Under the conditions of Sarsfield’s deal, De La Cruz would have to agree not to register voters or circulate petitions while on probation. He would have to perform 50 hours of community service in a non-political setting, such as a food bank.
In return, the DA’s office would not prosecute De La Cruz for any other crimes arising from the election investigation, according to the letter. Sarsfield’s offer is on the table until Friday at 4pm.
“This is prosecuted throughout California quite often,” Sarsfield said. “And (resigning from elected positions) is a very common way of resolving it.”
But De La Cruz and Velazquez plan to file a lawsuit against the county for violation of their civil rights and claim this new wrinkle is just one more thing to fuel their suit’s fire.
The two men’s lawyer, Mike Pekin, said Wednesday that the charges against De La Cruz are another corrupt county act. Pekin believes the new charges are related to a suit he filed against Supervisor Richard Scagliotti containing corruption charges a year ago. He also served county Planning Director Rob Mendiola last week with a notice to appear in court because he is seeking protection for two planning department employees who he says will implicate Mendiola in the corruption charges against Scagliotti.
After serving Mendiola, Sarsfield informed Pekin he is the target of a criminal investigation by the Grand Jury for allegations of extortion, perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice stemming from the corruption lawsuit against Scagliotti.
“Sarsfield is stealing this man’s office,” Pekin said. “This county is in a crisis because the District Attorney has joined an alliance with the criminals. Jaime follows my notification of being investigated by the Grand Jury by one day, and Jaime De La Cruz has consistently been an outspoken critic of the present structure’s record of corruption.”
Sarsfield denies any conspiracy.
Velazquez was also facing fraud charges, but Sarsfield dropped them in October because the elections office admitted telling Velazquez it was OK to turn in others’ absentee ballots on Election Day.
“All the same people who made the false allegations in the first place are the same people they’re following for these (charges),” Velazquez said. “There’s been an organized conspiracy and we’re going to prove that, and we’re going to hold them all personally responsible for these charges.”
Supervisor Ruth Kesler said Wednesday she was “happy” about the charges being brought against De La Cruz and that it was “about time.”
She also denied any conspiracy by the Board to keep De La Cruz from taking office.
“Good Lord, no,” Kesler said. “The Board does everything they can for this county. There’s some strong people on there, and Richard and Bobby and I are the strongest and what he’s saying is going toward the three of us.”
If De La Cruz is found guilty, the governor has six months to appoint a successor to the board, Sarsfield said. If the governor doesn’t act within that time period the new board will either appoint a successor or call for a special election, he said.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com.
