District Attorney John Sarsfield reversed course and reinstalled
a grand jury probe into the District 5 supervisor’s race Friday,
prompting Jaime De La Cruz’s lawyer to follow through on his threat
to expose an alleged inner-office affair that he claims compromises
the prosecutor’s objectivity.
District Attorney John Sarsfield reversed course and reinstalled a grand jury probe into the District 5 supervisor’s race Friday, prompting Jaime De La Cruz’s lawyer to follow through on his threat to expose an alleged inner-office affair that he claims compromises the prosecutor’s objectivity.
Sarsfield accused De La Cruz’s lawyer Mike Pekin of extortion and asked the FBI to investigate.
De La Cruz and his campaign adviser Ignacio Velazquez have been accused of an array of elections violations in the March race. Both men deny the allegations, and Pekin and Sarsfield reached a deal to cancel the grand jury investigation into the matter Thursday.
But on Friday afternoon, hours after informing witnesses the grand jury was called off, Sarsfield reinstated the June 1-3 proceedings.
Velazquez is the petitioner in a motion filed with the Superior Court this morning. He wants a judge to remove Sarsfield from the grand jury probe because of the prosecutor’s alleged extramarital affair with office manager Nancy Leon, Sarsfield’s immediate subordinate. Velazquez also claims Sarsfield is trying to please a Board of Supervisors favoring the return of incumbent Bob Cruz, who De La Cruz beat in the race.
According to the motion, Leon is a niece of Mickie Luna, a local leader of LULAC, an organization De La Cruz and Velazquez say spurred cries that the election was tainted.
“I want to know whether I have to take a defendant in front of a district attorney who’s bed partners with the head of LULAC’s niece,” Pekin said.
Pekin said he will prove the affair and its effect on Sarsfield’s judgment through sworn court testimony from the district attorney, Leon, office workers and other members of the public.
When asked if he would deny the affair under oath, Sarsfield said, “Obviously, I would testify truthfully, OK. But I’m not going to comment because it is a federal matter now.”
Sarsfield vowed his office would not be blackmailed.
“This type of conduct is not tolerated by the justice system and will not be tolerated by my office,” Sarsfield said. “And I will not be intimidated by anyone, including Mr. Pekin. Anyone.”
Sarsfield was noticeably upset Friday that a probe of the supervisor-elect and his campaign adviser has led to an accusation about his personal life. Leon left work Friday afternoon “almost in hysterics,” Sarsfield said. And his wife also was “almost in hysterics.”
“I took an oath to uphold the law, and by God I’m going to uphold the law,” Sarsfield said.
Just hours before Sarsfield made those statements, it seemed clear the grand jury would not meet, and that the election charges would be sent to the state. On Thursday, both sides said they had reached an agreement to call off a grand jury probe after Pekin said he would otherwise file a motion that included information about the alleged affair.
In a letter signed by county-hired lawyer Nancy Miller, Pekin agreed to not talk about the matter to the press. The letter also stated the election probe would be forwarded to the FBI and the state Attorney General’s office.
Sarsfield said he initially agreed to cancel the grand jury so he could “buy time” to consult with the other agencies.
He was trying to discern whether the personal accusation against him would create the appearance of a conflict, he said. After consulting with the Attorney General’s Office, he determined it would not, he said.
“I wasn’t sure. I was just being cautious,” Sarsfield said.
Sarsfield said it won’t appear he has a vendetta against De La Cruz and Velazquez because, “to my knowledge,” they weren’t involved in the threat to release the embarrassing allegation.
Velazquez said he was not involved with Pekin’s deal making, but called the extortion charges “far fetched.”
“It wasn’t extortion,” Velazquez said. “It was, ‘we know what’s happening here, so why are you taking it to the grand jury?'”
Pekin denied the extortion claim, saying he had a “proper purpose” to balance the fairness of the investigation, and that Sarsfield failed to reveal the alleged affair.
Sarsfield called Pekin’s attempt to have the local investigation canceled “outrageous.” And he compared it to a private investigation last year of Supervisor Richard Scagliotti. That resulted in two separate civil lawsuits, spearheaded by Pekin, claiming several corruption charges.
Scagliotti, who Sarsfield says was innocent, will resign from the board in December after four terms. Some charges were dropped, but others are part of an active civil case.
“Mr. Pekin doesn’t care,” Sarsfield said. “This is what he does. This is his M.O.”
Pekin said he initially didn’t want to file the motion that would embarrass Sarsfield, and preferred to settle the matter in private. He chastised Sarsfield for canceling and then rescheduling the grand jury proceedings.
“What is this grand jury? A pingpong ball?” Pekin said.
Pekin is trying to postpone the grand jury until a judge rules on the recusal motion.
“It’s mind-boggling,” said De La Cruz, though he declined to comment further on Sarsfield’s latest actions.
Velazquez said Sarsfield is using the grand jury to “harass and intimidate people.” Asked about the rescheduling of the grand jury, Velazquez said, “Again, this guy is showing how unstable he is.”
If he and De La Cruz are not indicted, the supervisor-elect still faces a civil court election contest from Cruz’s wife, Marian. Cruz is alleging many of the same Elections Code violations while requesting a new race in November. Pekin also represents De La Cruz in that suit.
De La Cruz and Velazquez have denied the allegations that they committed elections fraud and claimed members of LULAC, including Luna and Cruz’s campaign manager, were behind them.
An irritated Ruben Lopez, Cruz’s campaign manager, acknowledged Velazquez’s contention that he first questioned the race’s results. Cruz, he said, otherwise would have “let it go.”
“Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law,” Lopez said. “And they broke the law as far as I’m concerned.”
Cruz, like other supervisors, has been astonished by the last few days’ events.
“I have no comment whatsoever,” Cruz said. “I just hope that when the smoke settles, San Benito County will go back to the way it used to be.”
Supervisor Ruth Kesler scolded Pekin’s actions when told about the affair allegation and said, “You can’t go around talking to elected people like that!” Kesler said she doesn’t believe Pekin’s affair claim.
“Somebody wanted to have a cup of coffee and didn’t want to drink it by himself,” she said.
