San Benito County released the investigative report late last
week that recommends felony charges against Jaime De La Cruz and
his campaign adviser
– a hot item viewed by all involved parties as pivotal toward
deciding who will be the next District 5 supervisor.
San Benito County released the investigative report late last week that recommends felony charges against Jaime De La Cruz and his campaign adviser – a hot item viewed by all involved parties as pivotal toward deciding who will be the next District 5 supervisor.
The Free Lance requested the investigative report using the California Public Records Act. Both the De La Cruz camp and incumbent Bob Cruz’s lawyer have been clamoring for the document. De La Cruz lawyer Mike Pekin also requested and received the 21-page report last week.
The two parties had different reasons for pursuing the report. Cruz’s wife is suing De La Cruz in civil court – an attempt to nullify the race’s results – making many similar allegations as those in the report.
Her lawyer, Harry Damkar, was pursuing it to add detail to the lawsuit’s claims, according to lawyer Harry Damkar. Damkar believes the report’s release will help Cruz’s cause, he said. Cruz declined to comment Friday.
“It gives us specific facts where we had general allegations,” Damkar said. “This helps fill in the specific facts.
“We were as specific as we could be. We didn’t have the additional facts that are contained within the report because public agencies are not obliged to talk to private individuals that are conducting investigations.”
Pekin, though, pursued the report because Sarsfield shipped the matter to the Attorney General’s Office. Meanwhile, as De La Cruz’s side anticipates a state probe, they’re also working on a defense against Cruz’s lawsuit.
“This is going to be my first clue as to what Jaime and Ignacio have been upside down about,” said Pekin, who declined to comment further.
The report details a Santa Cruz inspector’s questioning of an array of witnesses. He concludes it by recommending a total of 11 felony charges against De La Cruz and adviser Ignacio Velazquez. His narration names everyone he questioned – from several witnesses to elections officials – along with their answers.
Allegations of Elections Code violations he recommended against the two men include improperly handling absentee ballots, coercing a voter and electioneering at a polling place. De La Cruz beat Cruz by 10 votes in the March 2 election.
The county released the report, which normally would not be classified as a public document, because District Attorney John Sarsfield allowed the press to view the same document May 12, said Darren Bogie, a deputy county counsel.
“Once it’s available to one person it’s available to all,” Bogie said.
The report was intended as evidence for a criminal grand jury set to meet in early June. That was before District Attorney John Sarsfield removed himself from overseeing the probe after Velazquez filed a court document alleging that an affair between the prosecutor and his officer manager should disqualify him from the investigation. Sarsfield said the highly personal claim prejudiced him in the case and he referred it to the state attorney general.
De La Cruz said they plan to assess the report over the weekend “to see if the investigation was done in a fair and impartial manner.”
