Juan Monteon, a 30-year-old lifetime resident of San Benito
County, is the lone plaintiff in a lawsuit filed this week against
the five county supervisors.
The suit cites a private investigation and alleges several
counts of corruption by Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, along with
violations of the state open meetings law by the four other
supervisors.
Juan Monteon, a 30-year-old lifetime resident of San Benito County, is the lone plaintiff in a lawsuit filed this week against the five county supervisors.
The suit cites a private investigation and alleges several counts of corruption by Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, along with violations of the state open meetings law by the four other supervisors.
It seeks that all money gained from the alleged acts of profiteering be returned to the county coffers.
“I always believed, and still believe, that citizens have to monitor what the government does,” Monteon said Wednesday.
The allegations stem from a nearly 500-page report from private investigator Dave Henderson. It claims Scagliotti committed several acts of profiteering and favoritism.
The investigation was commissioned by an anonymous group of residents calling themselves Los Valientes – “the brave ones” in Spanish.
Some residents, including Scagliotti and other supervisors, have criticized the anonymity of Los Valientes.
Monteon did not specify whether he is a member of the consortium, responding, “I won’t claim I’m with them or not.”
“I want to show the government there are brave citizens that will come forward when needed,” he said.
Monteon, a graduate of San Benito High School, works in San Jose as a bail agent. He formerly managed the True Value furniture store in the Albertson’s shopping center.
Scagliotti is the landlord of the True Value building. Monteon said the four-term supervisor did nothing at the time, though, to provoke any bad feelings.
But after Monteon heard about the investigative report, and after requesting and reading a copy of it, he decided to get involved.
Being around investigators and similar probes as a bail agent, he said he knows a solid report when he sees one. Monteon called Henderson, “a superstar.”
“I’m 100 percent convinced, after (the courts) review it, there won’t be any doubt that there’s something there.”
Pekin and Los Valientes took the same investigative report’s allegations and tried to intervene as a third party into a suit trying to enact the Growth Control Initiative without a vote.
Henderson’s report includes a claim that supervisors violated the state open meetings law, the Brown Act, during the drafting of the initiative. Los Valientes was trying to nullify the initiative.
A judge denied that motion to intervene Nov. 19 because he ruled the allegations weren’t relevant to the case. So Pekin is back with a new suit and a new plaintiff.
In the Monteon suit, Pekin has brought forth the same Brown Act allegations, along with four others, three of which specifically target Scagliotti. He believes county corruption probably dates even further back than Henderson’s investigation, Monteon said.
“A lot of people have known or seen what’s going on, but they just don’t understand the action needed, to take it to the courts,” he said.
Monteon said elected officials should be considered employees of the people.
“If the community wants to grow, then by gosh, let it grow,” he said. “But if the community doesn’t want to grow, then by gosh, don’t let it grow.”
The result of the investigation and lawsuit, he hopes, is a community brave enough to confront political wrongdoing. The suit, he said, should awaken many of those people.
“When I come across to San Benito and see the mountains,” Monteon said, “this is my home.”
