Shooting of teen and fireworks both occurred in the vicinity

By Allen D. Payton

In response to efforts to obtain information about the lock down of Deer Valley High School on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Antioch Unified School District Stephanie Anello responded on Saturday, April 2 writing, “Around 2:30 pm that day, a parent from a nearby school called the school and reported that a young adult or teenage males were running towards DVHS wherein at least one weapon was reported.

“We immediately called dispatch and were informed that there was no need to lock down. However, out of an abundance of caution, I instructed the school to lock down until we could assess the situation. Staff walked the perimeter of the school and monitored the gates. At about 2:52 pm we again called dispatch. At that time, we were told that the activity in the neighborhood was firecrackers.

“A reporter called me at around 4:30 PM that same day and notified me that there had been a shooting near the campus at around 2:35 pm. We called staff together for a meeting first thing the next morning as we anticipated confusion and concern. An officer was at the meeting who confirmed that there was miscommunication from dispatch. At approximately the same time there were fireworks in the vicinity there was also a shooting.

Thank you for reaching out and let me know if you have any further questions. I am going to forward this to the rest of the board as well, in case they have similar questions.”

Eastcountytoday.net reported that a 16-year-old male was shot and “showed up at a nearby hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.”

Says APD down 13 officers from 115 budgeted; proposes financial incentives to hire lateral officers from other agencies, academy graduates; admits to private meeting with DA, interim city manager

Police leader says officers are leaving and don’t want to hire on to APD due to mayor, council majority, policies and attitudes; attrition wasn’t happening under former Chief Brooks; claims five officers under investigation and on paid leave

Mayor Pro Tem Barbanica says APD down to 78 sworn active officers on the force, police officers telling him the council majority is to blame for attrition

Thorpe confirms currently only 78 active sworn officers

By Allen D. Payton

Following a local podcast last Friday in which the president of the Antioch Police Officers Association, Corporal Steve Aiello said the lack of active sworn officers on the force is directly due to the mayor and council majority, their policies and attitudes toward police, and a YouTube video by Mayor Pro Tem Mike Barbanica posted on his official Facebook page, Sunday night sharing 24 officers are “off work” for a “variety of reasons”, Mayor Lamar Thorpe held a press conference Monday morning claiming the attrition in the department is due to national trends.

The announced, new interim police chief Dr. Steve Ford also participated in the press conference and later said his own hiring process should be completed either this week or early next week.

During the podcast, Aiello spoke about exit interviews with officers which provided him with the reasons they are leaving the department and partly why the force was down to just 83 active sworn officers two weeks ago. That was prior to the investigation by the FBI and DA’s office of five officers who have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to Aiello. (See related article)

Thorpe wouldn’t confirm that number when asked during the press conference. Aiello said three of those officers have told him they were surprised and don’t know why they’re being investigated.

Barbanica said there are currently 78 active sworn officers, which Thorpe did confirm during the press conference. Barbanica also provided a breakdown of police staffing in his Facebook post writing, “an update on current staffing levels at the APD. Keep in mind, this is a 24/7 operation. Patrol 52 (Including Supervisors/Managers), Community Engagement Team 2, Traffic 4 (Including 1 Supervisor), Investigations 12 (Including Supervisors/Managers), Admin 8, Off Work 24 (variety of reasons).”

Current Staffing Confirmed at 102 Sworn on Staff, 78 Active, Claims APD Part of National Trend in Police Staffing Losses

Thorpe and Ford said the current Antioch Police Department staffing level is at 102 sworn police officers, leaving 13 sworn positions currently open from the 115 approved in the city budget. There are three officers currently in the police academy who will graduate in July, which will reduce the vacancies to 10. Thorpe confirmed there are currently only 78 active sworn officers on the force.

The mayor spoke of national trends with vacancies in government employment, which he said is, “the economic phenomenon called ‘The Great Resignation’ where many employees across the U.S. have resigned from their jobs, most notably during the global, COVID pandemic…resulting in lower productivity and a decline in morale.”

“Only hospitality and government are witnessing actual decline in the workforce, meaning workers aren’t being replaced or replaced fast enough, otherwise known as attrition,” Thorpe continued. “‘20-‘21 marked the highest rate of state and local government job openings in the past 20 years, which means local governments are understaffed. Law enforcement is the largest group driving workforce losses through local government.”

A ‘20-‘21 report by the Police Executive Research Forum rightly notes that nationally, there has been a 45% increase in retirements and a 20% increase in resignations compared to previous years” he stated. “Antioch’s law enforcement agency is no exception to this staffing crisis.”

However, Thorpe did not offer any reasons for the attrition either nationally or locally. Aiello stated during Friday’s podcast, the losses in the Antioch Police Department staffing weren’t happening during former Chief Tammany Brooks’ tenure in the position, who resigned at the beginning of last October.

Proposes Increasing Incentives for Lateral, Academy Hires, Increase in Over Hire Sworn Staffing by Four Officers

Also, during the press conference, Thorpe and Ford announced proposed financial incentives to attract the hiring of lateral officers from other departments and police academy graduates. They include increasing from $10,000 to a “$40,000 structured signing bonus”, with $20,000 paid upon hiring, $10,000 at the end of the officer’s first year with the department, and another $10,000 paid at the end of their third year. They are also proposing the same incentives for academy recruits.

The other proposed incentive is for up to $60,000 for down payment assistance per academy graduate for the purchase of a home in Antioch, for which they would have to remain on the Antioch police force for at least five years.

In addition, Thorpe proposed increasing the over hire of sworn police officer staffing in the department from the current 121 to 125.

However, “these positions will have to be directly tied to any anticipated retirements or resignations, or any long-term administrative leave,” Thorpe explained.

The city council will have to approve any of the proposed incentives and increase in over hire for the department.

Asked if the money for the home down payments will be from the city’s General Fund or the police budget, Thorpe replied, “Obviously, we have significant salary savings at this point. So, we can look at that pot of money. We could look at the General Fund but we could also look at ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) funding. So, again, this is for a 12-month period and if after 12 months we may find we’ll need to do it, again.”

Thorpe wouldn’t answer the question if he would offer any incentives to keep the current officers on the Antioch police force. But as he walked out of the council chambers, he continued answering questions of one reporter about hiring lateral officers who are under investigation in their current departments. Thorpe’s answer could not be understood.

Thorpe Admits to Private Meeting with DA, Interim City Manager, Says They Were Asked to Cooperate with Investigation of APD, Won’t Say How He’s Helping

During the press conference, Thorpe confirmed what had been previously reported, of a private meeting he and Interim City Manager Con Johnson had with Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton on Tuesday, March 22, the day before the investigation occurred.

The meeting was held just three days following Thorpe’s arrest for DUI and while he was under investigation by her department. (See related article)

Thorpe said the meeting was held by Becton to request his and Johnson’s cooperation in the investigation and they were to “keep confidentiality as this was an ongoing investigation”. Asked if the information he had received as one of the five council members was shared with all of the other four, Thorpe replied, “no, because the district attorney said to keep this confidential between myself and the city manager, because they were soliciting our help in the investigation.”

Asked how he as a civilian was helping the investigation, Thorpe replied, “I’m not going to get into that.” He later said, “Let me just clarify something. I was asked to be down there as the mayor of Antioch. So, beyond that I’m not going to answer how or what.”

Thorpe Won’t Confirm How Many Officers Under Investigation, Cause of Attrition

About how many officers were on paid leave and what Aiello had said Thorpe was asked, “you’re claiming, now, that those officers, 28 or so, are on paid leave because of national trends and they’re leaving, but they’re sick and injured…and he (Aiello) said that many are not coming back. Is that correct?”

“That’s not what I said. That’s everything you inferred,” Thorpe replied. “What I can tell you is that currently, we have 24 people who are on either injury or administrative leave. It’s a combination of both and we’re not going to get specific as to who, because we have to protect people’s personnel files and their privacy and their confidentiality. So, I’m not going to play this game with you trying to take information from people’s personnel files and exploit it for the media. I’m not going to do that.”

Asked again, “so, we were down to 83 officers before the five were placed on paid administrative leave, correct?” Thorpe responded, “currently we are down 24 unavailable.”

Barbanica Says Officers Tell Him Thorpe, Council Majority Are to Blame for Attrition

When reached for comment, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Barbanica said, “I speak with law enforcement, daily including Antioch officers and other local agencies and they’re telling me it’s the council majority that’s to blame for the attrition.”

“At one point, Antioch was viewed as the agency to go to,” he added.

See YouTube videos of the press conference by the Antioch Herald here, here, and here and on Thorpe’s official Facebook page.

Please check back later for any updates to this report.

Including of people signing petitions, underage grocery store worker; police called

Dear Editor:

It’s no secret that politics have been a contentious battleground over the last several years in the city of Antioch. The city has moved in a direction where leadership is more focused on being right while losing sight of doing what is right.  This has especially weighed heavily on my mind the past few months and it came to a head Friday as we are in the home stretch of the Antioch recalls.

On Friday, the harassment and bullying going on went too far. It is impossible to ignore, and something must be done after one of the mayor’s very vocal supporters crossed a line.

This person appeared at a signing table with a bullhorn and a video recorder, something that has happened many times now during this recall.  This person was aggressively insulting the people gathering signatures, recording them without their permission, and harassing customers at the store. Truthfully, we have been subjected to this before. However, all are adults and can handle it.

Sadly, however, this supporter of the mayor took it to a whole other level when they began harassing a minor. This is a minor that is employed by the location the event was being held. The minor was recorded without consent, was called a bully, a racist, and the aggressor refused to stop even when the minor revealed the fact that they are underage. The harassment was so out of line that customers, unrelated to the recall attempt, called the Antioch Police Department to assist the minor.

I cannot fathom the fear and embarrassment this young person felt.  To have an adult abuse them in such a way is unconscionable.  In a time when the mental health of our youth is at a catastrophic level, we cannot put them into situations that might damage the very fabric of their relatively limited worlds and put them into a crisis in which some may not be able to recover.

The fear of being labeled a racist has driven teens to take drastic, and permanent, actions before.  They felt their whole lives were ruined when such allegations went public.  For a grown woman to treat a youth in our city in this manor cannot and should not be ignored.

This is a woman whom the mayor has supported with his clapping and his smiles.  He has allowed the false rhetoric to be perpetrated to save himself from recall, and now his supporters are abusing our youth, as well.  Bullying is never acceptable.  We need better from our elected officials and their supporters if we are ever going to come together as a city

I am not so naïve to not understand politics can and do divide a community and get the best of people. But I hope that the vast majority would look beyond the surface and ignore the false rhetoric.

For example, it came as no surprise that the proponents were labeled racists and that many individuals ignored the fact that nearly half of the original 20 proponents are minorities. However, I was wholly unprepared for the level of hate and vitriol I both witnessed and received during this process.

Because I became involved in these efforts to better the community in which I live, I was immediately labeled a racist, called a bully, and was harassed on more than one occasion. Admittedly, I somewhat expected this to happen because I knew I was making a bold choice that some do not understand, and many are unwilling to learn the motives behind. 

What I was unprepared for was the hate that I saw spewed at others, hate from the mayor and his supporters.  I saw an African American woman called a racial slur, another told she was not black enough, and yet another told she was “acting white.” An Afro-Latina neighbor was told she was not a real person of color, a Mexican American man was told he needs to learn to think for himself.  I’ve been publicly called a “Karen”, a Klan’s member, and a bully by both the mayor and his supporters.

The mayor has even tried to intimidate me, both with his own actions and the actions he has condoned.  At a recent city council meeting all the proponents were called the Ku Klux Karen’s, a comment in which the mayor applauded.

I do not write these things to garner support or sympathy.  I’m a grown woman that put myself into the line of fire for supporting the recall of our mayor and city clerk and have thus far dealt with these attacks quietly. But it crossed a line Friday. Verbally attacking a youth should be rejected by everyone whether you support or disagree with a recall.

I had no intention of ever speaking of these events publicly over the past year because that is not the type of petty politics in which I want to involve myself. But I ask the public to please leave the children out of it and to tone down the false rhetoric and name calling

Respectfully,

Lindsey Amezcua

Antioch

 

Previously the subject of a 2015 Antioch investigation, also arrested by Antioch Police in 2017 for lewd acts upon a child and sexual exploitation of a child

By Ted Asregadoo, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa County Distict Attorney

50-year-old Concord resident Patrick Steven Yelton was charged with three counts of forcible sexual abuse of a child under 13 which he allegedly committed in 2015. The charges were filed on March 28, 2022, in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. Yelton was previously charged on April 15, 2021, with one count of possession of child pornography, and is currently in custody at the Martinez Detention Facility.

In March 2020, the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce received information that Yelton was storing images of child pornography in his Google account. Concord Police officers contacted Yelton about the alleged images. Pursuant to a search warrant, Officers seized Yelton’s smartphone and additional photos of child pornography were located on the device. A year later, in February 2021, the ICAC Task Force received another tip that Yelton had pornographic images of children on his Yahoo account which yielded further evidence of unlawful activity.

Yelton was previously the subject of a 2015 Antioch investigation concerning sexual abuse of a child under 13. While reviewing the material in Yelton’s accounts relating to child pornography, evidence was discovered relating to the 2015 investigation.  As a result, Yelton has now been charged with the 2015 forcible sexual abuse offenses, in addition to the original child pornography charge.

The investigation was conducted by a multi-agency, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is managed by the San Jose Police Department. In Contra Costa County, detectives and investigators from the Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, San Ramon, Concord and Moraga Police Departments, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, United States Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Contra Costa County Probation Department, and Inspectors from the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office participated in the task force.

According to localcrimenews.com Yelton has a history of arrests including by Pleasant Hill Police in 2016 for driving with a license suspended for drunk driving; three  times by Antioch Police in 2017 including once for false imprisonment by violence, forcible lewd acts upon a child and sexual exploitation of a child under 18 years, and again in 2017 for inflicting corporal injury on spouse/cohabitant, threats of violence and receiving or concealing stolen property; by  Martinez Police also in 2017 for possession of drug paraphernalia; and seven times by Concord  Police including twice in 2018, first for possession of a controlled substance and later for battery on a spouse / cohabitant / former spouse and threats of violence

Parents are encouraged to talk to their children about online safety and can visit the website www.kidsmartz.org or the District Attorney’s website for further information.

Case information: People v. Yelton, Dockett Number 01-195896-6

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

First of its kind in Contra Costa County; 207.8-acre preserve available for free to local schools, groups

By Laura Kindsvater, Communications Manager, Save Mount Diablo

On March 30, 2022, Save Mount Diablo opened its Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve to the public, the first of its kind in Contra Costa County. People gathered at a special ceremony at the preserve during which Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Save Mount Diablo Board President Jim Felton cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening.

The 207.8-acre preserve is situated between the Crystyl Ranch residential development in Concord and Lime Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek.

Save Mount Diablo’s Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve is available for reservations free of charge to a variety of local schools and community groups, of all ages and backgrounds, pursuing educational purposes. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• environmental science classes
• nature photography courses
• yoga classes
• plein-air artists gatherings
• addiction recovery groups
• acoustic music in nature ensembles
• meditation classes
• grief counseling support groups
• church groups
• homeowners association groups
• hiking, trail running, and mountain bike clubs

Interested groups can submit a request to reserve the property for a day up to six months in advance by utilizing the online form on Save Mount Diablo’s website. The size of a group must be at least three people to no larger than 100 people. The preserve is day-use only (no camping). The preserve is day-use only (no camping). Location and access will be provided upon reservation. A docent will be on-sight to provide access, an overview of the property and any assistance.

The preserve includes grassland, stream canyons, blue oak woodland, chaparral, and oak savannas.

It’s home to rare species such as the northernmost stand of desert olive, rare Hospital Canyon larkspur, and threatened Alameda whipsnake. Deer, coyote, burrowing owls, kestrels, and lots of other wildlife live here too.

The preserve’s high ridgeline provides views of most of central Contra Costa County and to Marin, Sonoma, and Solano counties.

As you move away from the staging area of the preserve and into the open space along Galindo Creek and up the ridgeline, the sounds of cars and radios fade. They become birdsong and gentle breezes rustling through trees.

Here you will find you are transported into another space where senses are heightened and connecting to nature is inevitable.

About Save Mount Diablo

Save Mount Diablo is a nationally accredited, nonprofit land trust founded in 1971 with a mission

to preserve Mount Diablo’s peaks, surrounding foothills, watersheds, and connection to the Diablo Range through land acquisition and preservation strategies designed to protect the mountain’s natural beauty, biological diversity, and historic and agricultural heritage; enhance our area’s quality of life; and provide educational and recreational opportunities consistent with protection of natural resources. To learn more, please visit www.savemountdiablo.org.

By Sergeant Christian Camarillo, San Jose Police Department

On March 27th, 2022, at approximately 2:44 AM, Officers responded to the area of South 4th Street and East San Carlos Street on a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they located an adult male suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Paramedics arrived and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.

The motive and circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation. The suspect is unidentified and remains at large.

The identity of the deceased victim was released by the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office as 27-year-old Jacqui Biggins out of Antioch.

This is the City of San Jose’s 4th homicide of 2022.

Anyone with information is asked to Contact Detective Sergeant Bagon #3589 or Detective Ancelet #4173 of the San José Police Department’s Homicide unit at 408-277-5283.

Submit crime tips and remain anonymous by using the P3TIPS mobile app, calling the tip line at (408) 947-STOP, or on www.svcrimestoppers.org. If the information you submit leads to an arrest, you are eligible for a cash reward from the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers Program.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

April 2, 2022

Subject: Your Property Taxes

Dear Property Owner,

Help us provide you with the best service possible and let us help you avoid high-interest rates and penalties. Please remember to pay the second installment of your property

Taxes on or before April 10, 2022.

If you have any questions or concerns about how to make your payment you can contact the

County Tax Collector’s office at: (925) 957–5280.

If you have any questions or concerns about the taxable value of your home, please take the opportunity to call us at the County Assessor’s office at (925 )313-7400.

You’re welcome to visit the Assessor’s office at 2530 Arnold Drive in Martinez. We’re open to the public 8AM to 4PM Monday through Friday to help you with your property tax questions.

Gus Kramer

County Assessor

In case you have paid your property taxes in full or you do not own property in Contra Costa County, please disregard this notice.