The longtime county assessor in Contra Costa County, who just days earlier had symbolically passed the torch to his right-hand man after decades of being reelected himself, saw his home and office raided by the feds on Tuesday morning, and so did his successor.

Gus Kramer, who has served as assessor for 32 years in Contra Costa County, and Assistant County Assessor Vince Robb, both had their homes raided by the FBI Tuesday morning, as Bay Area News Group reports, and the County Assessor's Office on Arnold Drive was raided as well.

The feds have not commented on the raids, but Bay Area News Group obtained a copy of the warrant associated with them, which was signed June 4 by US Magistrate Judge Robert Illman. The warrant authorizes the search of the office and the two men's homes, as well as Robb and Kramer’s cars, to look for evidence of wire fraud and "other offenses."

It remains unclear what prompted the raids, but the timing is curious. Last Tuesday, one day before the warrant was signed, Robb was elected to succeed Kramer beginning in January 2027, following Kramer's announcement that he was retiring.

Per KTVU, Kramer spoke to the media outside his office Tuesday and said, "Apparently, low people in high places are attempting to weaponize the FBI to intimidate the assessment's office regarding some properties’ values, on some very large properties. It’s really too bad."

As Bay Area News Group notes, Kramer, who has served as assessor since 1994, has been dogged by various accusations of wrongdoing over the decades, including an allegedly forged deed from 2003 that gifted half a property to Kramer that he subequently purchased, saving him $21,000 in property taxes.

Other accusations have suggested the use of his office to exact personal revenge, including the alleged overvaluing of some vacant properties in 2009 that belonged to a developer with whom Kramer was said to be feuding, costing the developer a reported $200,000 in extra taxes. Kramer's daughter-in-law also reportedly accused him of improperly raising her property tax assessment as retaliation for not being allowed to see his grandchildren.

As Bay Area News Group reported at the time, Kramer blamed his inexperienced and overworked staff for he clerical error.

More recently, in January, the county was forced to settle a lawsuit brought by a former appraiser who worked in Kramer's office, who claimed she was retaliated against for arguing for a higher appraised value for a senior-housing complex. That appraiser, Andrea Albrecht, claimed that Kramer had sought to deliberately undervalue the property by at least $3 million, contradicting her appraisal, and implying this may have been a favor to the property owner who was seeking a lower appraisal.

For decades, Kramer has cast himself as the county's "Bad Boy Assessor," and he's been repeatedly reelected on his reputation for advocating for the "little guy" homeowner.

These latest FBI raids come after two years that brought a federal corruption case, which is still ongoing, to the doorstep of Oakland City Hall, leading to the 2024 recall of Mayor Sheng Thao.

As Bay Area News Group reports, the federal probe in Contra Costa County may have begun last year with a raid at the home of Contra Costa political consultant Mary Jo Rossi, which has not resulted in any charges being filed. Rossi is reportedly linked to Concord homebuilding company DeNova Homes, whose executives have been charged by the feds with attempting to bribe an Antioch councilman.

It's inclear if that case has any ties to the raids on Kramer and Robb.

A candidate who was running against Robb, Nick Spinner, gave a comment to the news group about the raids saying, "I ran on restoring public trust in the Assessor’s Office through transparency and accountability, and I hope the public gets clear answers through the proper process." Spinner added, "I’ve always had a respectful working relationship with Vince."

Related: Federal Judge Rejects Motion By Sheng Thao and Co-Defendants to Toss Evidence In Corruption Case

Top image: Photo via Facebook

The FBI has reportedly been making inquiries about an alleged quid pro quo situation involving London Breed, Michael Bloomberg, and SF Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, and it sounds like Breed's former aide and confidante Conor Johnston may be coming back to haunt her.

Earlier this week, Conor Johnston, a close aide of former Mayor London Breed who went to bat during her last re-election campaign attacking rival Daniel Lurie, went public with an accusation about the late 2024 appointment of Stephen Sherrill to the Board of Supervisors. Johnston gave interviews to Mission Local and the SF Standard, and former aide and campaign manager Eric Kingsbury corroborated his statements, saying that Breed had been fairly explicit in saying that she was likely to appoint to Sherrill to fill the District 2 seat being vacated by Catherine Stefani as a favor to billionaire Michael Bloomberg, for whom Sherrill had worked.

According to Johnston, he warned Breed about how this may look, and that it was "potentially illegal," but she allegedly said at the time that she needed to think about her financial future, and that the Bloomberg organization was going to "set [her] up" after she left the mayor's office, adding "I have a lot of expenses."

Breed did ultimately get a six-month stint at a Bloomberg-funded think tank in DC last year, which she discussed in a New York Times interview in January. But she denies that anything untoward occurred.

"Yes, Mike Bloomberg is a friend, and he has been a thoughtful voice and mentor over the years, just as he has been for countless leaders and public servants across the country and the world," Breed said in a statement. "But that is the extent of it. I don’t work for Mayor Bloomberg. And I have always made my own decisions."

But now, as the SF Standard reported late Friday, the FBI has apparently come calling, which may have been part of Johnston's intention all along. He was explicit in saying he wanted voters to be aware that Sherrill, who is seeking now to be fully elected to the seat, may not have been appointed fully based on his qualifications. And, Johnston told Mission Local, Breed "broke my heart," and "in her last act in office" she "sold it out in the worst, most indefensible way to one of the richest men in the world."

The FBI has reportedly made inquiries about the situation to at least two individuals, likely Johnston and Kingbury, the Standard reports, but the substance of those inquiries was not shared. "It’s unclear how many people federal investigators have contacted or whether the FBI has opened a formal investigation," the Standard reports.

If there is an investigation, this would be yet another chance for the Trump Justice Department to come after a San Francisco politician — after a wide-ranging City Hall corruption investigation that began during the first Trump administration yielded indictments only for two department heads, Mohammed Nuru and Harlan Kelly, as well as multiple resignations and a slew of charges for city contractors and others.

Sherrill's campaign has responded fairly aggressively to the Standard story, issuing a statement saying, "If Trump’s Justice Department wants to attack Democrats and chase the lies of a disgruntled ex-staffer with an axe to grind, that says everything about them and nothing about Stephen." And they add that Sherrill's "record of delivering for District 2 speaks for itself, and he won’t be distracted from fighting for the constituents of District 2."

Both Johnston and Kingsbury admitted to Mission Local that they were each under consideration for the District 2 supervisor job, alongside Sherrill, and they said that they had waited so long to go public with the story because it was bound to look like "sour grapes" on their part.

Obviously things may get dicey for Breed, but arguments will continue to be made that Sherrill was chosen on the basis of his qualifications alone. An attorney, Bill Portanova, who has worked as both a state and federal prosecutor, told Mission Local that "It smells like someone planning their post-government career," but "there is plenty of room for a good defense attorney to argue that it’s something else entirely."

Johnston and Kingsbury going on the record this week follows an early February story published by the California Post that essentially made the same accusation, but was anonymously sourced.

This could get ugly. Buckle up.

Previously: Two Former Aides Suggest Quid Pro Quo In Breed's Appointment of Stephen Sherrill to Board of Supervisors

Top image: San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks on stage during Macy's 35th Annual Great Tree Lighting In San Francisco at Macy's Union Square on November 13, 2024 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Macy's)

A local law firm filed a lawsuit against Flock alleging federal agencies accessed data from the SFPD’s cameras more than 1.6 million times, and a recent audit by El Cerrito's police department found that several federal agencies briefly accessed its data.

As KTVU reports, Oakland-based law firm Gibbs Mura filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday claiming that data from Flock Safety’s license plate readers was obtained by federal and out-of-state agencies more than 1.6 million times during a seven-month period, and Los Altos’s readers reportedly shared information to out-of-state agencies more than a million times. No further details have been provided about the case.

“The problem that we allege, is that Flock is sharing this information on California drivers with out-of-state law enforcement and the federal government, which is illegal under California law,” says David Berger, a partner with Gibbs Mura, per KTVU.

“They have to be beholden to the laws they claim they are trying to enforce, just like everybody else,” Berger added.

Flock released a statement, saying the company “takes privacy, legal compliance, and data security extremely seriously,” adding, “Flock intends to vigorously defend itself against the asserted claims and allegations.”

NBC Bay Area reports that an audit by the El Cerrito Police Department verified that federal agencies accessed the department’s data from Flock's cameras without its knowledge, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the GSA Office of the Inspector General, when the cameras were first installed in June 2023 until the police department took administrative control of the system two months later.

As Contra Costa News reports, federal agencies gained access to the ECPD’s database two more times after safeguards had reportedly been installed. Between September and November 2023, the United States Postal Inspection searched ECPD’s database. Additionally, over two days in May 2025, the Loma Linda Healthcare System Veterans Affairs Police searched the database.

Per Contra Costa News, Flock reported that the company promptly fixed flaws in the department’s settings that allowed the agencies to access the database. Regarding the Loma Linda Healthcare Systems Veterans Affairs Police, Flock says the agency was incorrectly labeled as a state agency.

“We found these two other incidents of federal sharing that came as a surprise to me,” Chief Paul Keith of the El Cerrito Police Department said.

Per KTVU, the San Jose Police Department implemented safeguards, including requiring more documentation from outside agencies, limiting camera locations, and reducing data retention to 30 days instead of a year, per NBC Bay Area.

Additionally, as KTVU reported Wednesday, the Mountain View City Council voted unanimously to end the city's contract with Flock, and pressure is also mounting in the city of Richmond. As Axios reports, a federal agency accessed the Richmond Police Department's Flock cameras last year before the department blocked access to all federal agencies.

Per NBC Bay Area, Keith will provide further details about the El Cerrito police department's audit at El Cerrito’s city council meeting on March 10.

Image: Tony Webster/Wikimedia

Previously: Report: Flock Safety, Maker of SF’s License Plate Reader Cameras, Had Gobsmacking Security Flaw

A California woman filed a federal lawsuit against a company that owns two upscale apartment complexes in SF’s South Beach neighborhood — Avalon Mission Bay and South Beach Marina Apartments, saying they were aware that she was being sex trafficked there at age 17.

As the Chronicle reports, a woman identified as AV is suing Avalonbay Communities Inc., along with other unidentified corporations and individuals, alleging that staff at two of the company’s properties, Avalon Mission Bay and South Beach Marina Apartments looked the other way when she and other underage girls were being housed and trafficked on the premises. As About Lawsuits reports, AV says the abuse took place for about two years in 2018 and 2019 when she was still in high school.

Per the Chronicle, AV and other survivors were rescued when the FBI arrested the man who trafficked them. The man was given the pseudonym “Tom Roe,” making it unclear when he was arrested or whether he was charged.

Per About Lawsuits, the lawsuit says Roe chose the high-end apartment complexes to appeal to potential customers, alleging that employees at the apartments routinely witnessed victims being escorted by different men in and out of each property around the clock while heavily drugged and wearing revealing clothing. The lawsuit says employees accepted payment for staying quiet and told victims to hide their faces while entering and exiting the properties, per About Lawsuits.

“Roe purposefully placed his trafficked women, including Plaintiff, at luxury apartment buildings to attract wealthier clientele, Tom Roe moved between apartments when another luxury apartment became available,” states the lawsuit, per All Apartments.

Per the Chronicle, rent at the properties ranged from $7,500 to $10,000, which Roe paid in cash. AV’s attorneys said she was drugged with cocaine, marijuana, and Xanax and was often physically harmed for not obeying orders. The lawsuit says AV and other victims were given tattoos of an uncorked bottle of wine on their inner thighs.

“This case seeks to hold accountable the apartment complexes and their respective shareholders, owners, security teams and agents who benefited from the horrors inflicted on (the) Plaintiff,” attorneys for AV said in the lawsuit, per the Chronicle.

Image: South Beach Marina Apartments

Four very junkyard-looking locations in Oakland, Richmond, and San Leandro were on the business end of FBI raids Wednesday, in an investigation of what the FBI and Bay Area police think is a diesel fuel theft ring.

Both NBC Bay Area and KTVU were covering the story that FBI agents raided four East Bay locations Wednesday morning, in what is apparently an investigation into a stolen diesel fuel ring. Both reports are short on details, but the Bay Area News Groups seems way ahead on this one, noting that the raids come "amid reports that a group of thieves had set up a station to sell stolen gasoline at an East Oakland chop shop."

Well, folks, here is a photo of that alleged chop shop, and it is one of four East Bay locations raided today by the FBI and various NorCal police departments. KTVU describes the location as "a lot at 4220 Alameda Ave., near the Home Depot on High Street," though we should clarify the place has nothing to do with Home Depot, it is just nearby. That outlet adds that the place is routinely littered with "shipping containers and battered cars in what appeared to be a junkyard.”

And the Bay Area News Group notes that the place was already raided in May when Oakland police identified it as the site of "a suspected large-scale cargo theft ring." That outlet adds that the Wednesday raid seized “two trailers, a forklift, a motorcycle, and five cars all of which were suspected to be stolen,” and that the May raid turned up more than a dozen cars which were proven to have been stolen.

Previous Bay Area News Group reporting identifies the lot’s owner as a “suspected professional diesel fuel thief,” though oddly, does not name him. But that previous reporting was in relation to his 35-year-old ex-girlfriend turning up dead in a bathtiub in a death that police deemed “suspicious,” as well as his possible involvement in the death of Lucky Three Seven restuarant co-owner Artgel Fernando “Jun” Anabo Jr. So certainly trouble seems to find this fellow.

But as far as the stolen fuel investigation, one of the lead law enforcement organizations is actually the Greenfield Police Department, from a Monterey County town suspected to somehow be part of the ring.

“Organized fuel theft operations often involve the illegal resale of stolen fuel and pose serious public safety risks due to unsafe handling and storage of highly flammable materials," the Greenfield Police Department said in a statement to NBC Bay Area. "These crimes are commonly associated with broader organized criminal activity."

Per NBC Bay Area, Wednesday's raids were executed at these locations:

• The 4200 block of Alameda Avenue in Oakland
• The 1000 block of 45th Avenue in Oakland
• The 1600 block of Sixth Street in Richmond
• The 3100 block of Alvarado Avenue in San Leandro

Authorities were quick to stress that Wednesday’s East Bay raids were not in any way related to ICE immigration enforcement, and no ICE agents were involved in Wednesday’s activities.

Related: Gas Thief Accidentally Torches Six Cars In Antioch eBART Parking Lot [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

Oakland’s Lower Dimond district was rocked by a 4 am Wednesday morning FBI raid that targeted nine freshly indicted alleged members of the Sureño gang, alleging they pulled a pair of 2019 murders and a host of drug crimes.

There was a surprise wake-up call around 4 am Wednesday morning in Oakland’s Lower Dimond district at Coloma Street and Fruitvale Avenue, as the FBI came looking for nine alleged gang members, and arrested several of them as KGO reports. The bunch had just been federally indicted for two 2019 murders, three attempted murders, plus a wide range of drug and firearms charges, all allegedly associated with the Sureño street gang.

KTVU has footage of the raids seen above, as well as the responses of perplexed neighbors who observed these unexpected early morning proceedings. According to KTVU, six of the alleged gang members were arrested at the scene and taken into custody, while two were already in custody on related charges, and 25-year-old Gonzalo “Chalo” Pablo remains at large.

The full press release from the US Department of Justice names all nine defendants, and details their various alleged nicknames too. They are Marvin Bonilla, aka “Malandro,” 24; Edwin Cano-Merida, aka “Zombie,” 24; Cesar Rolando Lucas-Pablo, aka “Lobo,” 28; Walfer Mendoza-Mendoza, aka “Shorty,” 31; Gonzalo Pablo, aka “Chalo,” 25; Jeronimo “Orlando” Pablo-Carrillo, aka “Paisano,” 41; Mario Pablo-Matias, aka “Chuco,” 24; Raymundo Pablo-Matias, aka “El Moch,” 31; and Carlos Ramiro-Mendoza, aka “Minch,” 28.

“Like people everywhere, the residents of Oakland deserve safe and peaceful neighborhoods, not ones filled with fear and senseless violence,” US Attorney Craig H. Missakian said in the release. “This indictment charges nine members of the Oakland Sureños for their roles in a dangerous criminal enterprise that inflicted harm throughout Oakland.”

The release adds that "A number of the defendants are unlawfully residing in the United States," though does not detail which ones.

All nine face racketeering conspiracy charges, each of which carries a possible 20-year sentence. Four of the suspects are additionally charged with murder or attempted murder, and that includes the defendant Pablo who’s still at large, who’s charged with a 2018 attempted murder.

The eight who are in custody were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning before a US Northern District of California court in Oakland.

Related: Oakland’s ‘F*** Everyone Gang’ Accused of Stealing Nearly $1 Million in Merchandise In Just Two Months [SFist]

Image:  OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 24: In an aerial view, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents process evidence as they investigate the scene of a shooting outside Coast Guard Island in Alameda on October 24, 2025 in Oakland, California. U.S. Coast Guard police opened fire on a U-Haul truck Thursday evening after it backed up a ramp at the entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda, where US Customs and Border Patrol agents are staying. Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump informed San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie that he was suspending planned immigration raids in San Francisco. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Minnesota is reeling after a politically motivated shooting on Saturday left State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband dead, and State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife critically wounded. The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was the subject of a two-day manhant before being arrested Sunday.

[Update] As the Associated Press reports, Boelter surrendered to authorities on Sunday in a field near his home. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder.

Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), launched the largest manhunt in Minnesota history Saturday following the fatal shooting of a state lawmaker and her husband, and the shootings of another lawmaker and his wife. Both attacks were believed to be politically motivated.

CNN has in-depth live updates on the investigation and manhunt.

Boelter, a former director of patrol operations for a private security firm called Praetorian Guard Security Services, is believed to have impersonated a police officer during the attacks. According to Brooklyn Park police, officers responded to a report at Hortman’s home and encountered what appeared to be a marked police vehicle with emergency lights. A man in uniform exited the home and opened fire on officers before fleeing the scene.

As reported by NPR, state Representative Melissa Hortman, a former speaker of the Minnesota State House, and her husband Mark both died of multiple gunshot wounds, which the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled homicides. “Melissa is someone that I wish the whole nation knew,” said US Senator Amy Klobuchar on MSNBC. “She worked in a practically tied legislature and got a budget done at the end of this year… She stood up for women’s rights, passed school lunches and family leave, and loved her community.”

State Senator Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot multiple times. They both underwent surgery and are in stable condition, though Hoffman suffered significant injuries. Authorities have not confirmed whether Boelter had a personal connection to the victims, but BCA Superintendent Drew Evans acknowledged “some overlap with public meetings” involving Hoffman.

Investigators believe Boelter fled the Brooklyn Park area, leading the city to lift a temporary shelter-in-place order Saturday afternoon. A law enforcement source told CNN a “lookout” alert was issued to border patrol agents on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Photos of Boelter have been widely distributed to federal agencies.

The FBI confirmed Boelter had survival gear in a vehicle recovered by police. A document obtained by CNN revealed the discovery of a hit list in the car with nearly 70 names — mostly prominent pro-choice Minnesota lawmakers. “This was a deliberate and violent attack on public servants and their families,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. “We are working with our law enforcement partners and using every available resource to locate and apprehend Vance Boelter.”

According to ABC News Minneapolis affiliate KSTP, the FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to Boelter’s arrest and conviction. The public is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or email tips to bca.tips@state.mn.us.

Boelter’s employer, Praetorian Guard, markets itself as an armed security firm outfitted with “the best personal protective equipment that money can buy,” including police-style Ford Explorer utility vehicles. The company’s website states its officers are trained by U.S. military veterans. CNN has reached out to the company for comment.

Images released by the FBI appear to show the suspect wearing a latex-style full-face mask, which experts say may have been used to disguise his identity. “If you notice the eye sockets, there’s just a hole there,” said CNN law enforcement analyst John Miller. “The ear appears to be part of a molded mask, not a real ear. It’s entirely possible this was used to throw police off his true identity.”

President Donald Trump briefly commented on the incident as he left for a military parade, calling the shootings “absolutely terrible.” In a formal statement, he added, “Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the killings appear to be a targeted political assassination. “We lost the dearest of friends,” he said. “Speaker Hortman was a formidable public servant, a skilled negotiator, and a voice of reason. She was irreplaceable and deeply missed.” Walz said he had spoken to Vice President JD Vance about the ongoing investigation and praised the federal response.

The U.S. Capitol Police also issued a statement Saturday, confirming they are coordinating with federal, state, and local partners. Officers have reached out to all members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation after learning some were named in Boelter’s alleged manifesto. Capitol Police are offering security details to lawmakers who request additional protection.

Boelter was described as 6 feet 1 inch tall, 220 pounds, and possibly wearing a cowboy hat and long-sleeved shirt. Authorities had emphasized that the suspect was considered armed and extremely dangerous.

“This has been a nationwide scourge of threats against elected officials and judges and election workers,” Klobuchar said. “It just keeps getting worse.”

Image: FBI

A series of raids across Solano County coordinated by the feds and the Vallejo Police Department seized dozens of illegal guns and a huge haul of drugs, and one of the sites raided was an in-home daycare center where feds found 11,000 fentanyl pills.

The Vallejo Police Department held a joint press conference Thursday with officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and they rightfully celebrated a pretty epic string of guns and drug raids that had been carried out earlier in the day. But among these coordinated raids, and there were at least four of them across Solano County, one of them stands out. As KPIX reports, one of the locations raided was a home-based daycare center, where police and federal agents seized 11 pistols, a rifle, and 11,000 fentanyl pills.

"I think someone was dropping a child off, it's my understanding, right this morning when the operation was happening and it was [the daycare owner's] son who was one of the targets of the investigation," acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of California Michele Beckwith said at the press conference. "The state authorities were notified, the licensing bureau for daycares, so I think the appropriate state action is underway.”

It sounds like all the kids were removed from harm’s way at this in-home daycare center on Avian Drive.

As noted, there were at least three other raids carried out Thursday, in Fairfield, Dixon and Suisun City, which netted four arrests for drug trafficking and illegal firearms.

"The drugs that we captured, a portion of it was 16 pounds of methamphetamine, a half-pound of cocaine, and 100,000 fentanyl pills," FBI Special Agent Sid Patel said at the press conference.

The agencies also noted a separate February 20 raid at a Super 8 hotel in Vallejo where the ATF seized 24 machine guns and ghost guns. The feds allege that gun-running operation was being carried out by a gang called the Brown Brotherhood. That particular investigation started in 2024, and the FBI and ATF are continuing to work with the Vallejo PD on further investigations.

Related: Vallejo Elementary School Teacher Arrested For Dealing Heroin, Methadone [SFist]

Image: Vallejo Police Department via Facebook

Less than 24 hours after the FBI raided the home of another East Bay politician in connection with an apparently broad-ranging corruption scandal, we learn that former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is getting federally indicted.

Sheng Thao has been indicted by a federal grand jury, as the SF Chronicle is reporting Thursday, though federal officials do not plan to announce details of their allegations, or any indictments, until Friday morning. We do not yet know what Thao has been charged with.

It's been seven months since Thao's home was raided by FBI agents, the same day that raids also took place at other homes and offices connected to the Duong family, who own Oakland recycling contractor Cal Waste Solutions. (It always comes back to waste management!) We've been waiting ever since to see whether any charges would be filed against Thao, who has maintained ever since the raid that she was unfairly targeted and had not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Still, in the weeks after the raid, details began emerging about possible wrongdoing, including talk of so-called "straw donors" — individuals who essentially laundered illegal campaign contributions from the Duongs by purporting to be the contributors themselves. One of these alleged straw donors, a man who had done some business with the Duongs, Mario Juarez, had his home shot up by some unknown thugs 11 days before the FBI raids last June, adding more intrigue to the puzzle.

The straw donations to a campaign of Thao's appeared to predate her becoming mayor. And a former chief of staff for Thao who is now running for mayor herself, Renia Webb, came forward in July with pay-to-play allegations against Thao and her boyfriend Andre Jones, who also was ensnared in the FBI probe.

A federal grand jury would then start issuing subpoenas for documents, including all those relating Jones and dealings at Oakland City Hall, and those relating to Evolutionary Homes, a tiny-home-building non-profit that Juarez and the Duongs had partnered on.

In late November, we learned that a federal grand jury had been convened in the case, and that closed-door testimony was ongoing from an unknown number of witnesses. In early December, we learned of another city contractor that could be ensnared called ABC Security Systems. And now, six weeks later, it seems the indictment, or indictments, are in.

We'll know Friday morning whether Thao is being indicted alongside anyone else.

The investigation is ongoing, and on Thursday, FBI agents served a search warrant at the home of multi-term San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, who also has alleged ties to the Duong family. As the Chronicle notes, in August 2023, Thao and Azevedo were both "part of a delegation of East Bay elected officials that attended a trip to Vietnam organized and sponsored by the Vietnamese American Business Association, which is headed by David Duong."

Thao has remained defiant about her innocence, giving a tense and fiery press conference days after the raid on her home last June in which she said, "It was just complete overreach," and she asserted, "The FBI agents have told my attorney that I am not the target of the investigation."

That attorney, Tony Brass, dropped Thao as a client the same day as that press conference, saying, "our paths diverted in terms of our approach to the case."

Thao was recalled by Oakland voters in November, and served her last day as mayor one month ago.

Thao's indictment comes five years after the feds indicted former San Francisco Public Works chief Mohammed Nuru and a local restaurateur and city contractor, Nick Bovis, in what would prove to be a wide-ranging, years-long probe into corruption in SF City Hall. (Coincidentally or not, a tiny-home building operation and a waste management company figured into that story as well.) That investigation would ultimately lead to the resignations and/or indictments of multiple city department heads — but not the mayor! — as well as about a dozen city contractors.

Previously: Is This Why the FBI Raided Sheng Thao’s Home? Filings Allege High-Rollers Traded Campaign Donations for City Contracts

Photo via City of San Leandro

A radical animal-rights activist who was linked to three Bay Area bombings in 2003 has recently been captured after two decades on the run, in the United Kingdom.

Berkeley-born Daniel Andreas San Diego, 46, was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives after a series of bombings one month apart in the Bay Area in 2003. As ABC News reports, San Diego was wanted for two bombings an hour apart at an Emeryville biotech campus on August 28, 2003; as well as detonating a nail bomb at Shaklee Corporation, at a nutritional products company in Pleasanton a month later.

While no one was injured in the bombings, the FBI believes that the first set of bombings was intended to harm first responders.

At the time, an extremist animal-rights group called Revolutionary Cells-Animal Liberation Brigade claimed responsibility for the bombings, pointing to the companies’ ties to New Jersey-based Huntingdon Life Sciences — which activists accused of animal cruelty in its testing of pharmaceuticals on animals.

San Diego had last been seen in San Francisco in early October, 2003, under surveillance by the FBI. He was reportedly seen parking his car and "disappearing" into a transit station, as ABC News reports.

As the Guardian reports, San Diego was arrested Monday "at a property in a rural area next to woodland" in the Conwy area of north Wales. The arrest was conducted by specialist extradition officers with the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Extradition proceedings reportedly began Tuesday at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, per the BBC.

"Daniel San Diego’s arrest after more than 20 years... shows that no matter how long it takes, the FBI will find you and hold you accountable," said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement. "There’s a right way and a wrong way to express your views in our country, and turning to violence and destruction of property is not the right way."

San Diego was originally indicted by the feds in July 2004, and he was put on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2009.

It's not clear what ultimately led to San Diego being found in Wales — there had been a $250,000 reward offered for information leading to his arrest for over a decade. As the Chronicle notes, the FBI had received tips over the years that San Diego was in Marin County, Santa Cruz, Massachusetts, Germany, France, Italy, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Spain, and France.

The FBI appears to be making progress in whatever investigation resulted in the June raid of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home, as witnesses are being subpoenaed, but we still don’t know why the raid happened or who the FBI’s suspects are.

Yes it is unusual that a full five months after the FBI raided Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s house, we still have no idea why they did, and maybe nobody cares because she’s since been recalled from office anyway. But the still-secretive FBI probe may ensnare other East Bay elected officials, and it is notable that on the day they raided Thao’s home, the FBI also raided the offices of Oakland’s recycling contractor Cal Waste Solutions, and the homes of its politically well-connected CEO David Duong and his son Andy Duong.

The Chronicle has been on this beat pretty hard the last few days. On Monday, that paper reported that two witnesses had been issued federal grand jury subpoenas related to the probe. That’s presumably big news, except for the fact that we have no idea who the witnesses are. The Chronicle also adds that “it wasn’t immediately clear whether other witnesses had testified,” so there may be more than two witnesses.

The role of a federal grand jury is generally to decide whether there is evidence that a crime (or multiple crimes) were committed. The Chronicle also dangles the possibility that the existence of a grand jury "could indicate that officials are close to making an arrest.”

Sheng Thao herself has always insisted she was not a target of the FBI investigation, and that may be true. But it sure raised eyebrows when we learned in July that Thao’s boyfriend Andre Jones also had his phone seized by the FBI, and that Jones apparently had some outsize but very nebulous role in her administration. According to the Chronicle’s Monday reports, Jones’s attorney “said he has not heard from the FBI.”

But the Chronicle also had an exhaustive report in this weekend’s Sunday paper on documents related to the FBI investigation, noting the feds had issued subpoenas regarding another business venture of the Duong family. That venture was a “tiny homes” for the homeless project called Evolutionary Homes, and the Duongs’ business partner on that one was a very colorful character named Mario Juarez, who’s also been accused of funneling illegal campaign donations on behalf of the Duong family.  

The TLDR of that Sunday Chronicle piece is effectively that it found some things that might look shady, but that “None of the documents obtained by the Chronicle contain any evidence of wrongdoing.” Still, there are some intriguing and amusing tidbits in the mix.

Evolutionary Homes was angling to build these shipping container-type tiny homes at the now-decommissioned Oakland Army Base. That could have been a goldmine worth of local, state, and federal funding for Evolutionary Homes. A representative of the company (we don’t know who) wrote in a May 2023 email to Oakland city officials “Attached to this proposal is also a list of possible funding sources from Oakland’s emergency funds,”so there is a stated desire for money in what would have been a fat $90 million contract.

Thao apparently took two meetings with Evolutionary Homes in April and May that year. And the Chron found communications from Evolutionary Homes personnel telling city officials they “Would have to argue compliance” for the funding, and asking, “What portion could be acceptable for a homeless emergency?”

The whole Evolutionary Homes project fell apart, with Mario Juarez being accused of felony check fraud charges, and then he was apparently beaten up outside Cal Waste Solutions headquarters. It is fair to say he had a falling out of some sort with the Doung family.

Humorously, we have more evidence of this falling out as the Chronicle notes that Juarez’s personal website “began linking to” a mock Evolutionary Homes website called EvolutionaryHome.com. That unofficial site merely makes vague and unflattering allegations against Cal Waste Solutions CEO David Duong. Juarez has a knack for these “hit job” websites, as he started one against Alameda County DA Pamela Price.

Again, we do not know if Juarez, the Duongs, or Sheng Thao are targets of this FBI probe. But we do know that Mario Juarez is certainly the most entertaining figure in this scandal, whatever turns it may take.

Related: Sheng Thao Insists She Was Not a Target of FBI Raid in Fiery Chronicle Interview [SFist]

Image: OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 12: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks as Alameda County Councilmember David Haubert, and Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan look on at a press conference announcing the Oakland Roots will play their 2025 USL Championship home games at the Oakland Coliseum at the Oakland Coliseum on August 12, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Doug Zimmerman/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

A 25-year-old Honduran national who moved to Oakland and allegedly dealt some pretty large volumes of fentanyl fled back to Honduras when a federal grand jury indicted him last year, but he was arrested and extradited back this week to face trial.

In August of 2023, 25-year-old Honduran national Javier Marin-Gonzales was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of distributing more than 40 grams of fentanyl in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Marin-Gonzales, who lived in Oakland at the time, promptly fled back to Honduras, presumably to avoid the charges.  

But the Chronicle reports that Marin-Gonzales was arrested in Honduras and extradited back to the Bay Area. The Department of Justice worked with Honduran officials, the FBI, and the DEA to arrest him this week. Marin-Gonzales was flown back in custody on Wednesday, and was arraigned Thursday in federal court.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to hold accountable drug traffickers operating in the Tenderloin,” DEA special agent in charge Bob P. Beris said in a DOJ press release. “The extradition of Marin-Gonzales is another example of how strong global partnerships keep our communities safe.”

This marks the fifth time in 2024 that a Honduran suspect has been extradited back to Northern California to face drug distribution charges. According to the Department of Justice, this particular investigation has led to “charges against multiple East Bay-based defendants who allegedly traveled into the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco to engage in drug dealing.”

Earlier this month, we learned of two Honduran nationals convicted of dealing drugs in the Tenderloin who both fled to Honduras to avoid incarceration, and both men were located and extradited back.

If convicted, Marin-Gonzales could face 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. His next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday, October 30.

Related: Prolific Honduran Fentanyl Dealer Based In Oakland Being Kept Behind Bars Now After Multiple Arrests, Releases [SFist]

Image: Order of expulsion from the country for illegal entry. Illegal immigration problem (Getty Images)

New reporting on one possible suspect in the Sheng Thao FBI raid shows that state Attorney General Rob Bonta once steered $680,000 in state money to a failed energy startup run by that particular suspect who had an extremely checkered past.

We begin this post by reiterating for the umpteenth time that we still don’t know why the FBI raided Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home on June 20, now more than three months ago (and yes, it is very unusual to go more than three months between a raid, and any official reason given for the raid). We don’t even know for sure if the raid was related to a simultaneous FBI raid of the offices of Oakland’s recycling collector Cal Waste Services and its top executives, prolific political donors David Duong and son Andy Duong. But considering the raids happened at the exact same time, well yes, probably related.

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Above we see Andy Duong posing with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which is not surprising, because as Oaklandside has reported, the Duongs showered lavish political donations to both Republicans and Democrats nationwide. But it has long been accused that many of these donations were illegal “straw donor” donations funneled through other people to skirt campaign finance rules.

One of these alleged straw donors was Mario Juarez, described by the Chronicle as “an Oakland businessman with a history of financial troubles who twice ran for city council.” Juarez has become an increasingly suspect figure since the raids, what with felony charges for $53,000 in bounced checks, and allegedly bilking $4.5 million from investors, including the Duongs. Parenthetically, Juarez also says he’s been beaten up and had his home shot at by god knows who, and presumably he's created some enemies over the years.

Now Bonta, who is well-liked and possibly running for governor in 2026, was just linked to Juarez in a Chronicle investigation that uncovered how Bonta helped broker a giant state grant to one of Juarez’s failed companies in 2015 while Bonta was still in the state Assembly. The grant was supposed to be for $3.4 million, but $680,000 into it, the company went belly-up, and the West Oakland land where the company was supposed to operate still sits empty.

This particular Mario Juarez venture was a 2014-era company called Viridis Fuels, which claimed it could turn food-waste grease into biofuels. Viridis Fuels probably appeared legitimate, it was co-founded by former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris’s ex-wife Kathy Neal, and its board of directors would ultimately include former Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’s ex-chief of staff Dan Boggan. The land on which the company intended to operate was in Bonta’s district, as the company had leased six acres in West Oakland near the Bay Bridge.

Bonta’s spokesperson Nathan Click explained to the Chronicle that “His district benefitting from an alternative fuels project that could have addressed environmental concerns and created jobs was his interest in joining other local leaders in supporting the project.”

But a little due diligence into Juarez’s past might have set off some alarm bells. Juarez was in bankruptcy proceedings at the time, and already had two lawsuits from jilted investors regarding this very project. He owed creditors nearly a million bucks, and was at the time accused of merely pocketing investors’ money (This may have been a pattern with Juarez).

There could have been some self-dealing on this project too, as the land was also intended to serve as truck storage for more than 100 of the Duongs’ recycling trucks.

Moreover, the California Energy Commission had already rejected a grant to Viridis Fuels in 2014. Bonta wrote a letter to the agency, and Viridis got the grant the following year, when the commission’s pool of grant money was much higher.

Oh, and Viridis Fuels had no track record whatsoever of accomplishing a single thing. But both Juarez and Neal both had a history of making multiple-thousand dollar contributions to Rob Bonta’s political campaigns, so draw your own conclusions.

Juarez was tarred by a grand theft conviction in 2018, and Neal removed him from the increasingly beleaguered Viridis Fuels. His bankruptcy eligibility was tossed over repeated non-payments, Neal ended up paying whatever few investors got their money back from her own pocket. The vast majority of the state grant money was relinquished, though by that point, $680,000 had gone down the drain.

Once the raid scandal broke in June, Bonta says he gave the Duongs’ $155,000 in campaign donations to charities.

Chronicle reporters are retweeting this article today like it’s the biggest scandal yet from the Sheng Thao raid, and the piece is certainly chock full of good original reporting. But at first blush, this may not even be in the top ten most fucked-up things we’ve learned since the Sheng Thao raids. There’s an old saying in politics that if you can’t describe a scandal in one sentence, it’s probably too complicated for voters to understand. It just took me 24 sentences to explain this one.

But the key thing here is that we still don’t know who or what that FBI raid was all about. So if Juarez is indeed the target, or one of the targets, then yes there is some chance that the 2024 raid on Sheng Thao’s home becomes a political headache for Rob Bonta in the 2026 governor’s race.

Related: Alleged ‘Straw Donor’ in Sheng Thao Controversy Had His Home Shot At, and Was Allegedly Beaten Up [SFist

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 15: California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks during a news conference outside of an Amazon distribution facility on November 15, 2021 in San Francisco, California. Bonta announced that Amazon Inc. will have to pay a $500,000 fine after the company failed to adequately notify workers and officials about coronavirus cases at its facilities pursuant to California Assembly Bill 865. The bill also requires companies to share COVID-19 safety plans, benefits and protections with employees. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

New federal indictments lay out a slew of insurance fraud charges against the co-owner of the Bayview’s notorious Specialty Towing, among them a charge that he loaded a tow truck full of four clunkers, faked an accident, and tried to collect full insurance.

It’s been one hell of a year for the Bayview District towing company Specialty Towing. In February, SF City Attorney Davd Chiu banned Specialty Towing getting city contracts for illegally towing cars and forcing the owners to pay cash under the table to get them back.  Mission Local also reported co-owner Jose Badillo bought a $300,000 Lamborghini while collecting welfare.

But the company probably got most of its notoriety for the April viral video seen below, where the company tried to tow a moving vehicle that had passengers in it.

The company’s biggest legal problem to date is surely how they were raided by the FBI earlier this month, with Badilla being arrested for allegedly faking a car accident with an already-undriveable car, and fraudulently collecting $34,000 in insurance money for it. That would have seemed to answer the question of why Specialty Towing was raided.

But lordy, a new set of federal indictments released Wednesday shows there is much more to this story. Badillo and three other alleged co-conspirators are accused of faking yet more car accidents to collect insurance money. The alleged schemes involved two other SF towing companies that Badillo owns: Jose’s Towing, and Auto Towing.

The most brazen (and hilarious!) of these alleged schemes was Badillo and co-defendants Kirill Afanasyev and Jason Naraja, from SF and Hayward respectively, loading a tow truck with four cars that were “inoperable or had pre-existing damage” according to the feds. Badillo then allegedly staged a completely fake accident with the loaded truck in San Mateo, and tried to collect the full value of all four of the vehicles in an insurance claim. The other co-defendants are accused of knowingly making false statements to support the scheme.

They only got $5,210 from the insurance company. But in the eyes of the law, insurance fraud is still insurance fraud, regardless of the degree to which it was successful.  

In another more successful scheme, Badillo, Afanasyev, and Jaime Respicio of Pleasant Hill allegedly staged another fake accident with an inoperable vehicle in 2019. That accident netted them $47,856 from the insurance company.

All four defendants have been arrested and released on bail of $50,000. Naraja was scheduled to appear in federal court this morning at 10:30 am. Badillo is scheduled to appear Friday morning, Respicio on September 5, and Afanasyev on September 9.

Related: FBI Raids Notorious Bayview Towing Company, the One That Tried to Tow a Moving Car [SFist]

Image: CherryRyu via Reddit