Two of the East Bay’s strangest political stories just collided head-on, as a very colorful character from the FBI probe that led to the Sheng Thao raid now says that Alameda County DA Pamela Price tried to shake him down for $25,000. But oh, this fellow has credibility issues.
You are likely aware that Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is facing a recall election this November, and as such, it is highly inconvenient that her home was raided by the FBI in June. And you might also know that Alameda County DA Pamela Price is also facing a recall November 5.
These two East Bay political plotlines may seem wholly unrelated. But now one of the stranger minor figures from the Sheng Thao raid fallout has entered the chat of the Pamela Price recall. Alleged Sheng Thao “straw donor” Mario Juarez has now accused DA Pamela Price of trying to solicit a $25,000 bribe from him, as the Bay Area News Group was first to report Friday.
Juarez is described by the Chronicle as “an Oakland businessman with a history of financial troubles who twice ran for city council,” and described by the Bay Area News Group as an “FBI corruption probe subject.” And he has… some baggage.
Juarez is under investigation by Price’s office for allegedly bilking investors out of $4 million, also under investigation for bouncing $50,000 worth of checks, and he says he’s been beaten up and had his home shot at, presumably by parties not happy with their past business interactions with him.
Juarez is also no fan of Pamela Price, having created the pro-recall website BadPam.com, which chides her for being “4 TIMES A LOSER!” in previous elections. This is funny, because Juarez himself has twice run for office and lost.
But the bribery allegations are less funny. In a recent legal filing, Juarez’s attorney claims that Price approached Juarez after a funeral service for Oakland police officer Tuan Le, and said that she would make the felony charges for the bounced checks go away if he made a $25,000 donation to her campaign to fight the recall.
“She explained that as the District Attorney for Alameda County she could help Mr. Juarez, but that to get her help he would ‘need to show love and support her,’” the filing says, according to the Chronicle. “Specifically, she wanted $25,000 in cash from him to support her campaign against the ongoing recall effort against her.”
It may beggar logic that a DA would ask someone for a $25,000 check while simultaneously prosecuting that very person for $50,000 in bounced checks. But the Chronicle has obtained the notebooks of the case’s prosecutor Angelina Clay. Juarez’s attorney claims that Clay was going to dismiss the case for lack of evidence, and Price’s office blocked her from doing so and yanked Clay off the case.
As far as that notebook, the Chron confirms that Clay did indeed say “Overall it appears to me that what we can prove is that Mr. Juarez is a sloppy business man, which is not a crime.” The notes reportedly also said, “Proving ALL of the elements of a (writing a bad check offense) appears to be impossible given the facts of this case.”
While those words are confirmed, the Chronicle could not confirm that Clay had in fact been pulled from the case, nor that Price's office blocked any dismissal of the case.
And we will again point out the biggest unconfirmed question in the entire Sheng Thao raid affair, which is whether Mayor Thao, or even Mario Juarez for that matter, are even suspects or suspected of any wrongdoing by the FBI.
Images: (Left) VABA via Youtube, (Right) Pamela Y Price via Facebook
