A well-known Oakland attorney has been arrested on charges that he tried to sneak contraband to a prisoner in Solano County Jail, and further reporting on the matter says that the contraband he tried to sneak was a stack of pornographic magazines.
We would say that “in happier times,” currently scandal-plagued Oakland attorney Christopher Dobbins was a member of the Oakland school board, but those may not have been happier times. Dobbins was accused of an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year old girl while on the board in 2007, and was stripped of his committee assignments. He still managed to go on and serve on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority, and was dinged there for excessive use of complimentary tickets. Dobbins also had his state bar license suspended for six months in 2023 after he reportedly admitted to misleading a judge.
Trouble seems to have found Dobbins again, as today the Chronicle reports he was arrested for smuggling contraband into Solano County Jail. The Chron’s report says the contraband was “not publicly identified,” and a separate report from Sacramento’s KCRA says that “Officials did not specify what the contraband was.”
But an afternoon update from KTVU reports that Dobbins tried to "sneak pornographic magazines to an inmate at Solano County Jail in Fairfield." That outlet adds that “A source close to the investigation told KTVU the inmate's wife gave the pornographic magazines to Dobbins in hopes they would end up with her husband.”
For their part, he Solano County Sheriff’s Office is staying tight-lipped for now over what happened.
“The Solano County Sheriff’s Office remains steadfast in our commitment to maintaining the safety and security of our facilities,” Sheriff Thomas Ferrara said in a Monday statement. “This operation underscores our zero-tolerance policy for any attempts to undermine the integrity of our justice system.”
While this is just coming to light now, Dobbins was apparently arrested and booked into jail on these allegations back on June 20. Though the Chronicle reports that as of Monday, he has still not been charged anything. The Solano County Sheriff's Office says the investigation is still active, and more information will be forthcoming
Related: SF Deputy Public Defender And Private Attorney Questioned In Contraband Drug Smuggling Case [SFist]
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