Some more highjinks from the SF Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Paul Miyamoto’s brother-in-law has incident reports alleging he grew marijuana plants in a locker at SF County Jail 3, and openly smoked weed while working as a plumber there.
There’s been quite a slew of scandals coming out of San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto’s office over the last three months. In late June, we learned that SF Sheriff’’s Office Chief of Staff Richard Jue had a hit-and-run accident in a city-owned vehicle and submitted a false report over the incident. (Jue was placed on administrative leave.)
Then in August, Miyamoto bizarrely endorsed far-right MAGA firebrand Chad Bianco in the upcoming governor’s race, apparently just because the two are friends. And this week, it came out that Miyamoto intervened to get a sheriff’s deputy rehired after that deputy lied to the FBI in the infamous “Shrimp Boy” case, as Yamamoto and that deputy are seemingly close friends.
Now Miyamoto’s latest scandal may be the most embarrassing, if not the most damaging. The Chronicle broke a bombshell late Thursday afternoon that Miyamoto’s brother-in-law was removed from the department for allegedly growing marijuana plants at SF County Jail, and smoking weed on-site while on duty.
The brother-in-law in question is 59-year-old Joel Perez De Leon, who worked as a plumber at SF County Jail No 3 (he was not an inmate). Sheriff Miyamoto was not involved with the investigation, but did ultimately fire De Leon “once presented with the information,” according to a department spokesperson.
“Because of the familial relationship of this former employee to the sheriff, Sheriff Miyamoto was not involved in the investigation nor determination of violation, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tara Moriarty told the Chronicle. “But once presented with the information, he immediately took action to terminate the employee, his brother-in-law.”
This all happened while Miyamoto was sheriff, though De Leon was hired by the department way back in 1999, well before Miyamoto was elected sheriff and took office in January 2020.
The alleged incident reportedly happened on Memorial Day weekend 2022 at San Bruno’s County Jail No 3, as the department has one jail outside SF County. According to an incident report the Chronicle obtained, De Leon was seen smoking cannabis from a pipe in a jail maintenance area.
An unnamed department employee wrote in his incident report that “I told him not to be smoking marijuana at work and received the reply, ‘I’m a bad boy.’” That same report says De Leon remained in the maintenance room for three hours, and the person submitting the report said De Leon was blazing up every time he walked in.
The Chronicle additionally notes that “The colleague also reported watching De Leon drive off the jail grounds in a city vehicle to buy lunch.”
Then-SF Sheriff’s Captain John Ramirez wrote in his own report that “he heard rumors that De Leon may be growing marijuana plants in a locker in the maintenance area inside of County Jail No 3.” Ramirez added that facilities manager John Gudino “elaborated that there were reports of grow lights and starter plants being transplanted in other areas of the facility.” Ramirez added there were “rumors that De Leon may be cultivating marijuana in a locker on jail grounds.”
(As an aside, Mission Local had their own report last Thursday that John Ramirez has just been promoted to Chief of Staff in Jue’s absence, despite a use-of-force controversy from a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, and that Jue “is facing criminal charges.”)
But as far as the marijuana thing goes, that is illegal on county property. This happened in San Mateo County, so as such, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe charged De Leon with two misdemeanor burglary counts for allegedly going onto jail grounds “with the intent to commit larceny or any felony.”
De Leon ended up pleading no contest in November 2022 to charges of planting, harvesting or processing a small number of live marijuana plants, according to court records obtained by the Chronicle. The misdemeanor burglary charges were dropped in the plea deal.
De Leon himself told the Chronicle, “It was a misunderstanding.” And De Leon did not admit to any wrongdoing in that plea bargain deal.
His attorney Ace Lipton was a little more forthcoming. “I don’t think these were giant marijuana plants or anything,” Lipton told the Chron. “I think these were tiny little marijuana plants that he was accused of growing in his locker.”
The big question here is what Mayor Daniel Lurie will think of these mounting, but albeit minor, sheriff’s office scandals, and whether Miyamoto could potentially take a job in another jurisdiction with a gentle nudge from the mayor’s office, like former SFPD Chief Bill Scott did. But in this case, Paul Miyamoto was elected in an 80% landslide, so he’s not an appointed figure, and his term is scheduled to last until January 2029.
Image: SFGovTV
