Sources say the participants in the text thread, which included councilmembers and community leaders, made the remarks while discussing city meetings and public business. Mayor Matt Mahan, Councilmember Bien Doan and the local NAACP are calling for the texts to be released and demanding transparency.

The text thread was discovered when authorities seized ex-Councilmember Omar Torres‘ phone during an investigation related to child sex crimes. The conversation included Torres and his once-allies, Councilmembers Domingo Candelas and Peter Ortiz. The group thread also allegedly included Candelas’ chief of staff Teddy Adera, Working Partnerships USA Transportation Policy Director Huascar Castro and Brenda Zendejas, community relations manager for the San Jose Downtown Association and Ortiz’s partner.

Additionally, sources said two other councilmembers engaged in a scheme to conceal their emails about Torres — hiding whether they knew about his potential criminal behavior before his arrest.

The law enforcement sources spoke to San José Spotlight on condition of anonymity. Their identities and involvement in the case have been confirmed by this news organization.

The group text thread was named “Tammany Hall,” after a powerful political machine that dominated New York state politics in the 1800s, according to the sources. The messages allegedly included the n-word and referred to Mexicans as “scraps,” the latter of which is a slang term used to refer to Southern California gang members. The participants of the text thread allegedly made demeaning comments about certain neighborhoods and schools in low-income areas.

Sources called the messages a “double standard,” and said if law enforcement officials used such language, they’d be terminated.

“Omar Torres disparaged San Jose neighborhoods and his high school. Things they wouldn’t say to the neighborhoods. Things that we’d get fired for,” one source told San José Spotlight.

The disgraced councilman pleaded no contest to three counts of felony child molestation last month and faces a maximum 24 years behind bars. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

This news organization has made four separate attempts to obtain the text messages from City Hall and the San Jose Police Department. Officials either said the city has no responsive records or that they’d be considered records of investigation exempt from public disclosure. The city manager’s office has been in possession of the text messages for months, sources said.

‘Serious allegations’

Mahan said the sources’ claims about the group texts are alarming.

“These are serious allegations and, to the extent that this language was used in the course of city business or to describe constituents, the people of San Jose have a right to know what their elected representatives are saying,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “I’m especially concerned by the claim that some in City Hall subsequently tried to shield these messages from public view by claiming they are essential to an ongoing investigation. If the texts fall under the city’s usual standards for public disclosure, they should be made public to maintain trust with our community.”

City Attorney Nora Frimann maintained the city can’t disclose records subject to an ongoing investigation.

“It is our understanding that you are asking about information that is the subject of an ongoing police investigation and a judicially issued warrant. Any warrant for electronic communications limits use of information seized to the purpose of the warrant,” Frimann told San José Spotlight.

Ortiz denied using racial slurs or making denigrating remarks about Mexican nationals or the East San Jose community he represents.

“We had group threads, but there was never anything talking bad about African Americans,” Ortiz told San José Spotlight. “I for sure didn’t. I don’t know anybody else who did.”

Sources have said people on the thread used the word “n-gga.” When asked if anyone on the text thread used the n-word in any of its variations, Ortiz said no one used the word with a hard r.

“I don’t think anybody was like, ‘What’s up, n-word?’ or something like that,” Ortiz said.

None of the other alleged members of the group thread responded to requests for comment.

NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley President Sean Allen said he’s aware of the texts and is calling for a constructive public dialogue about them.

“We, at the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, are deeply troubled by this conduct and demand accountability from those in positions of power,” Allen told San José Spotlight. “It is essential that there be a public acknowledgment of the harm caused, and we call for a formal apology to be issued to the affected communities.”

Councilmember Bien Doan joined those calls.

“San Jose has committed to operate in an open and transparent manner. Existing policies should be followed to ensure that all records of communication relating to city business are made available to the public if they are requested. If these records do exist, they should be subjected to PRA and FOIA laws,” he told San José Spotlight.

Shielding public emails

In addition to discovering the texts as part of the investigation into Torres, law enforcement sources said city officials sent investigators their unsolicited emails about Torres, which resulted in them being shielded from the public.

Sources said Vice Mayor Pam Foley and Councilmembers David Cohen and Rosemary Kamei sent their emails about Torres for inclusion in an investigative file. The move blocked the emails from public disclosure.

“It was a series of calls. Several councilmembers decided to dump their emails on us,” a source said. “They all became nervous after the arrest. That’s when the dominoes started to fall. They wanted to avoid disclosure.”

Foley, Cohen and Kamei did not respond to requests for comment.

As first reported by San José Spotlight in October, a Chicago man involved in a sexual relationship with Torres messaged at least two San Jose councilmembers in April 2023 to warn them about Torres’ lewd conduct with minors — more than a year before his arrest.

Neither of the two councilmembers took any action.
The man sent a message to Kamei asking to discuss Torres, but the warning fell on deaf ears. Kamei subsequently demanded the city change email addresses for her chief of staff and two others despite still being employed by the city. Some emails in their original addresses included conversations about Torres and the tipster.

In a previous interview with San José Spotlight, Kamei acknowledged turning over her emails and other communications to law enforcement after his arrest.

Jim McManis, a prominent downtown attorney, is representing this news organization in a fight to get the records released — a move that could shed light on who knew about Torres’ criminal behavior and failed to report it.

Contact Ramona Giwargis at ramona@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @RamonaGiwargis on X. Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The post Sources: San Jose officials used racial slurs in group chat appeared first on San José Spotlight.

Since 2017, Urban Confluence executive director Steve Borkenhagen has touted a plan to create a landmark in the city’s downtown core to draw visitors and tourists. The nonprofit’s leaders likened the monument to San Jose’s equivalent of the Golden Gate Bridge or Eiffel Tower.

The group hasn’t provided any updates on the project in three years, despite raising millions from private and public donors. A high-profile fundraiser in 2022 raised $170,000 in one night from Silicon Valley’s wealthiest families.

The idea was to build a 200-foot installation called “Breeze of Innovation” featuring hundreds of swaying rods powered by wind to light up at night — a homage to the San Jose Electric Light Tower. The plan, which faced opposition for its location at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, won unanimous support from the San Jose City Council in 2021 and endorsements from Mayor Matt Mahan and Vice Mayor Pam Foley.

The project came with a staggering price tag estimated to be between $100 million and $200 million.

While Urban Confluence fell short of that fundraising goal, the group reported raising more than $3.3 million since 2017. But financial records reviewed by San José Spotlight show the nonprofit is down to about $35,756 in cash.

“The trends imply to me that they are giving up on the dream,” San Jose-based financial expert Pat Waite told San José Spotlight. “There is precious little to show for the money spent.”

Funding came from public and private donors including Adobe, The Hugh Stuart Center Charitable Trust, Kieve Foundation, John M. Sobrato and $100,000 from recently-appointed District 3 Councilmember Carl Salas. Santa Clara County also provided $100,000 to the project in 2019.

Of the more than $3.3 million raised, Urban Confluence spent about $889,000 on advertising and promotions. Executive Director Steve Borkenhagen paid himself $140,000 in compensation last year, and has collected more than half a million dollars since 2017.

Additional money was spent on design and architecture development, office expenses, information technology and more.

Borkenhagen declined to discuss the project’s status or explain what’s next.

“We have nothing to report currently,” Borkenhagen told San José Spotlight. “But we’ll have some very exciting news to share with you soon.”

Urban Confluence board members Richard Ajluni and Chappie Jones declined to comment. Others board members did not reply to requests for comment.

A group of philanthropists including Borkenhagen launched Urban Confluence in 2019 to develop the Breeze of Innovation. Inspired by a 19th century downtown San Jose light tower that toppled more than a century ago, the proposed landmark is meant to be a source of civic pride.

The nonprofit continues using Mahan as the face of its website and fundraising campaign to solicit donations.

“The mayor is supportive of bringing more public art downtown and recognizes that this is a long-term project,” Mahan’s spokesperson Tasha Dean told San José Spotlight.

Urban Confluence recently began posting on social media after going silent for more than a year, though it did not mention the project. A video posted in February shows The Tech Interactive CEO Karina Stevens discussing an unrelated project with Urban Confluence.

Stevens said she was misquoted in one of the now-deleted posts, and she hasn’t heard much about the status of Urban Confluence projects set for Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

Larry Ames, a longtime community and environmental leader, was skeptical about Breeze of Innovation’s proposed use of open space and its price tag when first announced. Ames said the lack of new information only heightens his reservations. He also voiced concern about Urban Confluence announcing it might develop a conservancy to manage the art installation.

“I am concerned about what the implications of that conservancy would be — but we’ve not had any updates on that,” Ames told San José Spotlight.

Mark Hinkle, president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, said gaining trust from donors in the nonprofit sector is difficult and a level of accountability should be expected when raising such large sums of money.

“One of the secrets of fundraising is to ask, and then when they give — you thank them profusely,” Hinkle told San José Spotlight. “Ghosting them for a project like this doesn’t sound like an effective way to fulfill the project, or frankly, to build trust.”

Contact Vicente Vera at vicente@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @VicenteJVera on X.

The post ‘Little to show’: San Jose landmark raises $3M before going silent appeared first on San José Spotlight.

The emails indicate Fire Chief Robert Sapien and city leaders knew about a firefighter drug theft crisis more than a year before disclosing it to the public last month, following the April 16 arrest of Fire Capt. Mark Moalem on suspicion of stealing opioids. City officials announced Moalem’s arrest — and their belief that as many as 17 stations were impacted — without disclosing the patient exposure incidents in the 2023 emails.

The communications between fire captains, deputy chiefs and drug inventory supervisors span the months of November and December 2023. San José Spotlight obtained the emails last week and chose to redact names and certain email time stamps to protect sources.

Sapien acknowledged the tampering incidents described in the emails, which show firefighters noticed problems with the containers of narcotics they needed to administer to patients.

“The DEA and SJPD were notified, but the investigation did not yield evidence of a suspect. Although a suspect could not be identified, action was taken to address this issue,” Sapien told San José Spotlight.

Mayor Matt Mahan didn’t directly address the emails when asked about them, but vowed “accountability” for Moalem’s alleged actions.

“Our first responders swear to serve and protect, and we have someone who allegedly did the opposite. This is unacceptable and there will be accountability,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “In parallel, we need to make sure this never happens again, which is why I strongly support new investments to better restrict access to and monitor use of controlled substances within the fire department.”

Patient exposure 

The 2023 emails show Moalem was part of these internal discussions about missing medications and patient exposure — and even raised leadership’s attention to the first reported incident.

That incident occurred on Nov. 28, 2023. An email from a Med 30 captain to a deputy chief reported an issue with a morphine sulfate vial — logged as “MS #1839” — during an incident involving a patient with a traumatic hip injury. The firefighter paramedic noticed he was only able to draw up half of the medication in what should have been a full vial of 10 milligrams. He still gave the patient the vial’s remaining fluid.

The vial had a loose top, according to the email, along with an unusual crease mark. The paramedic later said the membrane of the vial “had a different feel when punctured.” But there were no other signs of tampering, and everyone agreed the vial was simply defective.

Then the issue happened again the next month — same drug, different patient.

“I received a phone call from [a firefighter] at Engine 7 today, 12/20/23. He had a call where he had to administer Morphine. When drawing it up he noticed there was only 5 mg in the vial (MS-1682) instead of the full 10 mg,” reads a Dec. 20, 2023 email from another Med 30 captain to a deputy fire chief. “I was made aware that E7 had a similar episode on 11/28/23 in which [another Med 30 captain] investigated and they determined two vials were also defective (MS-1839 and MS-1842).”

The Med 30 captain reported inspecting a narcotics box and finding another vial “also below full when compared to the others in the box.”

Multiple emails in December 2023 reported drug vials missing entirely.

“The EMS Division has been made aware of several instances of Department Paramedics entering the wrong control number for administration of controlled substances,” reads a Dec. 7 email from a deputy chief to personnel. “EMS Field Coordinators are also reporting an increase in occurrences where daily inventory and equipment checks through Operative IQ are not being performed and missing/incorrect vials are being entered into the system.”

Sapien said he took immediate action.

“Additional security measures were put in place to secure the controlled substance supply in fire stations and on apparatuses,”  he told San José Spotlight.

Fiery decision

A few months before receiving those 2023 email warnings, Sapien got approval from the San Jose City Council to cut the department’s drug oversight program known as Med 30, which helped report these discrepancies. But the cut didn’t take effect until July 2024, at which time the program’s duties were reassigned across a wider range of personnel. 

Sapien has since come under fire from the union representing his rank-and-file firefighters.

Jerry May, president of San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, didn’t respond to requests for comment about the emails. But he has publicly criticized Sapien’s decision to cut Med 30 as “jeopardizing public safety” and said the drug thefts tie back to this decision. He repeatedly called on city leaders to reverse course at budget presentations before the crisis became public.
Sapien denies the notion and accused the union of using it for negotiation leverage.

“I would like to be very clear: eliminating Med 30 did not result in decreased oversight. In fact, controlled substance inventory is now managed by the Emergency Medical Services Continuous Quality Improvement Fire Captain, which is the same fire captain that was formerly assigned to Med 30 and whose expertise provides consistency and continuity in this area,” Sapien told San José Spotlight. “There was a potential tampering issue in 2023 that was raised by a paramedic. It is important to note that this event occurred despite Med 30 existing at the time and was not discovered by Med 30, but rather by a paramedic on the fire engine.”

He added the former Med 30 captains had oversight of the department’s overall inventories, but didn’t control the drugs once assigned to each fire station.

District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan, a 27-year firefighter, said the eliminated program “saved lives.”

“I’ve been a strong advocate for its permanent funding because it plays a vital role in protecting public safety, increasing accountability and ensuring our fire department delivers the highest standard of service to our residents,” Doan told San José Spotlight.

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

The post San Jose fire hid drug tampering, patient exposure appeared first on San José Spotlight.

The report — submitted by History San Jose to multiple City Hall officials in February — was kept hush for months until San José Spotlight obtained it through a Public Records Act request. History San Jose is the nonprofit organization stewarding the historic homes, landmarks and artifacts of History Park, which hosted the festival in February and sits within the 14-acre Kelley Park.

The 36-page document raises questions about the festival’s future on the property. It alleges festival organizers repeatedly shrugged off major safety and traffic concerns, berated History San Jose employees for raising them and “severely” damaged the sensitive park grounds with unauthorized firecrackers despite multiple requests to stop.

When confronted by History San Jose employees, festival organizers — including a prominent Catholic clergyman — claimed Mayor Matt Mahan told them it was okay to set off firecrackers, according to the report.

Mahan’s spokesperson Tasha Dean denied this happened.

“Neither the mayor nor anyone else in our office sanctioned an unpermitted fireworks or firecrackers display,” Dean told San José Spotlight. “San Jose is one of the most diverse cities in the nation and that diversity deserves to be celebrated at our shared public spaces — safely. Regardless of whether the festival relocates, we should expect all events to abide by the rules in place to protect the community.”

Bill Schroh, president and CEO of History San Jose, declined to discuss the report.

For the past two years, the annual festival has been organized under the Vietnamese Catholic community of the Diocese of San Jose, as well as the nonprofit Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center. The festival celebrates the Lunar New Year known as “Tet” in Vietnamese and is recognized as a must stop for high-profile Silicon Valley politicians, including Mahan, District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan and Congressmembers Sam Liccardo and Zoe Lofgren.

“Worried for personal safety, (History San Jose) staff stopped trying to stop firecrackers when guests became more emboldened from the night, alcohol,” the report states.

Nhut Ho, a festival organizer and retired deacon with the Diocese of San Jose, where he still assists with Mass every week, allegedly claimed to have Mahan’s approval for the firecrackers. The report also said Ho “verbally berated” a History San Jose employee who shut off unsupervised inflatables for safety reasons. The yelling was so bad the employee didn’t come to work the next day, according to the report.

“(Deacon Ho) became irate, threatening, and called her a racist,” the report said. “Following a series of abuses by organizing staff, HSJ Leadership sent (the staff member) home for her own protection.”

Ho declined to comment.

Political battleground

The report lists more incidents that allegedly put History San Jose employees through the wringer, including being screamed at by vendors and almost getting run over by trucks.

One of the festival’s main organizers, Viet Museum Director Hong Cao, said the report surprised him.

“We understand that History San Jose may be feeling hesitant about continuing to host the Tet festival. That’s disappointing to hear, especially after how successful and peaceful the last two years have been,” Cao told San José Spotlight. “We’ve always followed the rules, respected the venue and cleaned up thoroughly after every event. But if there’s a loss of trust or openness, then we may have to explore other venues that truly welcome and support the spirit of the Tet Festival.”

Cao said History San Jose and the Catholic festival organizers came to an understanding after city officials received the report.

“The issue had been resolved,” Cao said.

He also defended Deacon Ho, calling him a respected leader in the Vietnamese community.

“He’s devoted decades to humanitarian and religious service. I’ve worked closely with him, and I can confidently say he treats everyone with professionalism and kindness,” Cao said. “If there were any misunderstandings, I’m sure they weren’t intended as disrespectful.”

It’s another instance of History Park being caught in a political crossfire.

The park is home to the Viet Museum, a crown jewel for San Jose’s Little Saigon community, with the largest Vietnamese population for a city outside Vietnam. But the 147-year-old farmhouse — which stores hundreds of artifacts, photographs and art of Vietnam War refugees — has hung in limbo over a dispute between its founder, Loc Vu, and the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center which manages it. The dispute has been marked by charges of nepotism and suspicious bank-withdrawals.

“While we can’t confirm this report was influenced by that dispute, it’s possible certain individuals may be using moments like this to discredit current board members or organizers,” Cao said. “That context really matters.”
The History Park festival has only been organized at this scale for the past two years, Cao said, claiming it’s now one of the largest Vietnamese cultural events in the region, drawing thousands of attendees.

“Tet festivals have been a tradition here for over 20 years, but these past two years at History Park have taken it to a new level,” Cao said.

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The post Report: San Jose festival was behind-the-scenes nightmare appeared first on San José Spotlight.

San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, the city’s firefighter union, warned against the oversight cuts as recently as a March San Jose City Council meeting, roughly a month before the city announced the April 16 arrest of a fire captain for stealing the fire department’s drugs. Officials said controlled substances across 17 fire stations were possibly stolen and tainted.

It ties back to a council vote in 2023, which approved Fire Chief Robert Sapien’s request to slash the emergency medical services field coordinator position, or “Med 30,” from his budget. City documents show the role’s numerous responsibilities included taking inventory of the fire stations’ controlled substances and investigating any discrepancies. Sapien at the time called it a “very difficult” but “least impactful” tradeoff in order to add an extra firefighter unit. At a budget study session last May, he argued the department would find a better approach by distributing the duties across other areas of his team. The job cut took effect last July.

The firefighter union has come out slamming department leaders after the captain’s arrest.

“Local 230 believes the department’s decision to eliminate the Med 30 program — despite formal objections from Local 230 — was a critical error that directly contributed to this breakdown in oversight,” union President Jerry May told San Jose Spotlight.

He said the Med 30 position existed as a safeguard — and its removal eliminated an essential layer of accountability.

“As a result, public safety has been jeopardized and the integrity of the fire department has been severely compromised under Chief Sapien’s leadership,” May said. “We believe the facts suggest a clear lack of leadership and accountability from the chief and key members of his administrative staff.”

Sapien denied the Med 30 cuts fueled the problem and said he’s taking measures to strengthen drug tracking.

“For example, we are looking to recommend for city council consideration the purchase of new biometric technology to improve the security of the storage of controlled substances,” Sapien told San José Spotlight. “While we do not believe that oversights have occurred in the reallocation of the Med 30 position’s duties, our focus remains squarely on implementing improvements that support our personnel and uphold the trust of the communities we serve.”

City Manager Jen Maguire’s office said the drug inventory role was reassigned to another fire captain in charge of quality control for emergency medical services.

“The process and method of accountability for the controlled substance inventory control have not changed amid the reallocation of Med 30 duties,” city spokesperson Demetria Machado told San José Spotlight, adding the reassigned captain “was the person who notified the fire department of the compromised medications on April 14, 2025.”

Machado added the reassigned captain was trained previously as a Med 30.

That captain already has a list of separate duties, May said, including auditing emergency calls for service.

“We can’t eliminate an entire position that’s been in the fire department for 20-plus years and put that work on everyone else and have the same result,” May said.

May called on the city to provide “a full accounting of how this preventable failure unfolded.”
District 7 Councilmember Bien Doan, a 27-year firefighter, echoed the same concern last year and publicly addressed the chief.

“I know that Med 30 has functioned as a safety officer providing oversight on all of our paramedics inside the fire department to comply with the county protocols and expired drugs and so on,” Doan told Sapien at a May 2024 budget study session. “I would hope you rethink and perhaps find ways to keep our Med 30 alive.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

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Santa Clara County is leading Bay Area counties in late-night jail releases due to an outdated paper-based processing system, according to a March report from the Sheriff’s Office. This poses myriad problems because the releases happen when the county’s Reentry Resource Center is closed and people with severe mental health and drug issues have no transportation, housing or basic necessities when they walk out the door.

“Court paperwork often arrives late in the day and must be manually reviewed before any release,” Brooks Jarosz, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told San José Spotlight.

He said the system will change as early as September, when the sheriff expects to transition to a digital jail management system and reduce late-night releases.

About 35% of the county’s jail releases happen between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the report. Alameda and San Mateo counties’ late-night jail releases are at 10% and Contra Costa at 17%. The report didn’t include data from San Francisco.

The same report shows Santa Clara and Alameda counties have the lowest rates of releasing inmates in the daytime when critical resources are available at 44%, compared to San Mateo and Contra Costa counties at 49%.

It shows the delicate balance between releasing incarcerated people safely and as soon as possible — and the county’s public defenders are conflicted.

“Late night releases are fraught. However, the solution cannot be holding people in jail longer,” Acting Public Defender Damon Silver told San José Spotlight.

But a delayed release sometimes makes sense, if you ask one Santa Clara County public defender team which focuses on clients with drug and behavioral health issues, known as the Pre-Arraignment Representation and Review unit. The team launched in 2019 and has gotten clients released at their first court appearance and into treatment, rather than sitting in custody for weeks before their trials.

But the program hearings are on Fridays, which conflict with the release of clients because reentry services are closed. It puts the public defenders in a quandary, asking clients to stay in jail over the weekend until transportation and reentry services are available the following Monday.

“People don’t want to wait until Monday morning,” Nedda Alaee, the Pre-Arraignment Representation and Review unit’s supervising attorney, told San José Spotlight. “If we have a really honest conversation with them about the reality of late-night release, a majority of them are willing to balance their situation. But there’s definitely a population of clients who will say, ‘No, I’ll call my mom. I know my girlfriend will come get me.’ We don’t know if that actually pans out.”

Other counties can gather and process release orders faster than Santa Clara County’s paper-based system, and incarcerated people usually wait in a holding area. The sheriff’s report said it’s not a good option in Santa Clara County where holding areas aren’t designed for long-term waits.

“In this case, individuals would be more comfortable and safer in their housing area where they have a bed and can recreate while awaiting release,” the report reads. “Santa Clara County has an aggressive jail reduction program that would lend itself to a larger number of releases as policies and procedures are designed to keep only those individuals in custody who are required to remain in custody.”

The report also blames late-night releases on the acceptance of bail from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. and the posting of pretrial services staff in the jail during evening and night hours.

The issue has prompted the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to explore adjusting the resource center’s hours and roll out reentry services at its most troubled facility, the Elmwood Correctional Center in Milpitas, which drove a 20-year high in in-custody deaths last year. Supervisors voted unanimously last month to explore the creation of a dedicated on-site resource center that could provide food, hygiene kits, phone access and connections to housing and behavioral health programs.

“When you are ordered released, you should be released,” Deputy Public Defender Avi Singh told San José Spotlight. “We should not have to trade off safe release for more jail time. No one should have to make that deal.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

The post Paperwork jams up Santa Clara County jail releases appeared first on San José Spotlight.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Charles Hinman said the failure has been remedied in a Wednesday statement. But he said a recently published report by federal auditors shows a pattern by previous administrators of “scoffing grant rules” and “rejecting calls for oversight” by the Board of Education.

His office is referring to his predecessor, former Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan, who was fired in October by a board majority. After backlash from educators and state lawmakers, the board majority and Hinman accused Dewan of misspending funds. Hinman, appointed shortly after Dewan’s firing, launched separate investigations into Dewan’s spending in November.

The report found the office of education charged the Head Start federal grant for wages and credit card expenses of a non-Head Start manager in the amount of $135,372.97 between January and June of last year.

Hinman and board members said Dewan’s firing has been vindicated, as the report confirms suspicions that funds weren’t being legally appropriated — and that previous administrators refused to comply with calls for public review and neglected to engage the community members being served by the grant per federal mandates.

“Since stepping into this role, myself and the rest of SCCOE leadership have taken these issues seriously and have been proactive in addressing concerns to ensure compliance with all federal regulations,” Hinman said in the statement. “We remain committed to completing our own investigations so we can fully understand how these things happened and ensure they never happen again. It is our duty to ensure that all possible resources are used in the best interest of our students.”

Dewan said when it was brought to her attention that the funds were unintentionally charged to wrong accounts, she ensured it was corrected immediately.

“I have dedicated the last 11 years of my life to serving the children and families of Santa Clara County,” Dewan told San José Spotlight. “My focus and attention have been on what is in the best interest of the students, families and staff. These attacks on me are unnecessary. I urge the Santa Clara County Board of Education to focus on the needs of the community and use the limited public resources for the children and families who need their support now more than ever before.”

One of Dewan’s few allies on the board, Tara Sreekrishnan, called the office of education’s announcement “yet another politically motivated attack” meant to deflect from the serious governance issues facing the board.

“When this accounting error was identified, it was immediately corrected — no funds were lost, no services were impacted and an independent audit recently gave SCCOE an A+ rating,” Sreekrishnan told San José Spotlight.

The Administration for Children and Families found Dewan’s office did not immediately comply with the federal review into its use of Head Start funds in 2024. Additionally, the report found Dewan “did not meet the standard” in implementing Head Start, including not having “a process for engaging the parents, including the policy council and parent committees” or providing appropriate training and technical assistance on Head Start to the policy council and board of education.

The office of education eventually confirmed the misallocation of funds and reversed the charges out of Head Start on June 11, but it only came after months of a “failed cover-up,” Board of Education President Maimona Afzal Berta said in the statement. Berta was part of the board majority that fired Dewan.

“The results from this federal review validate the rightful concerns and actions of the Board of Education despite the now proven intentional and illegitimate effort to undermine the Board’s oversight and governance authority, as publicly elected officials,” Berta said. “The public has a right to know exactly what occurred. These are precious public dollars meant to help the most vulnerable in our community and no administrator should ever be allowed to act in this manner ever again. As stewards of the public’s trust, we must ensure that we have the unfettered ability to fulfill our duty to oversee this program and put appropriate measures in place.”  
Yadira Orozco, chair of the Head Start Policy Council for the office of education, said the prior administration did not keep her panel in the loop or properly prioritize program participants based on community needs.

“It is unfortunate that Head Start has experienced challenges stemming from the actions of previous leadership,” Orozco said in the statement. “Our focus now is on addressing these issues and working collaboratively to strengthen and enhance the program for the children and families we serve.”

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

Story updated Feb. 19 at 1:11 p.m. Original story published Feb. 19 at 11:35 a.m.

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story incorrectly explained how Head Start funds were misallocated.

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An analysis by San José Spotlight revealed an office studded with six-figure salaried assistants, strategy managers and a “senior administrator for superintendent projects” reporting to former Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan. Her three “executive assistants” were each making an annual base salary ranging from $150,000 to $192,000. Two were hired in 2024 and one was hired in 2014.

Dewan was fired in October after a divided Santa Clara County Board of Education narrowly voted not to renew her contract. The board majority defended its decision after fierce backlash by accusing Dewan of inappropriate expenditure of public funds, approving suspect contracts and conducting unauthorized surveillance of employees and board members. In December, officials sent their investigative findings to authorities, including the district attorney and law enforcement.

Dewan’s few allies on the board say she was overburdened and overworked — and that her spending on support staff was justified.

Records obtained by this news organization found Dewan also hired “managers of strategy and implementation” for her office. One position’s annual base pay was listed at $71,000 and the other at $117,000. Dewan also had a “senior administrator for superintendent projects” with an annual base pay of $192,000.

In all, Dewan employed at least six people to serve her needs — and they collectively received almost $1 million annually in base pay at the time of her termination.

The spending in Dewan’s office — along with her firing last year — fueled a divide between two factions on the board. Dewan’s interim successor, picked by the board’s majority, says this type of activity is what the school board is trying to eliminate.

“I have been leading the County Office of Education to identify and eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending. Today, SCCOE is focused on ensuring public funds are directed where they can have the greatest impact for our students,” Interim Superintendent of Schools Charles Hinman told San José Spotlight.

The office of education oversees special education services, migrant education and Head Start and state preschool programs, as well as services for delinquent students at risk of expulsion. The office provides academic and fiscal oversight for the county’s 31 school districts and monitoring for the county’s 21 authorized charter schools.​

Hinman said the agency is “realigning and right-sizing” its organizational structure to ensure taxpayer dollars go to student programs and services. His office confirmed more employees will be let go to “streamline” the organization. Sources told San José Spotlight at least three executives — including department leaders — have already been dismissed.

Dewan didn’t respond to requests for comment. Her supporters said her assistants and admins filled critical leadership gaps for an overburdened agency.

“Interim Superintendent Hinman’s statement about ‘right-sizing’ the superintendent’s office not only glosses over the unprecedented challenges faced during the previous administration, but also unfairly targets staff who went above and beyond to support students and communities during a time of crisis,” Board of Education Trustee Tara Sreekrishnan, who opposed and protested Dewan’s firing, told San José Spotlight.

Sreekrishnan said some of the executives under Dewan helped other departments and “wore many hats.” She also pointed to a 2024 audit report giving the agency solid marks on its finances.

The school board’s majority faced pushback for supporting Dewan’s ousting from fellow educators and even state lawmakers. In response, those board members have raised concerns of improper spending and other malfeasance under Dewan’s tenure.

Hinman last month announced “deeply concerning” findings as a result of the investigation.

“A series of third-party investigations into financial, operational and data management issues under the previous SCCOE administration and superintendent of schools remain ongoing,” Hinman told San José Spotlight.
It all comes after an apparent power struggle between Dewan and a majority of the elected board of education. Dewan has argued the board majority had no authority to fire her and she was not technically employed by them. A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge denied her lawsuit.

Before her firing, Dewan requested an investigation — outside of her office’s complaint policies and procedures — into board members for allegedly violating policies and public meeting laws, retaliating against employees and harassing her.

The board hired Hinman, who has a 35-year career in public education and is from Southern California, in October to temporarily replace Dewan while working from Orange County. The board is searching for Dewan’s permanent replacement.

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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California Waste Solutions CEO David Duong and his son, Andy, who also works for the company, are accused of paying $95,000 in bribes to Thao and her partner, Andre Jones. They also promised to pay $75,000 for negative mailers targeting Thao’s opponents when she ran for election in 2022 and $300,000 for a “no-show job” to Jones, according to a federal indictment released Friday.

In exchange, the indictment said Thao promised Oakland would do business with the Duongs’ housing company, extend their recycling company’s waste-hauling contract and appoint senior city officials selected by David, Andy and an unnamed local business associate.

Duong didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Local business leaders say San Jose officials – who have a $40 million contract with California Waste Solutions for citywide recycling services through 2036 – should question whether impropriety happened closer to home.

“I think any reasonable person looking at this situation should have grave concerns for the city of San Jose continuing to do business with this company,” Bob Staedler, a land use and development consultant, told San José Spotlight. “It’s not a small matter. These types of charges aren’t generally one-offs. They tend to be a characterization of how they handle business everywhere.”

Staedler, a former San José Spotlight columnist and candidate for an interim appointment to the City Council’s vacant District 3 seat, said that San Jose should immediately take a microscope to its employees’ and leaders’ relationship with Duong’s company.

“It’s common sense that the city should have concerns. Contracts shouldn’t run that long in general,” he said. “We just need to look at these kinds of issues and make sure we have checks and balances in place.”

Hai Huynh, a well-connected personal rival of Duong and a prominent Vietnamese American bail bonds businessman, questions whether San Jose is up to the task.

“With all the ‘pay-to-play’ allegations going on in the city of Oakland, how can the citizens of San Jose be assured the same scheme is not happening in the city of San Jose?” Huynh told San José Spotlight.

Huynh helped garner community support for Duong’s company, winning its first contract with San Jose in 2007. The relationship between the two later soured, when Huynh sparred with Duong in a courtroom restraining order trial and defamation lawsuit over alleged communist ties last year.

Councilmember Bien Doan, whose District 7 spans San Jose’s Little Saigon, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Spokespersons for the City Manager’s office declined to comment on what effect, if any, the indictment could have on the company’s contract with San Jose.

Mayor Matt Mahan declined to comment on Duong’s indictment.

Rocky relationship 

The city’s relationship with the company has at times been rocky. The city was locked in a contentious dispute with Duong’s company in 2019, after city administrators decried high contamination rates and poor performance, recommending the contract be terminated. Duong’s company blamed the city for unreasonable fines and failure to educate residents about recycling. They accused the city of discrimination against a minority-owned company and filed a $34 million lawsuit in 2023.

Local Vietnamese American anticommunist activists have been calling for the city to cut ties with Duong’s company. The ire stems from Duong chairing another organization, the Vietnamese American Business Association, which once co-sponsored a 2023 trip to Vietnam — where Duong also operates a waste management facility — for Oakland city officials including Thao.

The organization’s close ties with the Vietnamese government has rehashed long-simmering fights in older Vietnamese American political circles about who is or isn’t a so-called communist sympathizer. Some critics, including Huynh, also directed their criticism at attendees of the organization’s infamous 2023 gala, which included Councilmember Doan. The councilmember, in turn, accused Huynh of threatening his safety in a restraining order trial that put Duong on the stand as a witness.

Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.

Editor’s Note: Cal Waste Solutions has donated to San José Spotlight.

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The county purchased the facility at 10 Kirk Ave. in November 2023 for $14.5 million and contracted nonprofit Abode Services to continue providing meals and supportive services to people living at the site. The Homeless Veterans Emergency Housing Facility, a nonprofit led by CEO Irvin Goodwin, previously provided case management, meals and housing to veterans at the site, which was in disrepair. The facility had mold, fire hazards and unsafe electrical systems, among other problems that have been going on for years.

Veterans say things have gone downhill since Abode became the service provider in October, and that the county hasn’t addressed the most pressing issues. One building has no hot water, and WiFi and cable service haven’t worked since the contract with the previous operator expired in November, making it hard for one veteran to order his prescriptions online. Veterans who dealt with bed bugs said there’s been no pest control, and the food provided is inedible.

“What bothers me is they made us a lot of promises at the beginning and very few of them (have) come through,” one veteran, who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, told San José Spotlight.

The 4.26-acre complex is made up of eight, single-story buildings with the capacity to house 150 veterans. There are approximately 15 veterans living there, down from about 40 in August.

Roughly seven veterans live in a building infested with mold, and some said they’ve developed health issues because of it.

Carl Koprek, who struggles with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, wheezes when he breathes. He said whenever he’s in his room his lungs tighten, his eyes burn and his head aches. Black mold is visible on the walls in his bathroom. When he approached Abode to move rooms, he said the site supervisor told him they’d have to evict him if he moved.

“I’m tired of being treated like that. It’s not right,” Koprek told San José Spotlight. “I was optimistic that things would be better. It’s worse off than before. Things were better with Irvin.”

San José Spotlight saw what appeared to be bed bug stains or shells on a mattress that had to be discarded. Veterans said they’ve told Abode staff about all the issues, but the nonprofit is unresponsive to their needs.

A representative with Abode declined to comment and deferred all questions to the county.

Deputy County Executive Director Consuelo Hernández said since acquiring the building more than a year ago, the county has done some major repairs, including fixing fire sprinklers, installing electric HVAC systems, repairing electrical systems and pumping standing water out of a community room basement. She said this year, the focus is on making interior fixes, including mold remediation and bathroom repairs.

“We received the complaint about the hot water, and then it was fixed. The team is also exploring the root cause of these issues since it does not appear to be an issue with the water heater itself,” Hernández told San José Spotlight. “Our internal county team and Abode both confirmed that there have been no calls for bed bugs. There is work happening right now with the buildings, including getting our bids for the mold remediation.”

Hernández had no response to why the veterans living in a building with mold haven’t been relocated into one of the buildings that’s been upgraded.

When Goodwin ran the property, two veterans who lived on the property made savory home cooked meals for them. They had a salad bar with 10 different dressings, and a dessert table filled with cake, pies, cookies and more. Now, veterans said the food is bland, the rice is undercooked and the vegetables are overcooked to a mush. Lunch is often a sandwich. Some veterans choose to buy their own lunch and dinner, even if it eats into their tight budgets. Others who don’t have access to transportation or extra cash choose not to eat. One said he’s lost weight as a result.

“Abode was paid half a million dollars for the last three months of (last) year. They’re not spending it on food,” the veteran told San José Spotlight. “I mean, we have residents that have to go out and buy milk … just to get milk for breakfast. It’s just like a lack of respect. They don’t care.”

The county initially set aside $668,174 for Abode to provide services from October to December while it waited for a contract with the Veterans Administration to be finalized, as the VA would typically fund services for veterans. That contract still hasn’t been finalized, so the county has extended its contract with Abode until March under the same budget.

Hernández told San José Spotlight last October that the contract with the VA has been awarded, but is pending inspections of the site. Hernandez could not comment on why the VA contract has still not been finalized.
District 3 Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee, who served 28 years in the U.S. Navy, told San José Spotlight he’s working on getting the immediate issues, like lack of WiFi and cable television, resolved. He said he’s looking into why veterans living in rooms with mold and experiencing hot water issues haven’t been moved into the renovated buildings.

“Some of the buildings are perfectly good to go,” Lee told San José Spotlight. “Why don’t we move all the folks there as much as they can?”

Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or at @joyce_speaks on X. 

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