{"id":2400506,"date":"2025-02-07T18:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-wont-dismiss-charges-against-man-tied-to-oakland-mayor-scandal\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T18:52:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T23:52:30","slug":"judge-wont-dismiss-charges-against-man-tied-to-oakland-mayor-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-wont-dismiss-charges-against-man-tied-to-oakland-mayor-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge won&#8217;t dismiss charges against man tied to Oakland mayor scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-wont-dismiss-charges-against-man-tied-to-oakland-mayor-scandal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2400506&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A California judge, Thomas Reardon, recently decided not to dismiss a fraud case involving Mario Juarez, an Oakland\u2064 businessman connected to a federal investigation concerning former Oakland Mayor \u200dSheng Thao. Juarez is accused of writing bad checks totaling $53,000 for \u200delection mailers that allegedly benefitted Thao, who has been indicted in\u2062 a bribery scandal linked to city contracts. \u200bThe decision to delay \u200bthe dismissal was influenced by objections from Samari Johnson, the\u2064 owner\u200c of the printing company affected by the bounced checks. Juarez, who has pleaded \u2064not guilty, claims the charges were politically motivated retaliation by \u2064the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prager-is-stealing-wrong-not-on-the-left\/\" title=\"PRAGER: Is Stealing Wrong? Not On The Left\">previous district attorney<\/a>, Pamela Price, after he refused to donate to her campaign. \u2064This case is part of a broader corruption scandal \u2063that\u200c has impacted Alameda County and contributed to the ousting of both the \u200dmayor and the district attorney. The new district attorney, Ursula Jones Dickson, will be sworn \u200bin soon and take over the review of the case.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Judge refuses to dismiss charges against man tied to Oakland mayor scandal<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1976754\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"California\">California<\/a> judge on Friday refused to dismiss a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">check fraud case tied<\/a> to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/oakland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Oakland \">Oakland <\/a>businessman at the center of a federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bribery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"bribery\">bribery<\/a> and corruption investigation into former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Judge Thomas Reardon said he decided to hold off on making a decision until Alameda County&rsquo;s new district attorney, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3309601\/pragmatic-prosecutors-alameda-county-ursula-jones-dickson-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Ursula Jones Dickson\">Ursula Jones Dickson<\/a>, is sworn in later this month. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 in Oakland, Calif. (Scott Strazzante\/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The&nbsp;move&nbsp;shocked both the lawyer of the political operative and the prosecutor, who argued the case should be dropped.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The grand theft charge against Mario Juarez had been filed under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3211752\/alameda-county-da-pamela-price-inept-dangerous-recall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"District Attorney Pamela Price\">District Attorney Pamela Price<\/a>, who was recalled in November. <\/p>\n<p>Juarez, who pleaded not guilty, has been accused of bouncing checks that paid for election mailers that benefited Thao, Oakland&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3290106\/former-oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-criminally-indicted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"recently-indicted\">recently indicted<\/a> former mayor. Federal prosecutors have linked the flyers to a larger scheme tied to Thao. Federal prosecutors claim Thao and her boyfriend Andre Jones accepted bribes&nbsp;from California Waste Solutions executives David and Andy Duong in exchange for favorable treatment with their business ventures that totaled millions in city contracts.<\/p>\n<p>The Duongs have denied the allegations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Reardon chose to delay his decision after protests from the man whose business received the bad checks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Juarez was charged with writing bad checks worth $53,000 for attack ad mailers against Thao&rsquo;s 2022 mayoral competitors.&nbsp;Samari Johnson, the owner of the printing company Butterfly Direct Marketing, filed a police report against Juarez, saying he left him with bills he couldn&rsquo;t pay because the checks bounced.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This case is of significant importance to me and my small business,&rdquo; Johnson said in a letter to the court. &ldquo;Dismissing the case would allow a criminal to avoid accountability for his actions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bombshell-fbi-itself-allowed-would-be-trump-killer-into-country-said-he-was-polite\/\" title=\"Bombshell: FBI Itself Allowed Would-Be Trump Killer Into Country, Said He Was &#039;Polite&#039;\">case hasn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t been cut and dry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Juarez publicly claimed Price had filed charges against him as retaliation after he refused to donate $25,000 to her campaign.<\/p>\n<p>She has denied the allegations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His public defender at the time also claimed Price had acted suspiciously and added sentencing enhancements to a murder case he was defending as payback for not speaking out against the recall campaign against her.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The DA&rsquo;s office has admitted that the case against Juarez was not prosecuted per usual and received special &ldquo;attention&rdquo; from Price.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtoexaminer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER \">CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Friday&rsquo;s development is just the latest twist in a complicated, layered, yearslong corruption scandal that has engulfed Alameda County, its county seat, Oakland, and led to the ousting of its mayor and a district attorney.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dickson, who has promised to root out corruption and be tougher on crime, will be sworn in Feb. 18.&nbsp;Reardon has given her until Feb. 21 to review the matter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1976754\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1976754\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judge declines to dismiss charges in Oakland mayor scandal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2646,"featured_media":2400509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/pamelaprice.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[4035,5387,4602,16718,4633],"class_list":["post-2400506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-charges","tag-judge","tag-mayor","tag-oakland","tag-scandal"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/pamelaprice.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2646"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400511,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400506\/revisions\/2400511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2400509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}